FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR: KANSAS ADVANCE
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR XFINITY Series will be in action this weekend at Kansas Speedway for night races on Friday and Saturday. Ford Performance enters action with a series-best six MENCS victories in 2018 and six drivers in the top 10 of the point standings. Here’s a look at some Ford facts and figures in Kansas through the years.
LEADING THE WAY
Kevin Harvick’s win last weekend in Dover gave Ford its sixth win of the MENCS season, most among all manufacturers. Harvick has four of those victories with Clint Bowyer and Joey Logano one apiece. In addition, Ford has led 2147 laps through the first 11 events, which is twice as many as any other manufacturer, and tops the manufacturer standings by six points.
FORD IN THE MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES AT KANSAS
· Ford has six all-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series wins at Kansas.
· The last win for Ford at Kansas was by Joey Logano in 2015.
· Logano, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski all have at least one Kansas win.
FORD IN THE NASCAR XFINITY SERIES AT KANSAS
· Ford has three NASCAR XFINITY Series wins at Kansas.
· Jeff Green won the inaugural series race in 2001.
· Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has Ford’s last series win at the track (2012).
KANSAS BACK-TO-BACK
Joey Logano became the first driver to automatically advance to the Eliminator Round of the Chase in 2014 as he took the lead from Ryan Newman with 29 laps to go and held off Kyle Larson to get his career-best fifth win of the season. In 2015, Logano ended up dueling with Matt Kenseth in a well-documented battle that resulted in contact as the two entered turn one with five laps to go. That controversial finish marked Logano’s second straight win in the Chase and led to a sweep of the Contender Round as he took the checkered flag the following week at Talladega Superspeedway.
UNDER COVER OF DARKNESS
A couple of rain delays and impending darkness couldn’t keep Greg Biffle from winning a shortened Lifelock 400 on Sept. 30, 2007. The race was delayed for more than three hours and NASCAR decided to shorten the distance from 267 laps to 210 laps when it became evident there wouldn’t be enough daylight to finish the event. Biffle passed Kevin Harvick on lap 274, but when Juan Pablo Montoya blew a tire to bring out the caution with four laps to go it appeared he would have to survive a green-white-checker finish in order to win. NASCAR, however, decided to end the race under caution due to darkness. The win was Biffle’s first of the season and snapped a 32-race winless drought.
ON THE MARK
Ford went to victory for the first time at Kansas Speedway on Oct. 9, 2005 when Mark Martin took the checkered flag in what was a Roush Fenway Racing runaway with teammates Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards finishing second and third, respectively. Martin led a race-high 139 laps, including 81 of the final 83 circuits, to win by one-half second. It marked the second time in as many months that RFR swept the top three spots, a feat it did two more times during that season. In addition, the victory ended up being Martin’s last with Ford. His 35 series wins with the manufacturer ranks third all-time behind leader Ned Jarrett (43) and second-place Bill Elliott (40).
FORD MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP WINNERS AT KANSAS
2005 – Mark Martin
2007 – Greg Biffle
2010 – Greg Biffle
2012 – Matt Kenseth (2)
2014 – Joey Logano (2)
2015 – Joey Logano (2)
