FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR: SONOMA RACEWAY
The NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be part of a doubleheader this weekend at Sonoma Raceway. This marks the first time the trucks will compete on the northern California road course since 1998 when Boris Said took the checkered flag and ran Ford’s win streak to three. The last time Ford won a Cup race at the facility was when Kevin Harvick did it in 2017.
This Week’s Schedule:
Saturday, June 11 – NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
Sunday, June 12 – 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 CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES AT SONOMA
· Ford leads all manufacturers with 3 wins in 4 all-time starts.
· Dave Rezendes, Joe Ruttman and Boris Said all registered one win each.
· This marks the first race for the series at Sonoma since 1998.
LOGANO CONTINUES IMPRESSIVE DEBUT STREAK
No driver has shown the ability to adapt as quickly to new tracks as Ford and Team Penske driver Joey Logano, who won for the second time this season with Sunday’s triumph at World Wide Technology Raceway. Logano passed Kyle Busch for the win in overtime, marking his 29th career win and 27th with Ford as the series competed at the track outside of St. Louis for the first time. Earlier this season, Logano won the inaugural Clash at the Coliseum in Los Angeles while last season he won the first dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
LOGANO CLIMBING ALL-TIME FORD CHARTS
As noted above, the win on Sunday was Logano’s 27th Ford victory, which moves him into sole possession of sixth place on the manufacturer’s all-time win list – one better than Brad Keselowski and NASCAR Hall of Famers Fred Lorenzen and Junior Johnson. Logano is only two wins away from tying David Pearson for fifth. Pearson had 73 all-time wins with the company when his 44 victories in a Mercury are factored into the equation. Ned Jarrett is first on the Ford list with 43.
LOGANO ALL-TIME PENSKE FORD WINNER
Sunday’s victory also made Logano Team Penske’s all-time winner at the Cup level with Ford. Since joining both organizations in 2013, Logano has won 27 times, which is one more than Brad Keselowski and four more than NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace. Team Penske has 87 all-time Cup wins with Ford.
FORD’S ALL-TIME ROAD COURSE WINNER IS…
NASCAR has competed on 16 different road courses during its history and Ford has had 21 drivers win 33 times overall. Dan Gurney leads the way with five, including four straight at Riverside International Raceway from 1963-66 while driving for the Wood Brothers. Mark Martin, on the strength of three straight wins at Watkins Glen International from 1993-95, is second.
FORD’S ALL-TIME ROAD COURSE WINNERS
5 – Dan Gurney
4 – Mark Martin
2 – Fireball Roberts, Marvin Panch, Parnelli Jones, Ricky Rudd, Marcos Ambrose
1 – Chuck Stevenson, Eddie Gray, Richard Petty, A.J. Foyt, Bobby Allison, Bill Elliott, Davey Allison, Geoffrey Bodine, Ernie Irvan, Rusty Wallace, Carl Edwards, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney.
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.
FORD HIGHLIGHTS AT SONOMA
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 CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES WINNERS AT SONOMA
1996 – Dave Rezendes
1997 – Joe Ruttman
1998 – Boris Said
