With the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season back in action at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend, it would appear that a battle of strategy is taking shape between the manufacturers. On one hand, the Bowtie has already proven the worth of the old faithful Camaro with great results for all its teams at the Daytona 500. On the other hand, the Toyota Camry XSE is yet to show similar stride in qualifying and pace, with not a single TRD car in sight within the top ten at Daytona qualifying.

Heading into another superspeedway weekend, it looks like Toyota teams haven’t put their best foot forward just yet. While Christopher Bell shared his and other TRD driver’s reservations with the double superspeedway weekends, it seems like the Ford teams are wasting no time to flex the muscles of the new Mustang Darkhorse.

The Ford Mustang Darkhorse pulls a fast one on the Camry XSE at the double superspeedway weekends

Heading into the big week at Daytona, it looked like the Camry XSE and the Mustang Darkhorse would be the ones on the back foot, with the Chevys showcasing a strong pace. While we got a response from the Ford crowd immediately in qualifying, Toyota drivers were nowhere in sight. So heading into a weekend expected to be equally chaotic as Daytona, the TRD drivers showed little faith in the Camry XSE. Speaking of which, Christopher Bell shared a rather bold viewpoint on behalf of some of the other drivers, which unravelled Toyota’s confidence in Atlanta.

He was quoted by FrontStretch, “We (Toyota) haven’t won a superspeedway race since the introduction of Next Gen cars, so I think that means there’s something we need to improve on…I think the majority of the drivers will say that the real season starts next week. I personally don’t like having two superspeedways back-to-back, and I think that a lot of people are on the same page.”

While this let fans in on a rather laid-back atmosphere within the TRD garages before the Ambetter Health 400, Brad Keselowski revealed how the Ford teams are wasting no time in gaining some ground on the opposition. He shared with FrontStretch, “I don’t know if I’d say the season starts next week, I mean a better barometer of the cars but you’re still getting points and there are still trophies on the line right now so we want to win those. I think all the Fords are really pretty well connected so um, (we) know there’s always opportunities to be better but you know we’re all trying to do our best to find the strength as one.”

Keselowski was not the only one from the Ford camp to believe that the back-to-back superspeedway races were a vital opportunity. Penske driver Austin Cindric also reflected on Ford’s ambitions for Atlanta, “We’ve been able to bring really fast race cars to not only Daytona, obviously, but Atlanta has been really good as of last year with our package.”

Speaking of Ford’s ambitions, taking a look at the qualifying results for the Ambetter Health 400 paints a picture Toyota Racing Development drivers certainly would like to avoid landing their eyes on. Toyota’s strongest challenger, Martin Truex Jr, only managed to lock into 12th place while the Ford Mustang Darkhorse took seven drivers to prime spots for the race.

But that’s not all. Seeing that there are only three Chevys in the top ten, it’s safe to say William Byron’s approach at Atlanta could also play into the hands of Ford.

William Byron’s cautiousness could help Ford cement dominance over Toyota

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After securing one of his career’s greatest achievements last weekend, it seems like William Byron is taking it slow and steady for the Ambetter Health 400. With the points haul the HMS driver brought in last week, it now puts the #24 garage well into the playoffs. This means there would be little to no benefit of running a race for the win with the risks posed by a track like Atlanta.

Instead, Byron revealed that the #24 HMS garage is planning to bring it home in one piece, with a solid position being a bonus. He stated, “We just have to have a notebook for this race and so we need to understand what our setup needs to be any kind of tinker with that going back here to the fall, so we can’t really try much here, because we want to have a good data point for the fall and knowing, hey, our car drove pretty well.”

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Speaking of Atlanta, Byron felt a lot was out of a driver’s control at a drafting track, which meant the main goal for the team instead was to come up with a sound strategy and game plan to secure solid points. He added, “A lot is out of your control here but hopefully, we can have a good driving car and good strategy and you know just get a little bit of an idea for the fall. I think you wouldn’t put a whole lot of weight, especially coming off a win.” 

With that said, it’s safe to say the weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway is shaping up to be a vital one for the Mustang Darkhorse to cement its superiority to the Camry XSE. But with Bell clearly stating that TRD will only gain momentum in Vegas, do you think the Mustang Darkhorse’s impressive pace will come to a premature halt?