NEW HAMPSHIRE
Saturday, August 22 — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 1:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
Sunday, August 23 — NASCAR Cup Series, 3 p.m. ET (USA)
Ford Racing comes into this weekend’s NASCAR doubleheader at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on a hot streak in the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Joey Logano’s win last weekend at Richmond Raceway gave Ford three victories in the last five Cup events while the manufacturer has won five of the last eight NCTS races.
BLANEY GOING FOR LOUDON REPEAT
Ryan Blaney capped off a dominant week for Team Penske by winning last year’s Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and clinching a spot in the Round of 8. Blaney, along with Penske teammate Joey Logano, and Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry, set the tone in qualifying by sweeping the top three spots. Blaney ended up battling Berry after the race’s final restart with 42 laps remaining, passing him for the lead with 39 laps to go and holding on for his third win of the season. Logano led all drivers with 147 laps led while Blaney was next with 116. Overall, Ford had four drivers combine to lead 275-of-301 laps.
LOGANO CONTINUES CLIMB
ON ALL-TIME FORD WIN LIST
Joey Logano’s second win of the season was his 39th career NASCAR Cup Series victory and 37th with Ford. That keeps him third on Ford’s all-time series win list and only three behind second-place Bill Elliott. Ned Jarrett is Ford’s all-time leader with 43 victories.
ALL-TIME FORD CUP WIN LIST
Ned Jarrett – 43
Bill Elliott – 40
Joey Logano – 37
Mark Martin – 35
Dale Jarrett – 30
David Pearson – 29
Brad Keselowski – 27
Fred Lorenzen – 26
Junior Johnson – 26
Kevin Harvick – 25
CINDRIC MOVES UP ONE SPOT
Austin Cindric’s chances of making this year’s NASCAR Cup Series Chase improved greatly after his third-place finish last weekend at Richmond Raceway. Cindric, who finished fourth in both stages and scored 14 points (48 overall), moved up one spot to 15th in the point standings. More importantly, he’s now 57 points above the cut line with only two races remaining in the regular season. This weekend will mark his fifth career series start at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with his best finish being 13th in 2022.
HOME SWEET HOME
New Hampshire Motor Speedway is the home track for New England native Joey Logano and he’s definitely had his share of success with two NASCAR Cup Series victories, including the first of his career in 2009. Logano added another win in 2014 with Ford and in 27 starts has an average finishing position of 14.4. He’s been particularly consistent in recent years, entering Sunday’s race with seven top-10 runs in the last nine Loudon events. In addition, he sat on the pole for this race last year, circling the one-mile track at 130.622 mph.
RYAN BLANEY: “It’s a place I’ve always enjoyed. It was nice to have success there last year and win that race. It’s a neat racetrack. I love the area personally. The fans up there are always fantastic. That northeastern part of the country is really beautiful, especially that time of year. Hopefully, we can recreate some of the success we had there last year and try to go for another one.”
CHRIS BUESCHER: “I have mixed emotions about New Hampshire Motor Speedway. I really want to like it. We’ve had some glimmers of good speed there, but certainly it’s not my strongest racetrack. I used to say that about Richmond and, for the most part, we got that one figured out, so I’m hopeful that we’re just one great weekend away from it becoming one of my new favorites.”
RYAN PREECE: WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO WIN A CUP RACE AT YOUR HOME TRACK? “I’m worried about everybody else more than I am me, I feel like. If I was able to win at New Hampshire, for me personally, it would mean a lot. I was a kid and I remember when my grandfather used to camp and we’d go up and spend the weekend there. I remember riding around on a bicycle and going to the merchandise hauler, so I have a lot of memories at that race track.”
WEEKEND SWEEP
Brad Keselowski had a weekend to remember as he became the first driver to sweep a NASCAR Xfinity and NASCAR Cup Series race weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, achieving the feat on July 12-13, 2014. Keselowski led 138 of 305 laps, including the final two under a green-white-checkered finish, to beat Kyle Busch to the finish line. The win was Ford’s fourth straight series win, marking the first time that had happened since 2001.
BURTON LEADS EVERY LAP
Jeff Burton is the last driver to lead every lap of a NASCAR Cup Series race when he did it on Sept. 17, 2000 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Bobby Labonte started from the pole, but Burton grabbed the lead after starting on the outside of the front row. Even though Labonte and Dale Earnhardt challenged him throughout the day, Burton never gave up the lead, becoming the first driver to lead every lap of a series race since Cale Yarborough did it in the Music City USA 420 at Nashville Speedway on June 3, 1978. The race, which was run with the use of restrictor plates, ended under caution after Sterling Marlin was involved in an accident with three laps remaining. It was Burton’s fourth win at the speedway and concluded a stretch that saw him win four consecutive seasons at the Magic Mile.
RIGGS ON BRINK OF CLAIMING NO. 1 SEED
Layne Riggs saw his streak of three consecutive poles come to an end last weekend at Richmond Raceway, but he enters Saturday’s regular season finale with a 61-point lead over Kaden Honeycutt. Riggs, who leads the series with five wins, would start the Chase with a 25-point lead over the No. 2 seed by claiming the top spot.
MAJESKI CLINCHES CHASE BERTH
Even though Ty Majeski didn’t have the finish he was looking for last weekend at Richmond Raceway, he was still able to clinch a spot in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Chase with his 19th-place finish. That gives Ford Racing three drivers in the field with Ben Rhodes 53 points above the cut line in eighth place going into this weekend’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Jake Garcia matched his season best with a sixth-place finish in Richmond and finds himself 21 points behind the final transfer position in 12th place. The 10-driver, seven race NCTS Chase will kick off next month at Bristol Motor Speedway.
ONE YEAR AGO
Last season marked the first NCTS race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in eight years and was the first time many Ford drivers competed at the facility. Chandler Smith and Layne Riggs finished second and third, respectively, while Ty Majeski ran fifth. This will be the third start for Ben Rhodes on the Magic Mile with his best result coming in 2017 when he was seventh.
FORD’S NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS
AT NHMS
1994 – Ricky Rudd
1996 – Ernie Irvan
1997 – Jeff Burton (1)
1998 – Jeff Burton (1)
1999 – Jeff Burton (1)
2000 – Jeff Burton (2)
2001 – Dale Jarrett (1)
2002 – Ryan Newman (2)
2004 – Kurt Busch (Sweep)
2008 – Greg Biffle (2)
2014 – Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano
2018 – Kevin Harvick
2019 – Kevin Harvick
2020 – Brad Keselowski
2021 – Aric Almirola
2025 – Ryan Blaney
FORD’S NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES WINNERS AT NHMS
2000 – Kurt Busch
2002 – Terry Cook
2005 – Rick Crawford
The Ford Mustang® coupe is America’s best-selling sports car and has a global racing presence. With Mustang-based race cars competing in international sports car competition (GT3 and GT4), NASCAR, NHRA, Formula Drift, in Supercars, at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and in its own bespoke regional one-make series – Mustang Cup and Mustang Challenge – the platform has an unprecedented global reach. This weekend, 52 Mustang race cars are scheduled to compete across all active disciplines. Learn more about Mustang at www.FordRacing.com.
