Ford has struggled at the Daytona 500 in recent years

Out of Ford's seven entries in the Daytona 500 on Sunday, only Greg Biffle managed to place among the top 10 finishers. Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

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For three of NASCAR's four manufacturers, there was plenty to cheer about this week.

Toyota could point to their first-ever victory with Denny Hamlin's triumph in the Gatorade Duels, Chevrolet was busy celebrating the renaissance of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Dodge was on cloud nine thanks to Ryan Newman, who delivered their first Daytona 500 win since 2002.

But over in the Ford garage, the outlook isn't so bright.

The Great American Race hasn't been kind to the Detroit automaker in recent years. In fact, no Ford has captured the 500 since Dale Jarrett won his third and final trophy back in 2000. But Sunday, Jarrett was busy driving for Toyota, which paced all manufacturers in laps led (138 of 200), with Chevy second (31) and Dodge third (22).

Ford ranked a distant fourth in that department. Fusions combined to lead just eight laps, with only one of their seven 500 entries registering a Top 10 finish (Greg Biffle, 10th). The newly-named Yates Racing program -- once the most feared two-car juggernaut at the Beach -- looked like an also-ran, with both David Gilliland and Travis Kvapil finishing considerably outside the Top 20. And just as notable was a big-name Fusion team that wasn't able to even make it to Sunday: the famed Wood Brothers No. 21 team missed the field for the first time since 1962.

"I don't think there are words that can describe it," said driver Bill Elliott after failing to get the car in the show. "I'm pretty bummed out."

How has it gotten to this point for Ford? The answer may lie with horsepower. With the Car of Tomorrow chassis making it harder than ever to gain an aerodynamic advantage, the pressure moves from the engineers to the engine builders -- every mile per hour makes a difference. But with an older engine package, Ford may be running a step behind going by early results.

"We were a little bit shy on speed," said Biffle after Daytona.

"You only have what you have," Matt Kenseth added this week on the NASCAR teleconference. "Doug Yates does a great job on the engines. [But] as old as our design is, compared to Toyota's or Chevy's new engine, it should be down a little bit. I know when we get our new stuff, it will be better."

Kenseth also finds himself a part of a teammate squabble. Two days after getting caught up in a wreck with David Ragan, Kenseth admitted he hadn't talked to his teammate since. While Ragan was very apologetic after the event, Kenseth's frustration made it to the radio waves -- and you could tell he's still none too pleased about how Daytona turned out.

That lack of communication could be what threatens to doom Ford once again. Just four months removed from an incident between Kenseth and Carl Edwards -- where Carl was at fault but Kenseth seemed hesitant to initially address the situation -- the philosophy of five-man teamwork continues to elude the Roush Fenway stable.

"We just haven't done a good job, all of us, of communicating how we want to be treated on the racetrack and it turns into all of these, you know, kind of, really bad grudges and instances where nobody really knows how everyone feels about one another," said Edwards after that problem. "And any time you have a situation like that in competition, you're going to have instances where people don't get along."

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