Sonoma Raceway will be hosting the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Xfinity Series for the second year in a row this weekend. This marks the third road course race of the year on the NXS side and second for the Cup drivers.
THREE OUT OF FOUR
Austin Cindric’s victory at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday marked the third NASCAR Cup Series win for the Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the last four races. Brad Keselowski kicked off this stretch with a victory at Darlington Raceway and Joey Logano followed it by leading all but one lap in the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Cindric qualified on the outside of the front row and led 53 laps as he won for the second time in his Cup career.
UP FRONT AGAIN
Michael McDowell scored the third pole of his NASCAR Cup Series career, all this season, when he led a Ford sweep of the top three qualifying spots at World Wide Technology Raceway. McDowell and race-winner Austin Cindric made up the front row, making that the fifth sweep for Ford this season (one more than each of the last two years) and second time those two drivers have done it (Talladega). Overall, Ford has six poles in 2024 as McDowell leads the way with three while Joey Logano has two and Ryan Blaney one.
FORD’S FRONT ROW SWEEPS
Daytona – Joey Logano and Michael McDowell
Atlanta – Michael McDowell and Joey Logano
Bristol – Ryan Blaney and Josh Berry
Talladega – Michael McDowell and Austin Cindric
WWTR – Michael McDowell and Austin Cindric
FORD’S ALL-TIME ROAD COURSE WINNER
NASCAR has competed on 16 different road courses during its history and Ford has had 22 drivers win 34 times overall. Dan Gurney leads the way with five, including four straight at Riverside International Raceway from 1963-66 while driving for the Wood Brothers. Mark Martin, on the strength of three straight wins at Watkins Glen International from 1993-95, is second.
FORD’S ALL-TIME ROAD COURSE WINNERS
5 – Dan Gurney
4 – Mark Martin
2 – Fireball Roberts, Marvin Panch, Parnelli Jones, Ricky Rudd, Marcos Ambrose
1 – Chuck Stevenson, Eddie Gray, Richard Petty, A.J. Foyt, Bobby Allison, Bill Elliott, Davey Allison, Geoffrey Bodine, Ernie Irvan, Rusty Wallace, Carl Edwards, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell
HALL OF FAME TIES
Ford has won eight times at Sonoma and the one thing all of those winners have in common is that their owners are members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Robert Yates (Class of 2018) won this event three times (Davey Allison, 1991; Ernie Irvan, 1994; and Ricky Rudd, 2002), while Jack Roush (Class of 2019) has two victories (Mark Martin, 1997 and Carl Edwards, 2014). Bud Moore (Class of 2011) won with Geoffrey Bodine in 1993 while Roger Penske (Class of 2019) won with Rusty Wallace in 1996 and Tony Stewart (Class of 2020) with Kevin Harvick in 2017.
EDWARDS NETS FIRST ROAD COURSE WIN
Recent NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Carl Edwards held off Jeff Gordon on the final lap to post the first road win of his NCS career in 2014 with car owner Jack Roush. He did it thanks to a two-stop strategy and a timely caution. Edwards had just pitted on lap 70 when NASCAR threw a caution for debris one lap later. While most of the field decided to pit for new tires, Edwards and fellow Ford driver Marcos Ambrose stayed out and gained the necessary track position that put both in position to win. Ambrose took the lead from Clint Bowyer on lap 81 and brought Edwards with him, but another restart with 25 to go saw Ambrose and Edwards sharing the front row. Edwards got the jump and took the lead, which he never surrendered, although a hard-charging Gordon made it interesting on the final lap.
RUDD RUCKUS
When Ford took the checkered flag at Sonoma Raceway for the first time it came in controversial fashion. That’s because Davey Allison, the man credited with winning the Banquet Frozen Foods 300 in 1991, was sent spinning by recent NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Ricky Rudd as they were approaching the white flag. Even though Rudd ended up crossing the finish line first, he received the black flag from NASCAR for rough driving and awarded Allison with the trophy. The win was Allison’s first and only one on a road course and snapped an eight-race streak that had seen either Rudd or Rusty Wallace end up in Victory Lane at Watkins Glen International or Sonoma Raceway.
CUSTER GOING TO SONOMA AS POINTS LEADER
Cole Custer finds himself on top of the NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings going into this weekend’s event at Sonoma Raceway, 18 points ahead of Austin Hill and Chandler Smith. Custer, who is still in search of his first victory this season, is coming off a sixth-place run in Portland which was his series-leading 10th top-10 finish. Custer finished sixth in last year’s inaugural race at Sonoma Raceway, but also has two NASCAR Cup Series starts on his resume at the road course.
Ford Performance PR
