FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR: DARLINGTON PLAYOFF NOTES
A playoff doubleheader highlights Sunday’s scheduled action at Darlington Raceway as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series kicks things off with its second race of the postseason while the NASCAR Cup Series follows with its opener in the traditional Labor Day Weekend Southern 500. The Darlington weekend starts with the NASCAR XFINITY Series race Saturday afternoon.
This Week’s Schedule:
Saturday, September 4 – NASCAR XFINITY Series, 3:30 p.m. (NBCSN)
Sunday, September 5 – NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, 1:30 p.m. (FS1)
Sunday, September 5– NASCAR Cup Series, 6 p.m. (NBCSN)
FORD IN THE NASCAR CUP SERIES AT DARLINGTON
· Ford has 31 all-time series wins at Darlington.
· NASCAR Hall of Famer Curtis Turner won Ford’s first race at Darlington in 1966.
· Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick are the only active Ford drivers with Darlington Cup wins.
ROUND OF 16 NCS PLAYOFF STANDINGS (Top 12 Advance After Bristol)
3rd – Ryan Blaney
9th – Joey Logano
10th – Brad Keselowski
12th – Michael McDowell
14th – Aric Almirola
16th – Kevin Harvick
FORD IN THE NASCAR XFINITY SERIES AT DARLINGTON
· Ford has 20 series wins at Darlington.
· Mark Martin holds the record for most series wins at Darlington with eight.
· Jack Roush leads all owners with 15 Darlington series wins.
FORD IN THE NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES AT DARLINGTON
· Ford has 1 series wins at Darlington in 8 starts
· Ben Rhodes registered that win last season in the only visit the series made to Darlington.
ROUND OF 10 NCWTS PLAYOFF STANDINGS (Top 8 Advance After Bristol)
8th – Todd Gilliland (+10 above cut line)
BLANEY GOING FOR THREE IN A ROW
Ryan Blaney will be looking to join Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano as active Ford drivers who have won three straight NASCAR Cup Series races when he takes the green flag this weekend at Darlington Raceway. Blaney has won back-to-back thrillers at Michigan and Daytona, giving him three victories on the season. Harvick and Keselowski each won three in a row during the 2018 season. Harvick did it early on when he won at Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix while Keselowski did it in the second half of the year at Darlington, Indianapolis and the Las Vegas playoff opener. Logano achieved the feat in 2015 when he won all three races in the Round of 12 at Charlotte, Kansas and Talladega.
SIX FORD DRIVERS IN CUP CHAMPIONSHIP HUNT
There are six Ford drivers with a chance to win this year’s NASCAR Cup Series championship and three of them will be looking to become a two-time winner. Brad Keselowski (2012), Kevin Harvick (2014) and Joey Logano (2018) all have one championship apiece while Ryan Blaney, Aric Almirola and Michael McDowell will be trying to earn their first.
ALL-TIME FORD PLAYOFF VICTORIES
Ford goes into the 2021 postseason with 47 all-time playoff victories, including at least one on every track that makes up this year’s 10-race schedule. Joey Logano is Ford’s all-time playoff win leader with 10 while Carl Edwards is second with eight and Greg Biffle third with seven. Talladega Superspeedway has been Ford’s most successful track since the playoff format began in 2004 with nine NASCAR Cup Series victories. Homestead and Kansas are next on the list with seven wins each.
HARVICK GOING FOR BACK-TO-BACK SOUTHERN 500 WINS
Kevin Harvick would like nothing better than to get his first win of the 2021 season this weekend because it would not only automatically put him in the Round of 12, but it would be his second straight Southern 500 victory. Harvick won last year’s race thanks in part to late-race contact between Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr., who were both battling for the lead, with 15 laps to go. Harvick took the lead with 13 laps remaining and went on to record his first career Southern 500 victory and eighth of the 2020 season. Harvick is looking to become the first repeat winner of the Southern 500 since Jeff Gordon won the event four straight seasons (1995-98).
WOOD BROTHERS LEAD THE WAY
It comes as no surprise that the Wood Brothers are Ford’s all-time winningest team at Darlington Raceway, posting eight career victories. All but one of those triumphs came in a Mercury, which the team ran in the 1960’s and 70’s. David Pearson, who holds the record with 10 career Darlington Cup victories, led the way with six while Cale Yarborough captured the team’s first in 1968. The last Darlington win for Wood Brothers Racing came in 1981 when Neil Bonnett took the Southern 500 in 1981 behind the wheel of a Ford.
DARLINGTON MASTER
David Pearson holds the record for most NASCAR Cup Series wins at Darlington Raceway with 10 and eight of those came in Ford Motor Co. products. He won six times driving the famed No. 21 Wood Brothers Mercury (1972,’74,’76-2,’77), winning the Southern 500 twice in that span (1976-77), and two more times in a Holman-Moody Ford (1968 and ’70). Pearson won three Southern 500 titles overall, capturing his third in 1979.
FIELD OF 70
The first time Ford won a NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway was when Curtis Turner took the Southern 500 on Sept. 3, 1956. Unlike today, where the field is set at a maximum of 40 cars, there were 70 vehicles in the race that saw Turner lead 224 of the 400 laps. He beat Speedy Thompson to the finish line by more than two laps, and did it in record fashion with an average race speed of 95.167 mph.
FORD NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS AT DARLINGTON
1956 – Curtis Turner
1960 – Joe Weatherly (1)
1961 – Fred Lorenzen and Nelson Stacy
1962 – Nelson Stacy and Larry Frank
1963 – Fireball Roberts (2)
1964 – Fred Lorenzen (1)
1965 – Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett
1968 – David Pearson (1)
1969 – Lee Roy Yarbrough (2)
1970 – David Pearson (1)
1981 – Neil Bonnett (2)
1982 – Dale Earnhardt (1)
1985 – Bill Elliott (Sweep)
1988 – Bill Elliott (2)
1992 – Bill Elliott (1)
1993 – Mark Martin (2)
1994 – Bill Elliott (2)
1997 – Dale Jarrett (1)
1998 – Dale Jarrett (1)
1999 – Jeff Burton (Sweep)
2001 – Dale Jarrett (1)
2005 – Greg Biffle
2006 – Greg Biffle
2018 – Brad Keselowski
2020 – Kevin Harvick (1) and (3)
FORD NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS AT DARLINGTON
1993 – Mark Martin (2)
1994 – Mark Martin (Sweep)
1995 – Mark Martin (2)
1996 – Mark Martin (1) and Terry Labonte (2)
1997 – Jeff Burton (2)
1999 – Mark Martin (2)
2000 – Mark Martin (Sweep)
2001 – Jeff Green (1) and Jeff Burton (2)
2002 – Jeff Burton (Sweep)
2004 – Greg Biffle
2005 – Matt Kenseth
2009 – Matt Kenseth
2018 – Brad Keselowski
2019 – Cole Custer
2020 – Chase Briscoe (1)
FORD NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES WINNERS AT DARLINGTON
2020 – Ben Rhodes
