With SHR on board, can Ford take the fight back to their rivals in 2017?

Now, it’s time for the Blue Oval Brigade to underscore its philosophy.

Although Ford Performance didn’t have five drivers capable of winning on a weekly basis last season as Toyota did, the dynamic has changed with the addition of Stewart-Haas Racing.

At the end of the day, I feel like we’re in the best position we’ve been in in probably a decade

Dave Pericak, Global Director, Ford Performance

“It doesn’t come around often that you can bring a championship-caliber team like Stewart-Haas into your organization,” said Raj Nair, Executive Vice President for Global Product Development and Chief Technical Officer, Ford Motor Co. “So we’re looking forward to getting to Daytona and getting on the track and start racing, so we can start shooting for that championship that’s long overdue.”

Returning to prominence

Ford hasn’t won a drivers' championship since Kurt Busch was crowned in 2004. It was two years prior — when Roush Racing was still in its glory and Robert Yates Racing had a one-two punch with Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd — that Fords won 14 of 36 races and delivered the Manufacturer’s Championship to Dearborn. Ryan Newman, who was with Team Penske at the time, contributed to Ford’s win, total but the following season Penkse switched to Dodge.

Still, it’s hard to believe that Ford’s last manufacturer’s title was won 14 seasons ago. Back then Ford had three solid organizations competing against each other — all building their own engines. The manufacturer had a stable of All-Star drivers. Jarrett was a champion. Mark Martin and Ricky Rudd were still in their prime. Matt Kenseth won the title in 2003 and Busch one year later.

Roush held its own until 2011 when Carl Edwards finished second in the Cup standings to Tony Stewart. Then the slide began — and Ford followed — until Team Penske returned in 2013. Over the last four years, Team Penske has evolved into the flagship operation under the Ford banner. Since Joey Logano came on board in 2013, Penske drivers have won 27 races.

What SHR brings to the table

Now, Stewart-Haas Racing, a company with two Cup champions--Kevin Harvick and Busch—and Clint Bowyer, a driver desperate to regain his relevance in the sport, joins forces with Team Penske to provide Ford with five opportunities to battle for wins and championships. SHR's Danica Patrick is the fourth addition from that organization, but she has yet to post her first top five in the Cup series.

“From a pure numbers perspective, of course, we’ve leveled it quite a bit with the addition of Stewart-Haas,” said Dave Pericak, Global Director, Ford Performance of the NASCAR playing field. “As far as performance goes, we’ve been stepping up our performance and making improvements over the last couple of years, and this year is no exception.

“We’re coming into this new season with some new levels of performance already planned. At the end of the day, I feel like we’re in the best position we’ve been in in probably a decade with the number of cars we have, with the quality of drivers that we have, and with the engineering staff that’s supporting the teams to perform as well as we expect to perform.”

After Tony Stewart joined forces with Gene Haas in 2009, the company won two championships and 36 races. Although Stewart enjoyed tremendous success under the Chevrolet banner, particularly with its technical alliance Hendrick Motorsports, the deal presented by Ford was too attractive to resist.

“I don’t think I looked at that as anything with what we decided to do,” Stewart said. “We met for a long time before we made the decision and we knew that there were a lot of things that weren’t initially on the table that we asked for and they responded to right away, and it showed us their level of dedication to winning races and championships again. It became very clear very quickly that this was the right decision for us and the right direction for our future.”