FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR: LAS VEGAS NOTES
All three of NASCAR’s top touring series will be in action this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup and Camping World Truck Series will compete in their respective Playoff openers while the NASCAR XFINITY Series concludes its regular season and sets the 12-driver postseason field.
FORD MENCS PLAYOFF LINEUP
Ford, which has a manufacter-best 13 wins this season, has the most drivers in this year’s Playoff field with seven as every team from Stewart-Haas Racing and Team Penske qualified. Race winners who earned automatic qualification include Kevin Harvick (7 wins), Clint Bowyer (2), Brad Keselowski (2), Joey Logano (1), and Kurt Busch (1). Ryan Blaney and Aric Almirola advanced on points.
FORD MENCS PLAYOFF VICTORIES
Ford has 35 all-time Playoff victories with Harvick, Logano, Keselowski and Busch all having at least one with the manufacturer. In fact, Busch won the very first Playoff race in NASCAR history when he captured the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sept. 19, 2004. He eventually went on to win the championship that season.
FORD IN THE MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES AT LVMS
· Ford leads all manufacturers with 10 series wins in 21 all-time events.
· Roush Fenway Racing tops all organizations with 7 victories, including the first three.
· Kevin Harvick will be looking for the season sweep after winning at LVMS in March.
FORD IN THE NASCAR XFINITY SERIES AT LVMS
· Just like Cup, Ford has 9 NASCAR XFINITY Series wins at LVMS.
· Jeff Burton and Mark Martin lead the way with 2 wins apiece.
· Cole Custer has clinched a Playoff berth while Ryan Reed and Austin Cindric are in position to advance via points.
FORD IN THE CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES AT LVMS
· Ford has 4 series wins at LVMS.
· Joe Ruttman, Greg Biffle, Travis Kvapil and Tyler Reddick have one each.
· Ben Rhodes, Matt Crafton and Grant Enfinger will represent Ford in the Playoff opener.
MARTIN LEADS FORD CHARGE IN INAUGURAL VEGAS CUP EVENT
Ford took the checkered flag at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the inaugural race at the 1.5-mile facility on March 1, 1998 as Mark Martin led a manufacturer runaway that saw 13 of the top 14 finishers driving a Taurus. The win was the first for Taurus, which became the first full-time four-door entry in NASCAR, after Ford decided to use it in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starting with the 1998 season. Martin bested Roush Fenway teammate Jeff Burton by 1.605 seconds to win the Las Vegas 400 with Rusty Wallace, Johnny Benson and Jeremy Mayfield rounding out the top-five. The only non-Ford to finish in the top-10 was the late Dale Earnhardt, who was eighth.
SWEEP DELIGHT FOR KESELOWSKI
Brad Keselowski completed a weekend sweep in 2014 after taking the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR XFINITY Series events on consecutive days. Even though Keselowski led the most laps in the MENCS race, he needed a little bit of luck and got it on the final lap when Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was in conservation mode, ran out of gas on the back straightaway. That enabled Keselowski to win going away and post the first of his six victories that season. That Cup win gave Ford eight all-time series victories at the track, which is more than any other manufacturer.
ROUSH RULES
There have been two Roush Fenway Racing drivers who have posted consecutive Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victories at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Jeff Burton won in 1999 and 2000 while Matt Kenseth did it in his championship season of 2003 and 2004. In fact, Roush Fenway Racing has been a force in both the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup and NASCAR XFINITY Series at the 1.5-mile facility. The organization has posted seven MENCS wins and six NXS victories for a total of 13 overall, which includes back-to-back weekend sweeps in 1999 and 2000. In addition, RFR has three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series triumphs. Team Penske has been the most dominant team of late with Keselowski’s sweep in 2014, Sam Hornish Jr’s. NASCAR XFINITY Series win in 2013, Keselowski’s Cup triumph two years ago, and Logano’s NXS victory last season.
FORD MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS AT LAS VEGAS
1998 – Mark Martin
1999 – Jeff Burton
2000 – Jeff Burton
2003 – Matt Kenseth
2004 – Matt Kenseth
2008 – Carl Edwards
2011 – Carl Edwards
2014 – Brad Keselowski
2016 – Brad Keselowski
2018 – Kevin Harvick (1)
FORD NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS AT LAS VEGAS
1999 – Mark Martin
2000 – Jeff Burton
2002 – Jeff Burton
2005 – Mark Martin
2009 – Greg Biffle
2012 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2013 – Sam Hornish Jr.
2014 – Brad Keselowski
2017 – Joey Logano
FORD NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES WINNERS AT LAS VEGAS
1997 – Joe Ruttman
1999 – Greg Biffle
2007 – Travis Kvapil
2016 – Tyler Reddick
