When Chevrolet came into the new season without any changes to the body of its Camaro ZL1, many believed that the renewed Toyota Camry XSE and Ford Mustang Dark Horse would dominate it. However, with three races now in the wind – two on superspeedways and one on an intermediate – the bowtie brigade appears to still have the best car of the lot.
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A Chevy car has won each of the last three Cup Series races; its latest victory was at Vegas, a track where the Toyotas and Ford were supposed to be able to display the capabilities of their car fully. While both manufacturers performed well, it was Kyle Larson who took home the victory flag in his #5 ZL1.
Despite the seeming disappointment, NASCAR veteran Jeff Burton has stood behind Chevy’s competitors and reiterated that it is too early to judge them. He said on Motorsports on NBC, “We have to be careful to judge the Toyotas and the Fords on one race. There’s a whole lot left to go. Those guys are going to come home, they’re going to learn, they’re going to be able to apply, and they’re going to get better.”
He continued that the time difference between the cars was too narrow and that the challenge would eventually get much harder for Chevy. In alignment with his words, Tyler Reddick’s #45 Camry XSE did get past the Vegas checkered flag within 0.2 seconds of Larson doing so. Picking up on Burton’s words, former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Steve Letarte threw praise on the Toyotas and Fords.
Steve Letarte’s high praise for Toyota and Ford after the Pennzoil 400
Toyota and Ford garnered four and three top-10s in the Pennzoil 400 last Sunday, respectively. Noting the number of cars that these manufacturers had in the top line, Letarte mentioned that he would’ve been worried if it was only Tyler Reddick who challenged Larson but that it wasn’t the case.
The race saw several drivers from Ford and Toyota continually move up and down the leading lines. Letarte spoke about how the average positions of these cars had gone up and that’s what is expected from a new car. He said, “I would actually give the Ford and the Toyotas a high mark for the first three races even though Chevy has gone on to win all three races.”
He holds off a hard-charging Tyler Reddick late at Vegas! Repost to congratulate Kyle Larson on his NASCAR Cup Series WIN. pic.twitter.com/AKpgdQnZfx
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 4, 2024
He continued, “While we look at the top performer from each manufacturer, I think if you look at the totality of the Ford camp and the Toyota camp, I think as crazy as that sounds, the average across the group has actually gone up even though they’re short of the top of the podium. I think their overall average is better than it was a year ago.”
The Chevy competitors will get another chance to find the podium at the Phoenix Raceway next weekend. Hopefully, the XSE and the Dark Horse will prove to be a bigger challenge to the ZL1’s dominance over the forthcoming races.
