FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR: KANSAS ADVANCE
NASCAR will have another busy week as all three of its top series will be competing at Kansas Speedway, beginning with the NASCAR Cup Series race on Thursday night. That will be followed by back-to-back NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoor Truck events on Friday night and Saturday afternoon with the NASCAR XFINITY Series capping off the weekend on Saturday evening.
FORD LEADS THE WAY
Going into this week’s action at Kansas Speedway, Ford finds itself on top of the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR XFINITY Series in a number of departments, including:
· Most Wins (Cup): 10
· Most Wins (NXS): 8
· Cup Points Leader: Kevin Harvick
· NXS Points Leader: Chase Briscoe
· Manufacturer Points Leader: Cup (+47) and NXS (+16)
· 15 combined wins in 26 starts since NASCAR returned to action on May 17: 8 Cup (14 starts) and 7 NXS (12 starts).
CINDRIC JOINS SELECT COMPANY
Austin Cindric is only the second Ford driver to ever win three consecutive NASCAR XFINITY Series races since the manufacturer won its first event in 1987. Mark Martin is the only other man to achieve that feat after he won consecutive races at Rockingham, Richmond and Atlanta in 1997.
FORD GOING FOR SIX STRAIGHT NXS WINS
Ford leads the NASCAR XFINITY Series in victories with eight and sits atop the manufacturers’ standings after Austin Cindric’s win at Texas. That marked the manufacturer’s fifth straight victory and a win this weekend at Kansas would equal the six consecutive triumphs Ford earned in 2002. Jason Keller led that streak with three wins while Scott Riggs won twice and Bobby Hamliton Jr. once.
FORD IN THE NASCAR CUP SERIES AT KANSAS
· Ford has eight all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins at Kansas.
· Brad Keselowski is the defending winner of this week’s event.
· Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick and 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 while Jeff Burton won the following year.
· Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has Ford’s last series win at the track (2012).
FORD IN THE NASCAR XFINITY SERIES AT KANSAS
· Ford has four series victories at Kansas.
· Jon Wood won Ford’s first series race at the track.
· Matt Crafton has two series wins at Kansas.
KESELOWSKI GOING FOR KANSAS REPEAT
Brad Keselowski registered his third win of the season when he prevailed in overtime during the first visit to Kansas Speedway last season. Keselowski led only 12 of the 271 laps, which was extended four laps past the scheduled distance, but he was able to outduel Alex Bowman by passing him under green on Lap 261 and then holding him off with fresher tires in overtime.
HARVICK NETS FIRST KANSAS FORD WIN
Kevin Harvick passed Martin Truex Jr. coming to the white flag and held on to capture his fifth victory of the season after winning this event in 2018. Harvick, who started on the pole, had a competitive car all night as he led five times for 79 laps and finished second the first two stages. A series of late-race cautions set the stage for Harvick to rally after a red flag with 14 laps remaining reset the field. Even though Truex built a good-sized lead, Harvick was able to close the gap with three laps to go before making the decisive pass. The win gave Harvick back-to-back NASCAR Cup Series wins for the second time in 2018, a year that saw him win eight times overall.
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 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)
2018 – Kevin Harvick (1)
2019 – Brad Keselowski (1)
FORD NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS AT KANSAS
2001 – Jeff Green
2002 – Jeff Burton
2012 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
FORD NASCAR GANDER RV & OUTDOOR SERIES WINNERS AT KANSAS
2003 – Jon Wood
2004 – Carl Edwards
2006 – Terry Cook
2007 – Erik Darnell
