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Head to Head driver challenge: Dodge vs Ford

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by Charlie Turner

Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. The best NASCAR and IndyCar news and opinion, exclusive pictures and video. I'm Charlie Turner. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

February 2, 2008 3:09 pm EST 7 Comments

So Robby Gordon is switching from Ford to Dodge - who cares you say?

Untitled PostFord fans ought to. At the end of the 2007 Nextel Cup season, the Blue Oval brigade looked to be a solid number two in the manufacturer’s championship race going into 2008’s inaugural Sprint Cup Series season. The thinking was Roush-Fenway Racing had slipped up and fallen behind the CoT and general testing programs of the big Chevy outfits. The Ford faithful assumed that Jack Roush would straighten out the problems and restore Ford to at least competitive equality with the dominant Hendrick-Gibbs-Childress troika.

Observers of preseason testing are telling us otherwise. The Joe Gibbs Racing move to Toyota has boosted that brand’s prospects. Many experts think that Toyota may well jump to number two status. Boris Said told us on last week’s ON PIT ROW that the speed and sheer numbers of the Toyotas will make it very tough for his Ford team to qualify for non-road course races.

Ford vs Dodge

The real question is; can Ford keep from falling to fourth, behind Dodge in the Cup Series? Look at the rosters of the two makes and compare.

Ford teams will field eight full time teams in 2008, led by Roush-Fenway’s fivesome. Dodge enters 2008 with a lucky thirteen. Seven of Ford’s eight have top 35 owner’s points while Dodge gets twelve of it’s thirteen in each of the first five races. So far it looks like, advantage Dodge, if quantity counts. If you’re one of those quality folks - here’s my personal Power Ranking of the Ford vs Dodge NASCAR battle.

  1. #17 Ford -Matt Kenseth - past champ, two time 2007 race winner and Chaser
  2. #2 Dodge - Kurt Busch - see above
  3. #99 Ford - Carl Edwards - three time race winner in 2007 and Chaser
  4. #12 Dodge - Ryan Newman - 12 career wins, no Chase but a solid 2007
  5. #9 Dodge - Kasey Kahne - Bad 2007 but won 6 in 2006 - just a hunch
  6. #16 Ford - Greg Biffle - Missed the Chase but got a win
  7. #26 Ford - Jamie McMurray - see Biffle
  8. #42 Dodge - Juan Pablo Montoya - 2007 Rookie of the Year won a race too
  9. #43 Dodge - Bobby Labonte - past champ finished ahead of Kahne and Montoya
  10. #41 Dodge - Reed Sorenson - his 2007 points put him here
  11. #6 Ford - David Ragan - ditto
  12. #19 Dodge - Elliott Sadler - very tempted to rate higher
  13. #7 Dodge - Robby Gordon - ditto
  14. #38 Ford - David Gilliland - The Yates team is Ford’s wild card, they hope
  15. #40 Dodge - Dario Franchitti - I think the 2008 ROY will drive a Dodge
  16. #28 Ford - Travis Kvapil - see Gilliland
  17. #21 Ford - Bill Elliott et al - Awesome Bill’s provisionals will payoff later with starts
  18. #45 Dodge - Kyle Petty - Must stay in the top 35
  19. #77 Dodge - Sam Hornish Jr - My pick for ROY, but I’m hedging that bet
  20. #10 Dodge - Patrick Carpentier - Going to have a tough time qualifying to race

I give the nod to Dodge. Kurt Busch and Kenseth are a push. Maybe the Ford boys get a slight edge in slots 3 through 8 but Newman and Kahne have championship capability in them - it’s close. The Dodge advantage is in depth and the fact that it’s major teams are all aggressive and growing. I like the look of Gillette-Evernham, Penske, Ganassi-Sabates and even Petty Enterprises over Roush-Fenway and the struggling Yates and Wood Brothers.

Picture credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

Filed under: Boris Said, Car of Tomorrow, Carl Edwards, Chase for the Cup, Chip Ganassi Racing, Evernham Motorsports, Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Greg Biffle, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kasey Kahne, Marcos Ambrose, NASCAR, Reed Sorenson, Robby Gordon, Robert Yates Racing, Roush Racing, Ryan Newman, Sprint Cup Series, Testing news, The Busch Bros, The Pettys 

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Comments

7 Responses to “Head to Head driver challenge: Dodge vs Ford”

  1. Ryan Newman Fan on February 2nd, 2008 10:12 pm

    Like the new site. It looks really good.

    Charlie, I was actually here earlier today and did not even realize it. I was going through all my RSS feeds that I watch….the one for this site included and did not even realize that this was your acticle I took a look at…..LOL. I tend to go through things kind of fast!! LOOKS GREAT!! Fast Lap and here!

    About the RSS feed, I get the info off of nascar.com then put it into a RSS format. What you see physically on the page is basically the info I get, then if you subscribed to the RSS feed, that feed comes from the info that is displayed on the page….if that makes any sense. It is nascar.com’s info that I manipulate!

    I have a favor to ask of you…lol. I also started something new. NASCAR PICS. It is at http://nascarpics.ryannewmaninfo.info. I created this for people to upload and share their NASCAR or racing (of any kind) photos. If you have some you might want to share then stop by, register and upload some photos. At least stop by and take a look if you have time.

    I would really like the whole NASCAR PICS thing to kind of take off.

    Anyway, you have done a great job on this site.

  2. User Avatar Luke on February 3rd, 2008 4:16 pm

    Getting the conversation back on topic…

    Looking at a comparison, you have approximately:

    Toyota: 9.5 entries (JGR, MWR at 3; RBR at 2; and BDR with 1.5)
    Ford: 8 (RFR at 5; YR at 2; WBR at 1)
    Dodge: 12 (GEM, Ganassi, PRS at 3; PE at 2; RGR at 1)

    Realistically speaking, of course. I’m not counting those filling the field (BAM, etc).

    Dodge didn’t impress me whatsoever last season. Ford pulled it out, and showed marked improvement (OK, Roush did). Toyota was dismal last season, until JGR made the announcement, and then by some miracle (cough, cough) they started showing a glimmer of hope.

    Hendrick and Childress have their acts together. It’s going to be a Chevy kind of year again.

    Fighting for second though, as the topic at hand, is going to be a knockdown, drag out cat fight. The Bunny Ranch won’t have anything on this one.

    The numbers that will show up are close. Dodge having the edge by 2 cars. However, I’m still not convinced that the Dodge camp has their act together. Jack does (now), and it’s obvious that Toyota has made improvements (thanks, JD).

    If Dodge doesn’t have, and continues to fail to, have their act together, they could well end up at the bottom. Then again, so could Ford or Toyota. It’s just that close, or so it seems.

    At this point, I don’t know if just number of teams is going to make a difference to put Dodge in front of Ford.

    Head to head, I’m still not sure, but I’m still not (yet) convinced that Dodge has a grip on the car yet.

  3. User Avatar Charlie Turner on February 3rd, 2008 6:43 pm

    I’m not convinced of anything yet. Sure Roush came around a bit, but you could argue that Penske and Ganassi were getting it together as well in 2007. Favoring Dodge has more to do - for me - with the driver line-ups. Those top two (there are actually three) Penske cars will be good. So will the top two Roush Fords. I still think Ford is in trouble.

  4. Gvav1 on February 4th, 2008 6:24 am

    With Yates wallering in the sponsorless mud, Ford is in trouble!

  5. 4ever3 on February 4th, 2008 10:46 am

    Pretty much bang on, but I would have put Biffle one or two higher as I would with Montoya. I also agree that the ROY will probably be in a Dodge.

  6. Watch the Dodge Boys at Infineon | Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie on August 5th, 2008 8:31 pm

    [...] manufacturer has a stronger driver roster for Sonoma this year than [...]

  7. 3vo.info » Blog Archive » No Way, No How, No Chance: Matt Kenseth at New Hampshire on November 1st, 2008 2:14 pm

    [...] had a feeling, way back in the beginning of the season, that Kenseth might struggle. Jack Roush’s promotion of Robby Reiser from Kenseth’s long-time crew chief to [...]

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