FORD PERFORMANCE: NASCAR MIDWEEK NOTES
After a week off, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to action with Saturday night’s event at Texas Motor Speedway. Here are some notes on Ford’s history at the 1.5-mile track, which includes being the winningest manufacturer in the Cup Series with 12 victories.
NEW THIS WEEK…Three Ford drivers find themselves in the Top 10 of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings, headlined by Joey Logano in second place and Brad Keselowski in fourth. But the most pleasant surprise has been the consistency of Aric Almirola, who is 10th going into this weekend’s event at Texas Motor Speedway. This marks the best six-race start to a season for Almirola, whose previous best point position after six races was 16th in 2013.
THE FIRST TIME…Ford went to victory lane coincided with the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory for Jeff Burton when he won the inaugural event hosted at Texas Motor Speedway on April 6, 1997. Burton, led by crew chief Buddy Parrott, passed Todd Bodine with 58 laps remaining and beat fellow Ford driver Dale Jarrett to the finish line by four seconds. The race was slowed by 10 cautions, which included a multi-car accident in first turn of the first lap. Burton went on to win 21 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race with 17 of those coming in a Thunderbird or Taurus.
THE LAST TIME…Ford went to victory lane was last year when Joey Logano registered the first of his five wins in 2014. The race, which was delayed until Monday because of rain, was dominated by Logano for much of the second half, but a caution with two laps to go forced a green-white-checker finish. Logano started third on the restart after the leaders stopped on pit road, and was able to get past Jeff Gordon on the final lap to claim victory. Logano led 108 of the final 116 laps to claim his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win on a 1.5-mile track.
IN BETWEEN…Ford has won the most NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Texas Motor Speedway, posting 12 all-time victories by eight different drivers. Ford went to Victory Lane seven times in the first 10 NSCS races with car owner Jack Roush winning on five of those occasions and Robert Yates twice.
FORD WINNERS AT TEXAS
1997 – Jeff Burton
1998 – Mark Martin
2001 – Dale Jarrett
2002 – Matt Kenseth
2004 – Elliott Sadler
2005 – Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards
2008 – Carl Edwards*
2011 – Matt Kenseth (1)
2012 – Greg Biffle (1)
2014 – Joey Logano (1)
* Denotes season sweep
