Interview
NASCAR Cup Phoenix II
Ford's Rushbrook: Sweeping NASCAR titles "makes a statement"
When NASCAR’s championship weekend got under way at Phoenix Raceway, Ford Performance had a shot – but perhaps not the expectation – to win all three national series titles.
Jim Utter
Edited: Nov 7, 2023, 12:11 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
In fact, the odds were not in Ford’s favor.
In each of the three season finales – in Trucks, Xfinity and Cup – Ford had just one driver eligible to win the championship in each series.
And yet, when Sunday’s Cup finale had ended, Ford had completed an unlikely sweep of all three titles – the first time a manufacturer had accomplished the feat since Chevrolet in the 2001 season.
Ben Rhodes won his second Truck title Friday night in a race that dragged through four overtimes, Cole Custer won Saturday’s Xfinity race and with it his first series title and Ryan Blaney finished second in Sunday’s Cup finale, but good enough to claim his first series championship.
It was a mix of Ford’s emerging NASCAR driving talent, with the oldest of the three drivers being Blaney at 29 years.
“All three national series are so competitive, you’ve got to be on your game for every element of the program, whether it’s the engine, the chassis, the set-up, the aero, the driver, the pit crew, everything has got to be right,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director of motorsports for Ford Performance.
“Yeah, we did struggle for sure, especially in Cup early on certain style tracks. All of our racing teams working together, nobody gave up, they kept digging, certainly came on strong, especially with Team Penske and the No. 12 car through the playoffs.
“We've had seasons where we won a lot of races and not won a championship. That’s been a disappointment. We didn’t win as many races as we would have liked to this year, but to win three championships just makes a statement I think about the team we have in Ford Performance – the partnership and the family that we have racing our cars and trucks on track.”
In all three series, either Toyota or Chevrolet seemed to dominate the headlines with drivers who won the most races.
But in the playoffs – where performance matters most – it was Ford drivers that delivered when the biggest prize was on the line.
“You want to always have at least one driver in the Championship 4 for every series. You’d like to have more. We had one driver in,” Rushbrook said.
“I knew we had a good shot with all of those drivers and teams. But so much happens during the races. Especially Friday night, things could have gone any direction. You just never know.”
Read Also:
The championships capped off a big week for Ford. Last week, the manufacturer announced it was moving to an updated version of its Mustang – the Mustang ‘Dark Horse’ – in the Cup series in the 2024 season.
A pair of veteran Ford Cup drivers also likely saw their final career starts at Phoenix – Aric Almirola and Kevin Harvick, who is headed to the Fox Sports TV booth next season and will be a lock for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
“As much as we’re a car company and we make and sell cars and trucks, we’re out here racing them, we’re also a family company, a people company,” Rushbrook said. “It is all about the people that are racing these cars inside the shop, ultimately the drivers that get it done on track.
“Those three drivers that we had win this weekend to win a championship, to have Ben Rhodes, Cole Custer and Ryan Blaney as champions for the sport, representing our brand, we’re really proud of what they’ve done.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Blaney on Chastain battle: "I hit him on purpose"
Next article Kevin Harvick's "great ride" comes to close at Phoenix
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jim Utter
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
Latest news
Joe Gibbs Racing moves to resolve one portion of Spire countersuit
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 3 h
Joe Gibbs Racing moves to resolve one portion of Spire countersuit
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
12 h
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
13 h
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 13 h
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe