Ford lays down gauntlet to a 48 team in disarray

The Cool Down Lap: Ford lays down gauntlet to a 48 team in disarray

Mike Ford isn’t just tugging on Superman’s cape—he’s trying to shred it.
On Sunday evening, after Denny Hamlin won the AAA Texas 500, the rest of the world found out what the NASCAR Sprint Cup garage already knew: Hamlin’s crew chief is intensely competitive and fiercely proud of the team he has assembled for this year’s championship run.
And while Hamlin was tactfully downplaying the mistakes—make that collapse—of Jimmie Johnson’s pit crew, Ford wasn’t mincing words when he described the scenario that allowed Hamlin to turn a 14-point deficit to Johnson into a 33-point advantage with two races left in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
“I think our race team is better than their race team, and I’m not going to tiptoe around them because of where they’re at,” Ford said of the four-time defending champions.
There you have it—prime bulletin-board material. The only question is whether Johnson’s team can find the gumption to react to it.
The struggles of the No. 48 team started with the selection of pit stalls. Teams choose their pit boxes in the order in which they qualify. Chad Knaus, Johnson’s crew chief, chose 17th and picked a pit stall just past the start/finish line. Ford, who chose 30th, picked the stall immediately in front of Johnson’s.
In one sense, it was the best option for Hamlin’s No. 11 team among the pit boxes that were still available. In another sense, it was payback to Knaus for Kansas, where, in Ford’s view, Knaus ignored the code of courtesy among crew chiefs and picked the stall adjacent to Hamlin’s.
Initially, the proximity was problematic for both teams. Johnson had to back up to get around Hamlin after the first pit stop of the race. Hamlin lost time maneuvering past the Toyota of Scott Speed, parked in front of him.
That didn’t last long, however, because repeated screw-ups on the right front tire change kept Johnson behind Hamlin for the last two-thirds of the race. By Lap 194, when Johnson lost two spots to 14th position during another slow stop, Knaus had seen enough.
He replaced his entire crew with that of Jeff Gordon, whose No. 24 Chevrolet was wrecked and out of the race. Johnson’s disconsolate crew moved to Gordon’s pit stall and sat forlornly as Gordon’s crew pitted Johnson’s car impeccably for the balance of the race.
It didn’t surprise Ford that Johnson’s crew folded.
“Normally, you would show some courtesy (in pit selection), but that courtesy was thrown out the window at Kansas,” Ford said. “Also, knowing that you put the two pit crews toe to toe, and those guys are going to make mistakes. We’ve seen it this year, and we went beside them, and those guys faltered to the point where they made changes.”
Ford went on to characterize the pit crew change as “a desperation move.”
“They removed their team,” Ford said. “Their team got them to this point, and they pulled them out, so this is more about trying to win a championship for the company (Hendrick Motorsports) and not the team.”
Most of Johnson’s crew has been with the driver for three or four championship seasons. Whether all seven over-the-wall crewmen will be with him Sunday at Phoenix is a decision Knaus and owner Rick Hendrick must make immediately.
Don’t forget that Johnson earned the nickname “Superman” because he and his team have been resilient to a point approaching indestructible over the past four seasons.
In the final two races this year, they face their biggest challenge yet. Can the 48 team react positively to what Johnson termed a wakeup call and summon one more superhuman effort?
Mike Ford doubts it, and he’s not afraid to say so, even though his words could provide Johnson, Knaus and the 48 crew just the motivation they need.
By Reid Spencer

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service