FORD IN THE MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES AT BMS
· Ford has 37 all-time series wins at BMS.
· Joey Logano has two Ford wins at BMS while Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick have two each while driving with other manufacturers.
· Roger Penske has the most BMS series wins among active owners with 12.
FORD IN THE NASCAR XFINITY SERIES AT BMS
· Ford has nine series wins at BMS.
· The last Ford victory came by Joey Logano in 2015 (Drive to Stop Diabetes 300).
· Jack Roush has five series wins at BMS by five different drivers (Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and David Ragan).
MUSTANG TO MAKE CUP DEBUT AT BRISTOL
This will mark the first time Mustang competes at Bristol in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, but it’s no stranger to success at the track. Mustang has two wins in the NASCAR XFINITY Series since becoming Ford’s model of choice in 2011. Ryan Blaney (2014) and Joey Logano (2015) posted victories in back-to-back seasons, respectively.
FIREBALL BURNS BRIGHT IN FORD DEBUT
Ford won its first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 31, 1963 when Fireball Roberts won the Southeastern 500. What made the win so noteworthy is that it marked the debut of Roberts with Ford as a teammate of Fred Lorenzen’s at Holman-Moody. The duo put on a dominant show that day as they combined to lead 329 of 500 laps with Roberts leading 165 and Lorenzen 164. Roberts passed his new teammate with eight laps to go and won by five seconds as the race saw only one caution for nine laps. Roberts went on to win four races in 1963 while Lorenzen won six times.
A THREE SERIES SWEEP
One of the most memorable Ford weekends in recent years came in August of 2014 when Ford swept all three NASCAR series races – Gander Outdoors Truck, XFINITY and Monster Energy Cup at Bristol Motor Speedway. Brad Keselowski captured his first GOTS victory while Ryan Blaney took the XFINITY event. Joey Logano capped the weekend sweep when he passed Matt Kenseth with 45 laps to go and then had to hold off Keselowski to post his third win of the 2014 season. Logano was in control until caution came out with 69 laps to go. While he pitted for four tires, Kenseth and others stayed out which put Logano sixth on the ensuing restart with 63 to go. With fresh tires, however, he was able to move to the front in less than 20 laps and then hold off his Penske teammate down the stretch. It marked the first time Ford swept all three divisions in the same weekend since 2006 when Mark Martin (GOTS) and Kenseth (NXS and MENCS) did it, ironically, at Bristol.
LOGANO WINS BACK-TO-BACK NIGHT RACES
Joey Logano held off a hard-charging Kevin Harvick over the final 25 laps to win the IRWIN Tools Night Race for the second consecutive year in 2015. Logano led four times for 176 laps, including all but four of the final 147 laps and that was because he pitted when the caution came out with 71 laps to go while Penske teammate Brad Keselowski opted to stay out for track position. Even though Keselowski had the lead on the ensuing restart, Logano’s four fresh tires enabled him to get the lead immediately and he held on over the final 64 circuits to post his 11th career victory.
BRISTOL BULLET POINTS
Rusty Wallace leads the way with five career Ford wins at BMS from 1994-2000 while Fred Lorenzen and Kurt Busch each won three consecutive races at the half-mile oval…In addition, Alan Kulwicki won five races during his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career and two of those came at Bristol Motor Speedway (1991-92)…Ford has swept both Bristol races seven times with the last coming in 2014 when Carl Edwards won the first event in March and Logano followed with his Night Race triumph in August.
ONE SMALL STEP FOR MANKIND
The date was July 20, 1969 and while Neil Armstrong we uttering those groundbreaking words as being the first man to step foot on the moon, David Pearson was busy winning at Bristol on the first race since the track installed high banking. What made the race even more interesting is that Pearson was relieved during the race by none other than Richard Petty, who was driving a Ford that season and dropped out earlier in the event. Even more ironic is that Petty was chasing Pearson for the championship that season, one in which Pearson eventually won for the second straight time.
FORD MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP WINNERS AT BRISTOL
1963 – Fireball Roberts and Fred Lorenzen
1964 – Fred Lorenzen (Sweep)
1965 – Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett
1966 – Dick Hutcherson (1)
1968 – David Pearson (Sweep)
1969 – David Pearson (2)
1970 – Donnie Allison (1)
1971 – David Pearson (1)
1988 – Bill Elliott (1)
1990 – Davey Allison (1)
1991 – Alan Kulwicki (2)
1992 – Alan Kulwicki (1)
1993 – Mark Martin (2)
1994 – Rusty Wallace (2)
1996 – Rusty Wallace (2)
1997 – Dale Jarrett (2)
1998 – Mark Martin (2)
1999 – Rusty Wallace (1)
2000 – Rusty Wallace (Sweep)
2001 – Elliott Sadler (1)
2002 – Kurt Busch (1)
2003 – Kurt Busch (Sweep)
2004 – Kurt Busch (1)
2005 – Matt Kenseth (2)
2006 – Matt Kenseth (2)
2007 – Carl Edwards (2)
2008 – Carl Edwards (2)
2014 – Carl Edwards and Joey Logano
2015 – Joey Logano (2)
2018 – Kurt Busch (2)
FORD NASCAR XFINITY WINNERS AT BRISTOL
1989 – Mark Martin (2)
1994 – Kenny Wallace (2)
1996 – Mark Martin (1)
1997 – Jeff Burton (1)
2006 – Matt Kenseth (2)
2007 – Carl Edwards (1)
2009 – David Ragan (2)
2014 – Ryan Blaney (2)
2015 – Joey Logano (1)
