FORD PERFORMANCE: NASCAR MIDWEEK NOTES
The third and final stop on NASCAR’s west coast swing will take place this weekend as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series makes its annual visit to Auto Club Speedway. Here is a look at how Ford has done at the two-mile facility, located in Fontana, CA.
THE FIRST TIME…Ford received the checkered flag at Auto Club Speedway came in the track’s second year of existence when Mark Martin won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on May 3, 1998. Martin was in a class by himself that afternoon as he led 165 of the 200 laps en route to what was his 25th career victory. In all, six Fords finished in the top-10 as Jeremy Mayfield finished second, Chad Little, Geoffrey Bodine, and Johnny Benson were sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, while Jeff Burton ended up 10th.
THE LAST TIME…Ford won the Cup event at Auto Club Speedway was in 2009 as Matt Kenseth followed up his first Daytona 500 victory by taking the checkered flag in the Auto Club 500 one week later. Kenseth became the fifth driver in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history follow a Daytona 500 victory with another win the following week. Kenseth and Jeff Gordon were the two best cars on the track, but Kenseth’s advantage came on pit road, where his crew continually got him out first. Kenseth led a race-high 84 laps as he went on to post his third all-time win at the two-mile track.
IN BETWEEN…Ford saw a variety of drivers find victory lane in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Auto Club Speedway, including Team Penske drivers Jeremy Mayfield (2000) and Rusty Wallace (2001) in back-to-back seasons. That made the boss happy since Roger Penske built and owned what was then known as California Speedway at the time. Overall, Ford has 10 series wins at the Fontana track by eight different drivers with Kenseth being the only multiple winner.
FORD NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES WINNERS AT AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY
1998 – Mark Martin
2000 – Jeremy Mayfield
2001 – Rusty Wallace
2003 – Kurt Busch
2004 – Elliott Sadler
2005 – Greg Biffle
2006 – Matt Kenseth
2007 – Matt Kenseth
2008 – Carl Edwards
2009 – Matt Kenseth
