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Ford executive intervened in Daytona squabble among drivers

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Joey Logano shared his frustration at how fellow Ford driver Michael McDowell didn't help him out during the Daytona 500.

The global director of Ford Performance said the manufacturer intervened between Ford drivers after the Daytona 500, which saw a Toyota driver celebrate the win and Ford drivers fume at each other afterward.

Shortly after Denny Hamlin won the Daytona 500, Ford driver Joey Logano exited his car on pit road and confronted fellow Ford driver Michael McDowell about McDowell not pushing him on the final lap. McDowell was upset with how he had been treated by Ford drivers earlier in the race.

Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance, told “The Morning Drive” Wednesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that Ford got involved with those issues afterward.

“I will say that we frequently get involved,” he said. “We don’t always get involved, but certainly after Daytona, like I said, we’re a family and every family has issues. For sure we had our issues at Daytona, can’t deny that. But as a family, we talked through those issues, tried to understand what led to those issues and then how can we fix that and make it even better going forward.

“We were disappointed with the result at Daytona, I think every single one of our drivers and our company. I think a lot of that frustration played out postrace because we had fast cars, and we weren’t able to capitalize on it, so I think a lot of those emotions came to the front. But we’ve talked through them, and I think most of those wounds are healed, or I at least hope they are, and looking forward to continuing those relationships that we have.”

Ford preaches a “One Ford” mantra with its teams to emphasize the importance of working together.

Asked on “The Morning Drive” who intervenes from Ford in such situations, Rushbrook said: “A lot of that is me. The great thing with Edsel Ford (great-grandson of Ford founder Henry Ford), we call him ‘The Godfather of Ford Racing.’ He will sit down with the drivers when they’re at the track. When Edsel Ford speaks, I think it carries a lot of weight and the drivers listen and they put a lot of value into that.

“But Edsel is not at the track every weekend so a lot of that will fall to me or Pat DiMarco (NASCAR Program Supervisor, Ford Performance), and we have open relationships with our drivers, crew chiefs and competition directors. If we see an issue, we’re going to talk to them about it and understand what is going on and the best way to go forward. It’s a family. We talk through it and find a way to keep going.”

This week things were better for Ford, which celebrated the first Cup win for the Mustang with Brad Keselowski winning at Atlanta.

“That was really great to see,” Rushbrook said. “So much hard work has gone into that program for well over a year and a half and to see it come together like that with five Mustangs in the top 10 and Brad pushing through the flu that he was fighting and get it to victory lane, that was awesome.”