JOEY LOGANO CLAIMS FORD’S NINTH
MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP
- Joey Logano became the eighth different driver to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship with Ford Performance. It’s the second series title for car owner Roger Penske.
- The championship is the ninth overall for Ford Performance, which includes back-to-back titles by David Pearson in 1968 and ’69.
- This is the second title under the current format for Ford Performance, which saw Kurt Busch win the inaugural 10-race Playoff in 2004.
FORD CHAMPIONS
- Ned Jarrett, who is Ford’s all-time race winner with 43, won his second series championship in 1965 and the first driver’s title for Ford.
- Pearson is the manufacturer’s only multiple champion as he won 27 races and captured 26 poles en route to back-to-back titles in 1968 and ’69.
- Bill Elliott registered the first driver’s championship for Ford in the modern era, which started in 1972, by 24 points over Rusty Wallace in 1988.
- The late Alan Kulwicki edged Elliott by the narrowest margin in NASCAR Winston Cup history when he led one more lap than Elliott and clinched the five-point bonus to win the title by 10 points in 1992.
- Dale Jarrett clinched his championship one race before the season-ending event in 1999 and eventually won by 201 points. As a result, the Jarretts joined the Pettys as the only father-son duo to win the NASCAR Winston Cup championship.
- Like Jarrett, Matt Kenseth claimed the final NASCAR Winston Cup championship early after a fouth-place finish at Rockingham sealed the deal. Kenseth gave car owner Jack Roush his first series title by posting one win, 11 top-five and a series-best 25 top-10 finishes. He took the points lead after a fourth-place finish at Atlanta in March and held that advantage for the final 32 weeks.
- Kurt Busch won the first NASCAR Playoff race in history at New Hampshire and eventually took the points lead after finishing fifth at Talladega. He posted six top-5 finishes and nine top-10 efforts in the final 10 events, and even overcame losing a wheel on the track to finish fifth in the season-ending Ford 400 to beat Jimmie Johnson by eight points.
- Logano qualified for the Championship 4 for the third time in five years after a dramatic win in the Round of 8 at Martinsville Speedway. Logano, who qualified for the Playoffs after posting a win in the regular season at Talladega, won the title by passing Martin Truex Jr. with 14 laps to go to capture the Ford EcoBoost 400.
FORD’S MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES CHAMPIONS
Year Driver Car Owner Wins Poles
1965 Ned Jarrett Bondy Long 13 9
1968 David Pearson Holman-Moody 16 12
1969 David Pearson Holman-Moody 11 14
1988 Bill Elliott Harry Melling 6 6
1992 Alan Kulwicki Alan Kulwicki 2 6
1999 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates 4 0
2003 Matt Kenseth Jack Roush 1 0
2004 Kurt Busch Jack Roush 3 1
2018 Joey Logano Team Penske 3 1
FORD MANUFACTURER CHAMPIONSHIP SEASONS: 1956, 1957, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2018
