Ford falters again in superspeedway dominance
HAMPTON, Ga. — Ford drivers have commanded the superspeedway races in the NASCAR Cup Series but still have no wins to show for it this season.
Mirroring his performance in the Daytona 500, Ryan Blaney recovered from a late-race incident to be the best-finishing Ford of the race Sunday in the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Blaney finished fourth.
Ford conquered 152 of the first 157 laps, with Joey Logano leading for 83 laps and Josh Berry taking stage one on lap 60.
But, Chevrolet had something to say on lap 158 when Alex Bowman took the lead from Logano. Bowman had help from teammate Kyle Larson who won stage two on lap 160.
As the final stage began, pair after pair of Chevrolet drivers, besides Bowman and Larson, took control before Berry got back to the front on lap 200.
Berry handled the transition to nighttime conditions smoothly, taking the lead four times for 25 of the next 38 laps.
But Chevrolet wasn’t done with its reign of terror on Ford.
Blaney spun from fourth off of the bumper of Carson Hocevar with 25 laps to go. Still, they had Cindric and Berry in the fight up front — until Larson took over with three laps to go.
Not to be denied, Cindric rolled around the outside and had a run on Larson. However, Larson blocked him and triggered a crash that wiped out Cindric and Byron.
“Not clear,” Cindric said.
With Cindric gone and Blaney recovering, Berry was the only Ford driver left in the top-5. It lasted until the backstretch on the final lap when Berry crashed from fifth and finished 25th.
At the end of 266 laps, Ford led 195 of them and earned a stage win but only had Blaney’s fourth-place finish to show for their performance.
Just like the Daytona 500, when they led 143 of 201 laps and swept the first two stages, they didn’t lead the most important lap and didn’t take home the race win.
In all, Ford has led 338 of the 467 laps run and claimed three of the four stage wins awarded so far in the NASCAR Cup Series season.
Next is Circuit of the Americas where Chris Buescher finished eighth and was the highest-finishing Ford in that race. Ford has also never won a Cup Series race at COTA.
Ford finishers in the 2025 Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta
- 4th – Ryan Blaney
- 11th – Zane Smith
- 12th – Joey Logano
- 15th – Todd Gilliland
- 18th – Ryan Preece
- 25th – Josh Berry
- 28th – Austin Cindric
- 30th – Chris Buescher
- 34th – Noah Gragson
- 35th – Cody Ware
- 36th – Cole Custer
- 38th – Corey LaJoie
- 39th – Brad Keselowski
Discover more from The Racing Experts
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com