BROOKLYN, MI – August 10, 2020 – Ford Performance and Roush Yates Engines won at Road America with Austin Cindric and swept the double header at Michigan International Speedway with Kevin Harvick. Cindric’s win marked his fourth win in the 2020 season and the ninth win for Ford Performance in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Harvick’s wins marked three in-a-row in the NASCAR Cup Series for Stewart-Haas Racing and six in-a-row at MIS for Ford Performance teams and Roush Yates Engines.
“What an incredible weekend!” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “The weekend started off with an impressive run and win by Austin Cindric at Road America then ended with Kevin Harvick sweeping Michigan! Winning at Michigan has always been special for our team and the Ford family. It feels great to be able to keep the Heritage trophy in Dearborn.”
The NASCAR Cup Series had an action-packed weekend with a double header at Michigan International Speedway. Harvick dominated on Saturday afternoon, winning both stages and the FireKeepers Casino 400. Harvick‘s fast Ford Mustang was out front the majority of the afternoon, leading a race-high 92 of the 161 laps.
As the laps wound down, the competition began to heat up. There were five restarts in the final 30 laps, including an overtime finish, that forced Harvick, “The Closer”, to close out the win just 0.284 seconds in front of Ford Performance teammate Brad Keselowski.
Ryan Blaney also had a strong day, leading 27 laps, top five finish in both stages, and finishing P4. Joey Logano led 18 laps while finishing P8.
“This was just an awesome car to drive today,” Harvick said. “I think the confidence is high when we come to Michigan anyway. It‘s a race track that‘s been really good to us and for whatever reason just fits our style of cars, everything we do with our cars at Stewart-Haas Racing.”
Sunday’s Michigan race was more of the same, with Harvick winning stage two and the race. Harvick led a race-high 90 of 156 laps. This was his sixth victory of the season, his fifth at Michigan and the 55th of his Cup Series career, tying him with Rusty Wallace on the series’ all-time win list.
Harvick had to hold off a hard charging Denny Hamlin in the closing laps of the Consumers Energy 400 on Sunday. “It was a big challenge.” said Harvick. “Our Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang got really tight there in three and four. I could run really good through one and two still, but I was just tight on that other end all day. So, I’ve just got to thank all my guys. They did a great job all weekend on pit road. Great pit calls. Just got to thank Haas Automation, Mobil 1, Hunt Brothers, Jimmy Johns, Fields. Everybody who helps put this No. 4 car on the track and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing and Roush Yates Engines for awesome power underneath the hood this weekend.”
For Sunday’s race, Logano finished P5, Aric Almirola P6, and Matt DiBenedetto had a great run, finishing P7. Clint Bowyer also led 43 laps while winning stage one.
On Saturday afternoon the NASCAR Xfinity Series took on Road America, a 4.048-mile road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Cindric dove into Turn 1 taking the lead after the green flag dropped and led the opening eight laps before cars were called to pit road due to lightning in the area. After more than an hour of delay, teams returned to their cars.
The entire race was filled with ever changing weather conditions that made pit road strategy crucial. Heavy rain showers during the race forced teams to change to rain tires, but once the sun came out it was a race back to the slick tires.
The race win came down to a three-lap shootout between Cindric and AJ Allmendinger. Cindric came out on top, achieving his fourth win of the year while leading a race high of 19 laps. Chase Briscoe fought hard and was in contention to win all day while finishing P3, his sixth top-five in the last seven races.
Ford leads all manufacturers with 13 NASCAR Cup series wins and nine Xfinity series wins. Stewart-Haas Racing and Harvick lead the owner and driver points standings in NCS and Cindric along with Team Penske lead the owner and driver points standing in the NXS.
Both the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity series will head to Daytona International Speedway to run the road course for the first time ever! Reference the full 2020 schedule on Roushyates.com.
27 CHAMPIONSHIPS – 401 WINS – 357 POLES!
*Photos courtesy of NASCAR Media & Getty Images
About Roush Yates Engines
Roush Yates Engines is a leading-edge engine development company based in Mooresville, NC consisting of two state-of-the-art facilities – Roush Yates Engines and Roush Yates Manufacturing Solutions, a world class ISO 9001 / AS9100 certified CNC manufacturing facility. The company’s core business includes designing, building and testing purpose-built race engines.
Ford Performance in partnership with Roush Yates Engines is the exclusive engine builder of the NASCAR FR9 Ford V8 engine and Ford Mustang 5.2L V8 engine, used in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series.
With an unparalleled culture of winning and steeped in rich racing history, Roush Yates Engines continues to follow the company’s vision to lead performance engine innovation and staying true to the company’s mission, provide race winning engines through demonstrated power and performance.
3 Series – 22 Teams – 81 Races
