WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY
Saturday, September 6 – NASCAR Xfinity Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (CW)
Sunday, September 7 – NASCAR Cup Series, 3 p.m. ET (USA)
Ford has won two of the first three NASCAR Cup Series races held at World Wide Technology Raceway, site of this weekend’s stop on the NASCAR circuit. Joey Logano took the opener in 2022 and Austin Cindric came away with the checkered flag last year. Both will look to improve their respective positions in the playoff standings on Sunday while it’s one last chance for some of Ford’s NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers to make the playoffs with a win in the regular season finale.
PLAYOFF UPDATE
There were challenging moments for all four of Ford’s playoff drivers at Darlington Raceway last weekend, but Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric did enough to increase their advantages above the cut line. Even though Blaney dropped from fourth to seventh in the standings, he gained two points on the cut off, going from 20 to 22 while Austin Cindric moved up one spot to ninth in the standings and gained 10 points to move 12 ahead. Defending series champ Joey Logano is just below the final transfer spot by three points while Josh Berry is 19 out after his first lap incident on Sunday.
POS – NAME (Points above or below the cut line)
7th – Ryan Blaney (+20)
9th – Austin Cindric (+12)
13th – Joey Logano (-3)
16th – Josh Berry (-19)
*The top eight drivers advance after Bristol
CINDRIC GOING FOR TWO STRAIGHT
Austin Cindric was in the right place at the right time, taking advantage of teammate Ryan Blaney running out of gas at the white flag to win last year’s NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway. Cindric, who had not won since capturing the 2022 Daytona 500, was part of a Team Penske trio that was strong all day as he led 53 laps. Blaney appeared in control after outdueling Christopher Bell for the lead, but he ran out of gas just before beginning the final lap, allowing Cindric to inherit the top spot and cruise to his second career victory. Overall, Cindric, Blaney and Joey Logano combined to lead 74 laps while Ford as a whole led 137-of-240 laps.
PENSKE SUCCESS AT WWTR
Team Penske has enjoyed NASCAR’s stop at World Wide Technology Raceway, winning two of the three events held at the facility and leading 217-of-720 laps (30%) in the three races combined. Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric have each led at least one lap in two of the three races (2022 and 2024) while Blaney led the second-most laps in 2023 with 83. Overall, the trio has combined for six Top 10 finishes in nine starts, including Logano, who has finished no worse than fifth. The only time a Team Penske driver finished outside of the top 13 was last year when Blaney finished 24th and that was because he ran out of fuel while leading on the final lap.
Driver: 2022-2023-2024
Joey Logano: 1st-3rd-5th
Ryan Blaney: 4th-6th-24th
Austin Cindric: 11th-13th-1st
JOSH BERRY: HOW DOES HAVING GATEWAY AND NEW HAMPSHIRE WORK FOR YOU? “I think that each round presents its own challenges. I think you look at Gateway is a short track, but kind of a faster short track. Strategy and fuel mileage can be so important there, so there are things that can definitely go awry. New Hampshire is one that I’m pretty excited for. I know we’re bringing back a little different tire, similar to what we had at Richmond. I think that should hopefully race well there and be a positive. We saw last year, you never know with the weather. If it were to rain or something like that, it could definitely throw a wrench into things.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC: HOW MUCH DOES IT CHANGE HAVING GATEWAY IN THE FIRST ROUND AS OPPOSED TO ATLANTA AND WATKINS GLEN? “It definitely changes the first round, especially Atlanta last year with a speedway race and that format, whereas St. Louis I’m sure most probably look at that as their best opportunity for a base hit. It’s not a very normal racetrack, but you could look at it and think, ‘OK, there’s Darlington and Bristol. This is the only one that’s not crazy.’ I think it’s best to not be able to put yourself in a position to where that race has to be incredibly important.”
JOEY LOGANO: YOU’VE WON THE TITLE WHEN YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO AND WHERE YOU WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO. DOES THAT GIVE YOU ADDED CONFIDENCE GOING INTO THIS YEAR? “Yeah, and honestly the years I felt like we should have won the championship we didn’t, so I think the key lesson of all that is you’re never out of it. Until you are out, you are not out. Even last year when I thought I was out I was not out (laughing). It’s a very interesting 10 weeks that’s gonna come at us and it’s unpredictable. I don’t know how exactly it’s gonna play out. Nobody knows. That’s why the plan is one week at a time because you just don’t know what the next race is gonna bring at you, so you handle what’s ahead of you and you just take it one week at a time. You handle today. Tomorrow will take care of itself. It’s no different than what our parents taught us. It’s the same stuff.”
RYAN BLANEY: DO YOU ENJOY THE PLAYOFFS OR IS IT A MENTALLY TOUGH TIME OF THE YEAR? “It is mentally a tougher time, I feel like. I try not to approach races differently as far as my midweek prep, but I feel like when you’re at the track and going through the race in the playoffs, what’s really tough about it is mistakes are blown up like crazy. You can’t afford mistakes. There are a lot of ups and downs and it’s how do you handle emotions and try to just simplify everything. At the end of the day, we’re going racing and you’re doing the best job that you can, but you also know what you’re going for and that makes it pretty tough.”
LOGANO WINS GATEWAY DEBUT
Just like he did in the inaugural Clash at the Coliseum and Bristol Dirt Race, Joey Logano won the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway, beating Kyle Busch in a dramatic overtime finish in 2022. Both drivers took turns crossing over each other for the lead on the final lap before Logano made the decisive pass in turn four to claim his second win of the season.
WELCOME BACK
This will mark the first time the NASCAR Xfinity Series has raced at World Wide Technology Raceway since 2010. Prior to that, the facility hosted at least one race a year from 1997-2010 with Ford winning five times in 15 all-time starts. Carl Edwards holds the record for most wins by a series driver at the track after he went to Victory Lane three times while driving for Jack Roush (2006, 2008, 2010-1).
REGULAR SEASON FINALE
Sam Mayer is the only Ford driver who has clinched a spot in the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs, but Sheldon Creed and Harrison Burton are both in transfer positions going into Saturday’s season finale. Creed is 65 points above the cut line, but he’s only 34 points ahead of Burton, who currently holds the final transfer spot. That means a new winner could knock him out of the 12-driver field, but besides trying to move up, Burton also has to hold off his cousin, Jeb, who trails him by 31 points for 12th place.
FORD NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS
AT WWTR
2022 – Joey Logano
2024 – Austin Cindric
FORD NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS
AT WWTR
2002 – Greg Biffle
2003 – Scott Riggs
2006 – Carl Edwards
2008 – Carl Edwards
2010 – Carl Edwards (1)
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