DOVER
Saturday, July 19 — NASCAR Xfinity Series, 4:30 p.m. ET (CW)
Sunday, July 20 — NASCAR Cup Series, 2 p.m. ET (TNT)
The NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Xfinity Series will both be in action this weekend at Dover Motor Speedway as the regular seasons for both continue to wind down. The Cup drivers have only six more races remaining to secure a spot in the playoff field while their Xfinity counterparts have seven events until their postseason gets underway.
LOGANO MAKING 600TH CUP START
Three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano will add another milestone to his resume this weekend as he becomes the 34th driver to make at least 600 series starts. In that time, Logano has won 37 times, including 35 with Ford, which ties him for third on the manufacturer’s all-time list with Mark Martin. He’s won the most Cup Series races in a Mustang (16) and his 35 wins is the most for a Team Penske driver with Ford.
BERRY RETURNS TO SITE OF CUP DEBUT
Josh Berry made his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Dover Motor Speedway in 2021 when he drove the No. 77 car for Spire Motorsports and finished 30th. Since then, he has made 67 more starts and added a win to his resume, which came earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He’s also had much better results at the Monster Mile since that initial start, finishing 10th in 2023 substituting for an injured Alex Bowman and 14th last season driving for Stewart-Haas Racing. In addition to his three Cup starts, Berry was dominant in three NASCAR Xfinity Series starts with one win (2022) and two runner-up finishes.
SMITH AND CINDRIC LOOKING TO ADD DOVER CUP WIN
Zane Smith’s bid to advance to the semifinals of the inaugural In-Season Challenge was derailed last weekend by Ty Gibbs, but he’s hoping to put that behind him and focus on adding a second Miles the Monster trophy to his collection by winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race. Smith earned his first by capturing the KDI Office Technology 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event in 2020. On the other hand, Cindric went to Victory Lane at Dover in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2021 during the tour’s only visit that season. In three Cup starts, Cindric’s best finish is 15th, which came last year.
JOEY LOGANO: “To be able to be around in a sport as an athlete competing at a top level for 16-plus years, and hitting 600 starts, it’s pretty incredible to have a career that long. It’s something that I take some pride in. I’m proud of that, to be able to hit this marker. It’s a lot of starts. I remember my 300th start and I think it was Kenseth at the time, maybe it was Truex as well, that weren’t too far from 600 and I thought, ‘Geez, that’s double the amount of races as me. That’s crazy.’ But here I am, so it went by pretty quick. It’s been a heck of a ride. This sport has been awesome to me and my family and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
ZANE SMITH: “A big topic is it’s a different time of year that we’re racing there and the potential is there for it to be really hot. It’s obviously a really demanding place, and I think you could see some track changes, too, with just how hot it potentially is going to be. Typically, that means more rubber is gonna get laid down, which creates more lanes, which is great for us. Any opportunity we can get to search for cleaner air is always a great thing.”
TODD GILLILAND: “I don’t think I’ve ever finished a Cup race better than probably 35th at Dover, to be honest with you. I’ve wrecked a lot there, so I’m hoping the track is completely different and it doesn’t even feel like the same place I’ve been at. That’s the goal, hopefully. Like you said, the temperature will definitely make a big difference. Dover is extremely fast. It’s not necessarily rough, but just all the seams in the concrete make it feel kind of rougher, so it’s a fun area. It’s usually earlier in the year and we generally struggle a little bit with the rain here and there, but hopefully it’s beautiful weather and the track widens out a little bit with warmer temperatures.”
HARVICK RECORDS FORD’S 700TH CUP WIN
Kevin Harvick recorded Ford’s 700th all-time series victory when he won at the Monster Mile in 2020. Harvick dominated the second half of the weekend doubleheader, sweeping all three stages and leading 223-of-311 laps to win for the seventh time in 2020. The victory also clinched the regular season championship for Harvick, who went on to lead the series with nine victories.
ANOTHER FIRST FOR THE KING
Ford won the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover International Raceway in 1969 when Richard Petty drove to victory lane on July 6. That marked the only year in which The King drove a Ford and was the fourth of nine wins for him that season, and it came in dominating fashion as he led half of the 300 laps, including the final 109. It was a Ford day all-around as the Blue Oval led every lap in the race with Lee Roy Yarbrough (124) and David Pearson (26) combining to lead the ones Petty didn’t, and had nine of the top 11 finishers.
FROM 500 TO 400
In 1997, Ford swept both Dover events, but it’s remembered for historical reasons because when Ricky Rudd won the spring event on June 1, 1997 it marked the Speedway’s final 500-mile event. Rudd took advantage of being in the right place at the right time after leader Ernie Irvan was involved in an accident with 29 laps remaining. Rudd took over the lead and held off Mark Martin over the final few laps to lead a Ford sweep of the top four spots. Martin bounced back a few months later by winning the fall event, which marked the inaugural 400-mile race at the track. That started a streak that saw him win three straight fall events at the Monster Mile.
SEVEN TO GO
There are seven races remaining in the NASCAR Xfinity Series regular season, including this weekend’s event at Dover Motor Speedway. The Haas Factory Team duo of Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed are both currently in the 12-driver playoff field. Mayer currently ranks second in the point standings, 59 points behind leader Justin Allgaier, while Creed is eighth overall and 54 points above the cut line.
NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS
AT DOVER
1969 – Richard Petty
1978 – Bobby Allison (2)
1980 – Bobby Allison (1)
1981 – Jody Ridley and Neil Bonnett
1985 – Bill Elliott
1986 – Ricky Rudd (2)
1987 – Davey Allison and Ricky Rudd
1988 – Bill Elliott (Sweep)
1990 – Bill Elliott (2)
1994 – Rusty Wallace (Sweep)
1997 – Ricky Rudd and Mark Martin
1998 – Dale Jarrett and Mark Martin
1999 – Mark Martin (2)
2004 – Mark Martin (1)
2005 – Greg Biffle (1)
2006 – Matt Kenseth (1)
2007 – Carl Edwards (2)
2008 – Greg Biffle (2)
2011 – Matt Kenseth (1)
2018 – Kevin Harvick (1)
2020 – Kevin Harvick (2)
FORD’S NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS
AT DOVER
1987 – Mark Martin (1)
2001 – Jeff Green (2)
2002 – Greg Biffle (1)
2004 – Greg Biffle (1)
2007 – Carl Edwards (1)
2011 – Carl Edwards (Sweep)
2013 – Joey Logano (Sweep)
2015 – Chris Buescher (1)
2017 – Ryan Blaney (2)
2019 – Cole Custer (2)
2020 – Chase Briscoe (2)
2021 – Austin Cindric
The Ford Mustang, celebrating its 61st anniversary in 2025, is the world’s best selling sports car. It is also one of the planet’s most popular race cars. With Mustang-based race cars competing in international sports car competition (GT3 and GT4), NASCAR, NHRA, Formula Drift, in Australian Supercars, at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and in its own bespoke one-make series – Mustang Cup and Mustang Challenge – the platform has an unprecedented global reach. This weekend, 26 Mustang race cars are scheduled to race across all disciplines. Learn more at FordPerformance.com.
