FORD PERFORMANCE: NASCAR MIDWEEK NOTES
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads back to a place that has been good to Ford through the years, Bristol Motor Speedway, where the annual Food City 500 is scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Ford is coming off a season sweep in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Bristol last season, and a touring series sweep in August when the manufacturer won the NASCAR Camping World Truck, XFINITY and Sprint Cup races on consecutive days.
NEW THIS WEEK…Ford Performance drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR XFINITY and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series hold down a combined eight top-10 spots in the point standings going into this weekend’s action. Joey Logano (2nd), Brad Keselowski (4th) and Aric Almirola (9th) hold top-10 spots in NSCS while Chris Buescher (2nd), Darrell Wallace Jr. (4th), Ryan Reed (5th) and Elliott Sadler (7th) are all in the NXS mix. Tyler Reddick is battling for the NCWTS top spot and trails leader Matt Crafton by only one point.
THE FIRST TIME…Ford won a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway was on March 31, 1963 when Fireball Roberts won the Southeastern 500. What made the win so noteworthy is that it marked the debut of Roberts with Ford as a teammate of Fred Lorenzen’s at Holman-Moody. The duo put on a dominant show that day as they combined to lead 329 of 500 laps with Roberts leading 165 and Lorenzen 164. Roberts passed his new teammate with eight laps to go and won by five seconds as the race saw only one caution for nine laps. Roberts went on to win four races in 1963 while Lorenzen won six times.
THE LAST TIME…Ford went to victory lane was in August when the manufacturer swept all three NASCAR series races – Camping World Truck, XFINITY and Sprint Cup. Brad Keselowski captured his first NCWTS victory while Ryan Blaney took the XFINITY event. Joey Logano capped the weekend sweep when he passed Matt Kenseth with 45 laps to go and then had to hold off Keselowski to post his third win of the 2014 season. Logano was in control until caution came out with 69 laps to go. While he pitted for four tires, Kenseth and others stayed out which put Logano sixth on the ensuing restart with 63 to go. With fresh tires, however, he was able to move to the front in less than 20 laps and then hold off his Penske teammate down the stretch. It marked the first time Ford swept all three divisions in the same weekend since 2006 when Mark Martin (NCWTS) and Kenseth (NNS and NSCS) did it, ironically, at Bristol.
IN BETWEEN…Ford has won 634 all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races and of the active tracks currently on the schedule, Bristol Motor Speedway ranks tied for first with Michigan as the manufacturer’s most successful track with 35 victories. Rusty Wallace leads the way with five career Ford wins at BMS from 1994-2000 while Fred Lorenzen and Kurt Busch each won three consecutive races at the half-mile oval. In addition, Alan Kulwicki won five races during his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career and two of those came at Bristol Motor Speedway (1991-92). Ford has swept both Bristol races seven times, including last year when Carl Edwards won the first event in March and Logano followed with his Night Race triumph in August.
FORD MULTIPLE RACE WINNERS AT BRISTOL
5 – Rusty Wallace (1994, ’96, ’99, 2000*)
4 – David Pearson (1968*, ’69, ’71)
3 – Carl Edwards (2007, ’08, ‘14)
3 – Fred Lorenzen (1963, ‘64*)
3 – Kurt Busch (2003*, ‘04)
2 – Alan Kulwicki (1991, ’92)
2 – Mark Martin (1993, ’98)
2 – Matt Kenseth (2005, ’06)
* Denotes season sweep
