Lowndes drove for the Brisbane-based squad for 21 years before parting ways in 2026 in order to remain with Chevrolet.
Set to spearhead a Team 18 wildcard in the Enduro Cup, Lowndes is keeping a close eye on Triple Eight via his role in the Supercars broadcast.
Although enjoying early success with its Mustang, the Red Bull Ampol squad has now gone six races without a podium for the first time since 2006.
“I’m not surprised this is happening,” Lowndes wrote in his column for the Supercars website.
“It was always going to be a difficult year for Triple Eight, moving from GM to Ford.
“Normally they’re the leading team for their manufacturer, and everyone else is chasing their set-up.
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“Now, they’re looking at Groves, Tickford and DJR (Dick Johnson Racing) to understand how to make the Mustang fast.
“It’s evident that it’s hit and miss for them at the moment.
“I have no doubt they’re working hard in the background to understand the Ford and put more tools in the toolbox in the effort to close the gap.
“You saw over the weekend that the cars were weak in qualifying, but were quick in the race.”
Drivers Broc Feeney and Will Brown appeared frustrated at points over the recent Townsville weekend as they qualified in the mid-field.
Feeney’s single-lap struggles were particularly notable, qualifying just 16th and 18th across Friday and Saturday before improving to seventh on Sunday.
Both drivers moved forward in the races, albeit not able to record a single top five finish.
“Broc Feeney and Will Brown are right to feel aggrieved, but they’re also part of the solution,” Lowndes added.
“You can’t just get an engineer to put a winning set-up in the car, not knowing what the driver wants.
“It’s a combination of everyone’s input into finding speed.
“There’s frustration from the drivers, but equally from the team, sponsors — everyone involved.
“Those reactions put pressure back on the team internally.”
Well familiar with the team’s lengthy debriefs, Lowndes said the team will be “deep-diving into every little detail” as it looks to turn around its form.
“At the very least, they have to get consistency back,” he said.
“We talk about drivers who had great performances one weekend, but fall down the order the next. At the moment, that’s exactly where they are.
“They’ve had 20 years of strong performance. Now, like everyone else, they’re searching for how to set up the car and get the best out of it.”
Feeney lost the lead of the championship to Grove Racing’s Matt Payne on Saturday and is now 92 points adrift with two Sprint Cup rounds remaining.
Brown is seventh while Triple Eight sits second in the teams’, now 132 points away from pacesetters Grove.
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