FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR: TEXAS 1 NOTES
The first Saturday night race of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season is scheduled for this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway as the annual Duck Commander 500 takes place. Ford is currently tied for the most series wins at the 1.5-mile track with 12. Here’s a look at some of those results:
A TEXAS TWO-FIRST
A couple of firsts happened on April 6, 1997 as Texas Motor Speedway hosted its inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event and Jeff Burton took his first checkered flag. 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.
SADLER WINS FIRST RACE WITH RYR
Elliott Sadler passed Jeff Gordon with 27 laps remaining and then held off Kasey Kahne in the closing laps to win the Samsung/Radio Shack 500 on April 4, 2004. Sadler, in his second season with Robert Yates Racing, hugged the inside lane over the final three laps as Kahne worked the outside. When the two cars came off turn four for the final time, Sadler had a lapped car in front of him and that allowed Kahne to make one last charge. Despite gaining crucial ground through the tri-oval, Kahne came up half a car length short as Sadler crossed the line first to gain his second of three career series wins.
LAST LAP PASS LEADS LOGANO TO VICTORY
Ford is tied for first among manufacturers in all-time NSCS wins at Texas and the most recent came in 2014 when Joey Logano registered the first of his five triumphs that season. 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.
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
