FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR: SONOMA/MID-OHIO ADVANCE
A pair of road courses in different parts of the country will host NASCAR events this weekend as the NASCAR XFINITY Series competes at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday and the NASCAR Cup Series runs at Sonoma Raceway one day later.
This Week’s Schedule:
Saturday, June 5 – NASCAR XFINITY Series, 1 p.m. ET (FS1)
Sunday, June 6 – NASCAR Cup Series, 4 p.m. ET (FS1)
FORD IN THE NASCAR CUP SERIES AT SONOMA
- Ford has eight all-time series wins at Sonoma by eight different drivers.
- Kevin Harvick is the only active Ford driver with a Cup win at Sonoma.
- All eight Ford wins have been by NASCAR Hall of Fame owners (Robert Yates, 3; Jack Roush, 2; Bud Moore, 1; Roger Penske, 1; and Tony Stewart, 1)
FORD IN THE NASCAR XFINITY SERIES AT MID-OHIO
- Ford has won 4-of-7 all-time series races at Mid-Ohio by four different drivers.
- Austin Cindric won the last time the series visited Mid-Ohio in 2019.
- Owner Roger Penske has three series wins at Mid-Ohio.
CINDRIC IS MID-OHIO KING OF THE ROAD
Austin Cindric has 11 career NASCAR XFINITY Series wins and four of those have come on road courses, including the last time the circuit visited Mid-Ohio in 2019. Cindric has registered his wins at Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio, Daytona Road Course and Road America, but has been particularly dominant at Mid-Ohio. In his two career starts, Cindric has sat on the pole both times and led a combined 105-of-150 laps. He finished second in 2018 after leading 59 laps, but his older tires couldn’t hold off Justin Allgaier, who pitted for new ones during the final caution and passed him with three laps to go. Cindric led 46 laps two years ago to win by more than three seconds.
FORD SONOMA WINNERS HAVE NASCAR HALL OF FAME TIES
As noted above, Ford has won eight times at Sonoma and the one thing all of those winners have in common is that their owners are members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Robert Yates (Class of 2018) won this event three times (Davey Allison, 1991; Ernie Irvan, 1994; and Ricky Rudd, 2002), while Jack Roush (Class of 2019) has two victories (Mark Martin, 1997 and Carl Edwards, 2014). Bud Moore (Class of 2011) won with Geoffrey Bodine in 1993 while Roger Penske (Class of 2019) won with Rusty Wallace in 1996 and Tony Stewart (Class of 2020) with Kevin Harvick in 2017.
HARVICK GETS FIRST FORD WIN
Kevin Harvick stretched his fuel over the final 40 laps to bring home his first win with Ford and first win at Sonoma when he captured this event four years ago. Harvick bested teammate Clint Bowyer and fellow Ford driver Brad Keselowski in a 1-2-3 showing for the Blue Oval. The win marked the second triumph for Stewart-Haas Racing since moving to Ford prior to the start of the 2017 season. In all, five Fusions wound up in the top-10 with Kurt Busch finishing seventh and Ryan Blaney ninth as Harvick led 24-of-110 laps and cruised to a win of over eight seconds.
RUDD RUCKUS
When Ford took the checkered flag at Sonoma Raceway for the first time it came in controversial fashion. That’s because Davey Allison, the man credited with winning the Banquet Frozen Foods 300 in 1991, was sent spinning by Ricky Rudd as they were approaching the white flag. Even though Rudd ended up crossing the finish line first, he received the black flag from NASCAR for rough driving and awarded Allison with the trophy. The win was Allison’s first and only one on a road course and snapped an eight-race streak that had seen either Rudd or Rusty Wallace end up in Victory Lane at Watkins Glen International or Sonoma Raceway.
MOORE IS BEST
Little did anyone know that when Geoffrey Bodine won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway in 1993 it would represent the final win for car owner Bud Moore. Bodine, driving the No. 15 Motorcraft Ford, had just purchased the assets of Alan Kulwicki’s No. 7 team earlier in the week and after taking the checkered flag proceeded to honor the late driver by doing an abbreviated Polish Victory Lap. He was able to do that after surviving a fierce three-car battle on the final lap with Ricky Rudd and Ernie Irvan in which contact between all three cars took place. Moore, a NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee in 2011, won 63 series races during his career by 10 different drivers.
EDWARDS BREAKS DROUGHT
Carl Edwards snapped an 11-race winless streak for Ford when he captured the NASCAR Cup Series race in 2014 for car owner Jack Roush. Edwards held off Jeff Gordon on the final lap to post the first road win of his NCS career. He did it thanks to a two-stop strategy and a timely caution. Edwards had just pitted on lap 70 when NASCAR threw a caution for debris one lap later. While most of the field decided to pit for new tires, Edwards and fellow Ford driver Marcos Ambrose stayed out and gained the necessary track position that put both in position to win. Ambrose took the lead from Clint Bowyer on lap 81 and brought Edwards with him, but another restart with 25 to go saw Ambrose and Edwards sharing the front row. Edwards got the jump and took the lead, which he never surrendered, although a hard-charging Gordon made it interesting on the final lap.
FORD NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS AT SONOMA
1991 – Davey Allison
1993 – Geoffrey Bodine
1994 – Ernie Irvan
1996 – Rusty Wallace
1997 – Mark Martin
2002 – Ricky Rudd
2014 – Carl Edwards
2017 – Kevin Harvick
FORD NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS AT MID-OHIO
2013 – AJ Allmendinger
2014 – Chris Buescher
2017 – Sam Hornish Jr.
2019 – Austin Cindric
