MICHIGAN
Saturday, June 6 — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 1:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
Sunday, June 7– NASCAR Cup Series, 3 p.m. ET (PRIME)
Michigan International Speedway continues to be the best track on the circuit for Ford Racing with 44 NASCAR Cup Series victories, which included a nine-race winning streak from 2018-23. Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Chris Buescher are all active drivers with at least one series win at the track while Zane Smith has a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory at the two-mile facility.
FORD ALL-TIME MICHIGAN WINS LEADER
Since Michigan International Speedway opened in 1969 there have been 108 NASCAR Cup Series races and Ford Motor Company has won more than half of them (52%). Overall, the company has 56 MIS victories with 44 being Ford and 12 Mercury. David Pearson is the track’s all-time leader in wins with nine (all Mercury) while Bill Elliott has the most Ford wins with seven.
HERITAGE TROPHY SUCCESS
Since Michigan International Speedway began handing out the Heritage Trophy to the winning manufacturer in August 2013, Ford has taken it back to World Headquarters in nearby Dearborn more times than any other manufacturer. Ford has won 11 races since the trophy came into existence while Chevrolet has won six and Toyota three. Joey Logano’s win in the Pure Michigan 400 on Aug. 18, 2013 was his first win with Ford and new car owner Roger Penske, but it also marked the first time the trophy was awarded. Logano, who won the pole and led a race-high 51 laps, passed Mark Martin for the lead with four laps to go after Martin’s car ran out of gas.
JACK’S BACKYARD
Jack Roush has had ties to the state of Michigan ever since he started working at Ford Motor Company in 1964 after graduating from Berea College. He has called the state his home ever since and that includes Michigan International Speedway, a place where he has had a great deal of success. Roush has seen his teams win 14 times in the NASCAR Cup Series, and five times each in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Included in that are victories by Greg Biffle in 2013 that was Ford’s 1000th in NASCAR’s top three series combined, and Kurt Busch’s triumph in 2003 on the same weekend Ford Motor Company celebrated its 100th anniversary.
MIS AND THE WOOD BROTHERS
While Jack Roush has the most wins for a car owner at MIS as noted above, the Wood Brothers aren’t far behind with 11. All but one of those came in a Mercury, including nine by the track’s all-time winner, David Pearson. The Wood’s and Pearson were so dominant that the combination won three straight and eventually 7-of-9 from 1972-75. WBR also hold the distinction of being the first team to win a NASCAR Cup Series race at the track as Cale Yarborough won the inaugural event in 1969. The lone Ford victory for the team belongs to Dale Jarrett, who won the first race of his Cup career in 1991.
SITTING ON 749
The next Ford win will be its 750th all-time in NASCAR’s top series. Ned Jarrett is Ford’s win leader with 43 while Bill Elliott is second with 40. Shirtless Jimmy Florian scored the Blue Oval’s first series victory when he upset the likes of Lee Petty, Curtis Turner and Joe Weatherly at Dayton Speedway on June 25, 1950. Florian earned his nickname after getting out of his 1950 flathead Ford without a shirt. Overall, 91 drivers have won at least one series race with Ford, including notable drivers Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, A.J. Foyt, Richard Petty, and Dale Earnhardt.
ZANE SMITH: “Michigan is one of those I always have circled on my calendar. We race there right on my birthday, and it’s been a good one for us. I think we finished in the top 10 the past couple times there, and that brings a level of confidence for sure. I got my first NASCAR win there in the Truck Series. So that’s awesome. And then just for all the manufacturers, but especially us, we try to get that one for Ford. We know how much that means to Ford. I’ve gone to Dearborn and visited all of the employees, and I know how much it means to them. There is a level of pressure that comes with going into that weekend. I think it’s like extra brownie points if you could win that one. So that one’s high on the list to try to get.”
RYAN PREECE: “Big, big weekend for Ford. Big weekend for Jack Roush. It’s a great opportunity going forward for us to try and capitalize and win. So, I’m looking forward to that one.”
TEAM PENSKE REGISTERS 50TH WIN WITH FORD
Joey Logano started and won from the pole for the second time in his career at Michigan International Speedway when he captured the June race in 2016. Logano finished ahead of Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson with Penske teammate Brad Keselowski ending up fourth. The new aerodynamic package, promising to produce lower downforce, didn’t disappoint as there were 14 lead changes with Logano leading six times for 138 total laps. The win gave Team Penske its 50th Cup win with Ford and produced the 100th victory for Roush Yates Engines in the NASCAR Cup Series.
FOUR STRAIGHT FOR AWESOME BILL
Bill Elliott is the only driver to win four straight NASCAR Cup Series races at Michigan International Speedway, sweeping both events in 1985 and ’86, and he capped that impressive streak in dominating fashion. Elliott led 125-of-200 laps on Aug. 17, 1986 to beat Tim Richmond to the finish line and win the Champion Spark Plug 400. Elliott went on to win seven career races at MIS and currently ranks third on the all-time list, trailing only David Pearson (9) and Cale Yarborough (8).
JARRETT WINS FIRST CUP RACE
Dale Jarrett registered his first NASCAR Cup Series victory in memorable fashion at Michigan International Speedway on Aug. 18, 1991. Jarrett, who was in his second season driving for the Wood Brothers, found himself in a furious battle with Davey Allison, who stalked him over the final dozen laps in his No. 28 Texaco Havoline Thunderbird. Allison made a move to the outside coming off turn four and got alongside Jarrett as the two took the white flag together. They took turns exchanging the lead, but never left each other’s side. As they came off turn four both Fords made contact, but it was Jarrett who ended up edging Allison by eight inches at the finish line.
BIFFLE WINS FORD’S 1,000TH
Greg Biffle posted Ford’s 1,000th NASCAR victory when he took the checkered flag on June 16, 2013 in the Quicken Loans 400. The milestone win, which included combined victories in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck, NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts and NASCAR Cup Series, was Biffle’s second straight at MIS and fourth overall. The race was shaping up to be a battle between Biffle, who was leading, and a hard-charging Jimmie Johnson, but a flat tire ended Johnson’s chances with two laps to go.
RIGGS GOES BACK-TO-BACK
Layne Riggs earned his second straight NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory last week and third of the season when he won at Nashville Superspeedway. The Front Row Motorsports driver swept all three stages and led a race-high 99-of-150 laps as he matched his single-season win total from a year ago and won for the eighth time in his career. That also moved him into a second-place tie with Joe Ruttman on the all-time NCTS Ford win list, and marked the second time Riggs has won back-to-back races in the series after doing it for the first time as a rookie in 2024 at Milwaukee and Bristol.
THE LAST TIME…
Riggs will be going for his third straight NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win this weekend at Michigan International Speedway. The last time a NCTS Ford driver did that was in 2000 when Greg Biffle went back-to-back-to-back at Texas, Kentucky and Watkins Glen.
BIFFLE WINS INAUGURAL MIS TRUCK RACE
Greg Biffle won the first two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races ever held at Michigan International Speedway, taking the inaugural event in 1999 and following that up in 2000. Biffle, who is Ford’s all-time leader in series victories with 16, led the most laps in both events and went on to claim the championship in 2000 after winning five times.
FORD’S NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS
AT MICHIGAN
1969 – David Pearson (2)
1984 – Bill Elliott (1)
1985 – Bill Elliott (Sweep)
1986 – Bill Elliott (Sweep)
1987 – Bill Elliott (2)
1988 – Davey Allison (2)
1989 – Bill Elliott (1)
1990 – Mark Martin (2)
1991 – Davey Allison and Dale Jarrett
1992 – Davey Allison (1)
1993 – Mark Martin (2)
1994 – Rusty Wallace and Geoffrey Bodine
1996 – Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett
1997 – Ernie Irvan and Mark Martin
1998 – Mark Martin (1)
1999 – Dale Jarrett (1)
2000 – Rusty Wallace (2)
2002 – Matt Kenseth and Dale Jarrett
2003 – Kurt Busch (1)
2004 – Greg Biffle (2)
2005 – Greg Biffle (1)
2006 – Matt Kenseth (2)
2007 – Carl Edwards (1)
2008 – Carl Edwards (2)
2012 – Greg Biffle (2)
2013 – Greg Biffle and Joey Logano
2016 – Joey Logano (1)
2018 – Clint Bowyer (1) and Kevin Harvick (2)
2019 – Joey Logano (1) and Kevin Harvick (2)
2020 – Kevin Harvick (Sweep)
2021 – Ryan Blaney
2022 – Kevin Harvick
2023 – Chris Buescher
FORD’S NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES WINNERS AT MICHIGAN
1999 – Greg Biffle
2000 – Greg Biffle
2007 – Travis Kvapil
2008 – Erik Darnell
2009 – Colin Braun
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