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Penske’s Brad Keselowski says Ford’s start to the 2018 NASCAR Cup series has been “so-so” overall and that Kevin Harvick’s dominant spell for Stewart-Haas Racing has been an anomaly.
Harvick’s three-race winning streak came to an end at Fontana last weekend when an early crash ruined his race and Martin Truex Jr’s Furniture Row Racing Toyota swept all three stages and the victory.
While that dropped Harvick to eighth in the standings, Ford still has Penske duo Joey Logano and Keselowski in third and fourth in the points and leads the manufacturer standings by a point over Toyota.
But Keselowski insists Ford has not been in great shape beyond Harvick.
“Kevin has been off to a great start,” said Keselowski, who was fourth at Fontana.
“The rest of us maybe just kind of so-so.
“We haven’t really competed, I don’t feel like, for a win anywhere.
“We’ve been right in that fifth to 10th range over the last four or five weeks.
“Maybe you could argue we’re capable of a lot more. We were capable of winning at Daytona [He was eliminated in stage two’s large pile-up, pictured]. That turned into what it was.
“It’s still pretty early, but Kevin is making it look pretty easy when things go his way. The rest of us are just kind of fifth to 10th.”
When asked if Harvick’s winning run ending would stall his momentum, Keselowski said: “I don’t know. I still think the #4 car is probably the best car in the field right now.
“Things didn’t come together for him [at Fontana]. There will probably be a race in the future where he’s not the fastest and it does come together. That’s how things work.
“I don’t think anything changes with the #4 car being the fastest car in the field right now.
“I can’t speak for the internals of their team. I could speak for mine in that I would move on a little disappointed and still be pretty happy to be the fastest car.”