FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR: ROAD AMERICA ADVANCE
The Fourth of July holiday weekend will feature a pair of races at Road America as the NASCAR XFINITY Series returns to the course for a 12th straight season while the NASCAR Cup Series competes there for the first time since 1956.
This Week’s Schedule:
Saturday, July 3 – NASCAR XFINITY Series, 2:30 p.m. ET (NBC)
Sunday, July 4 – NASCAR Cup Series, 2:30 p.m. ET (NBC)
RETURNING TO ROAD AMERICA
This is the first time the NASCAR Cup Series will race at Road America in 65 years when NASCAR Hall of Famer Tim Flock, driving a Mercury, won the inaugural event. Flock, who led the final 10 laps, beat Billy Myers (2nd in a Mercury) and Fireball Roberts (3rd in a Ford) as Ford Motor Company swept the top three positions and had five of the top seven finishers.
CINDRIC GOING FOR NXS REPEAT
Austin Cindric will be going for his second straight NASCAR XFINITY Series win at Road America after he started on the pole and won last year’s event. The race, which was red-flagged for lightning after Cindric led the first 10 laps, saw a pair of late cautions create a scenario that saw Cindric take the lead and then hold off AJ Allmendinger the final two laps to post his fourth win of the season and third career road course triumph. Cindric added to that total later in the year by winning on the Daytona road course.
FORD’S ACTIVE ROAD COURSE CUP WINNERS
There are three current drivers who have won a NASCAR Cup Series race on a road course with Ford. The most recent winner was Ryan Blaney, who captured the inaugural event at the Charlotte Roval in 2018. Kevin Harvick, who goes into this weekend with 23 career Ford victories in just over four years, got his first with the Blue Oval in 2017 when he won at Sonoma. Joey Logano scored his Cup victory at Watkins Glen International in 2015, which completed a weekend sweep after he won the NASCAR XFINITY Series race one day earlier.
OTHER FORD ROAD COURSE WINNERS
Besides the drivers mentioned above, Ford has four other competitors who have won on a road course in either the NASCAR Cup or NASCAR XFINITY Series. Ryan Newman (Watkins Glen NXS, 2005); Brad Keselowski (Watkins Glen NXS with Ford, 2013); Chris Buescher (Mid-Ohio NXS with Ford, 2014); and Michael McDowell (Road America NXS, 2016).
FORD ROAD COURSE WINS IN THE MODERN ERA (1972-Present)
Road America will represent the seventh different road course the NASCAR Cup Series has competed on in the modern era, joining Riverside International Raceway (1958-88), Watkins Glen International (1957-Present), Sonoma Raceway (1989-Present), Charlotte Motor Speedway (2018-Present), Daytona International Speedway (2020-Present) and Circuit of the Americas (2021). One more will join that list later this year when the circuit races for the first time on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Aug. 15). Ford has produced a total of 19 combined wins at those facilities from 1972-Present. Mark Martin leads the way with four victories, including three straight years at Watkins Glen, while Ricky Rudd, Marcos Ambrose and Geoffrey Bodine have two each.
FORD NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS AT ROAD AMERICA
2010 – Carl Edwards
2013 – A.J. Allmendinger
2020 – Austin Cindric
