FORD PERFORMANCE: NASCAR POCONO NOTES
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular season has reached the halfway mark with 13 races down and 13 more to go to establish this year’s field that will compete in the final 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. That second-half begins this weekend at Pocono Raceway, where Ford has won 21 times.
THE FIRST TIME…Ford reached victory lane at Pocono Raceway was on June 9, 1985 when Bill Elliott beat Harry Gant to win the Van Scoy Diamond Mine 500. Elliott was able to pass Gant with 11 laps remaining, shortly after a restart, to claim Ford’s first win at the facility. Elliott, who also started on the pole, was helped by four cautions over the final 25 laps and won for the sixth time as he led 32 of the 200 circuits. It marked the front end of what would eventually be a season sweep for Elliott at Pocono as he won a few weeks later on July 21.
THE LAST TIME…Ford won a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono was on Aug. 1, 2010 when Greg Biffle won the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500. The win snapped a 65-race winless drought for Biffle and gave Ford its first win of the season. Biffle found himself next to Sam Hornish Jr. on the front row of a restart with 20 laps to go and after he was able to gain the lead through the tunnel turn, he never looked back and ended up beating Tony Stewart to the finish line by more than three seconds. The win was the first of two for Biffle that season as he also took the checkered flag at Kansas two months later.
IN BETWEEN…Ford has won 19 times at Pocono, giving it a total of 21 overall in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Car owner Roger Penske has nine series wins at the track with five of those coming with Ford. Rusty Wallace won three of those while Jeremy Mayfield captured the other two. Both drivers won in 2000 to give Team Penske a sweep that season. In addition, Alan Kulwicki’s final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory came on June 14, 1992 at Pocono when he won the Champion Spark Plug 500. Kulwicki, who won five series races in his career, eventually went on to claim the championship over fellow Ford drivers Bill Elliott and Davey Allison. Besides Kulwicki, Elliott and Wallace, three other former series champions won Pocono races with Ford, including recent NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Terry Labonte, 2014 inductee Dale Jarrett, and Kurt Busch.
FORD RACING POCONO WINNERS
1985 – Bill Elliott (Sweep)
1988 – Bill Elliott (2)
1989 – Terry Labonte and Bill Elliott
1990 – Geoffrey Bodine (2)
1992 – Alan Kulwicki (1)
1994 – Rusty Wallace and Geoffrey Bodine
1995 – Dale Jarrett (2)
1996 – Rusty Wallace (2)
1997 – Dale Jarrett (2)
1998 – Jeremy Mayfield (1)
2000 – Jeremy Mayfield and Rusty Wallace
2001 – Ricky Rudd (1)
2002 – Dale Jarrett (1)
2005 – Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch
2008 – Carl Edwards (2)
2010 – Greg Biffle (2)
