FORD PERFORMANCE: NASCAR DAYTONA NOTES
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is back at Daytona International Speedway for this weekend’s annual Coke Zero 400 in which Ford’s Aric Almirola is the defending champion. Ford is coming off a sweep of Daytona Speedweeks earlier this year in which it won all four major events – Rolex 24 Hours, NASCAR Camping World Truck, XFINITY, and Sprint Cup. Here’s a look at how Ford has done in the July race at DIS.
THE FIRST TIME…Ford Motor Co. won the July race at Daytona International Speedway came in 1963 in the very first Firecracker 400 as Fireball Roberts led a sweep of the top five spots. Roberts passed Fred Lorenzen on the final lap to win the race with Marvin Panch third. All three of those drivers were in Fords while fourth-place finisher Darel Dieringer was in a Mercury. Ned Jarrett rounded out the top five in his Ford. This marked the fifth overall event in July for the speedway, which opened in 1959, but the first four were 250-mile features. The fans got their money’s worth on this day as the race featured 39 lead changes between six drivers, but the best was saved for the end as Roberts and Lorenzen waged a major battle that saw them exchange the lead four times in the final five laps before Roberts earned his third July win at Daytona.
THE LAST TIME…Ford found victory lane in the 400-mile race at Daytona was last year when Aric Almirola registered the first win of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career. The win, which came after rain forced a halt to the event after 112 laps, came 30 years after his car owner, Richard Petty, won his record 200th series race in the same event. Almirola had held the lead for seven laps and 14 of the previous 15 circuits when the rain began falling. NASCAR waited 56 minutes before calling the race official. The win marked the first for the famous No. 43 since 1999 and the first time it had been to victory lane with Ford since The King’s only season with the manufacturer in 1969 when he won nine times.
IN BETWEEN… Junior Johnson and Cale Yarborough hold the distinction of being the only two men who have won at Daytona International Speedway in a Ford as both driver AND owner. Johnson won a qualifying race at the speedway in 1965, but had on his owner’s hat when Lee Roy Yarbrough won twice in 1969 and Jimmy Spencer in 1994. Yarborough won the Firecracker 400 in 1967 as a driver and watched John Andretti take his Ford to victory lane in 1997.
Greg Biffle registered his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory in the July race at Daytona International Speedway in 2003
Ford has won 34 overall races at Daytona International Speedway with 14 of those coming in the Daytona 500 and 17 being the race formerly known as the Firecracker 400. There were three wins in Daytona qualifying races in the 1960s when those counted in the point standings.
Three members of the Allison family have won a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway. Donnie was the first to do it when he won the Firecracker 400 in 1970 with owner Banjo Matthews. Bobby became the next on that list when he won the 1978 Daytona 500 with Bud Moore, and Davey joined the club after capturing the Pepsi 400 in 1989.
Bill Elliott holds the Ford record for most NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins at Daytona International with four and is the only Ford driver to win the July race more than once. Ford has won the July event 17 times by 16 different drivers.
FORD DAYTONA JULY RACE WINNERS
1963 – Fireball Roberts
1965 – A.J. Foyt
1967 – Cale Yarborough
1969 – LeeRoy Yarbrough
1970 – Donnie Allison
1983 – Buddy Baker
1988 – Bill Elliott
1989 – Davey Allison
1991 – Bill Elliott
1994 – Jimmy Spencer
1997 – John Andretti
1999 – Dale Jarrett
2000 – Jeff Burton
2003 – Greg Biffle
2007 – Jamie McMurray
2011 – David Ragan
2014 – Aric Almirola
