The 65th Annual Daytona 500 is scheduled for this Sunday as the first points race of the season takes place at Daytona International Speedway.  Ford has won “The Great American Race” a total of 17 times, including each of the past two seasons when Michael McDowell and Austin Cindric captured the championship.

JOEY LOGANO

2015 DAYTONA 500 CHAMPION

"Everyone has a chance to win that race and it is truly career changing when you’re able to do it. Everyone wants to have that on their resume and say they’ve won the Daytona 500 and then obviously the great things that come along with that, so it’s a big one you want to get.”

MICHAEL MCDOWELL

2021 DAYTONA 500 CHAMPION

"It’s not just standing in Victory Lane. It was the journey getting there that makes this ring and that moment really special. It was a grind and it was tough, so it’s a good reminder of just staying in the grind, working hard, and persevering during difficult times and it paid off.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC

2022 DAYTONA 500 CHAMPION

"I’ve only been doing this for a year now in the Cup Series, but you look at guys who have worked here for 10-20 years and what something like that means. It's a career achievement for a lot of the people on my team and to be able to deliver that given the opportunity, for me, there’s nothing cooler than being able to do that.”

FORD GOING FOR THIRD STRAIGHT DAYTONA 500 WIN

As noted above, Ford has won the Daytona 500 17 times by 14 different drivers after Austin Cindric captured last year’s race. That marked Ford’s second consecutive victory in “The Great American Race” and fourth in the last eight years after Joey Logano won in 2015 and Kurt Busch in 2017. Only three Ford drivers have won the Daytona 500 more than once. Bill Elliott was the first to do it (1985 and 1987) with Dale Jarrett (1996 and 2000) and Matt Kenseth (2009 and 2012) following.

A DUEL SWEEP FOR RFK

You couldn’t script a better beginning for the debut season of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing as the newly-formed organization won both of the Duel races last year. Brad Keselowski, who joined the organization as co-owner with Jack Roush and the Fenway Sports Group, drove his No. 6 Mustang to victory in the first qualifying race while Chris Buescher followed suit in the second. Here’s what both drivers had to say in looking back on that moment:

BRAD KESELOWSKI

“It was a little bit of a shock. I didn’t expect us to have that level of success that quick, and we quickly got humbled in the weeks to come, but it was not what we expected at all. Sometimes you get shocked in bad ways. Sometimes you get shocked in great ways, and it’s nice to get shocked in a great way.”

CHRIS BUESCHER

“There was just so much change and so many unknowns. There was so much hard work put in before that it was nice to see it come to fruition and produce results immediately. It was a late night, but it was something that I think everybody really was able to take in and get everyone fired up, not only at the racetrack, but back at the shop in Concord as well.”

TINY LUND COMES UP BIG FOR WOOD BROTHERS

Ford won the Daytona 500 for the first time on Feb. 24, 1963 when Tiny Lund took the Wood Brothers to Victory Lane and completed a script that would have made Hollywood envious. Lund didn’t have a ride for the 500, but was at the track watching Marvin Panch test a Maserati when the car went out of control, flipped upside-down and started on fire. Lund, along with four others, rushed to the scene and eventually pulled Panch to safety. Panch, who was the primary driver for the Wood Brothers, was unable to race in the 500 due to his injuries, so the team tabbed Lund as a substitute. Lund defied the odds by winning the race on one set of tires to give For and the Wood Brothers their first win in “The Great American Race.”

A CINDERELLA STORY

Ford won the Daytona 500 for the 15th time after Kurt Busch took the checkered flag for Stewart-Haas Racing in its debut event with the manufacturer in 2017. That Cinderella story marked Ford’s fourth Daytona 500 win in a seven-year period, a streak that started with another Disney-type story when Trevor Bayne became the youngest Daytona 500 winner in 2011. The victory was even more memorable because it came one day after his 20th birthday and in only his second career NASCAR Cup Series start for the Wood Brothers.

COLE CUSTER RETURNING

TO NASCAR XFINITY SERIES

After running the last three seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series, where he won once at Kentucky Speedway and earned 2020 rookie of the year, Cole Custer is back to compete for a championship in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Custer owns 10 career NXS victories, including seven in 2019 when he finished second in the overall standings. He currently ranks 10th on the all-time Ford win list, trailing Chase Briscoe by only one for ninth.

THORSPORT BACK WITH FORD

It was announced in December that ThorSport Racing was returning to Ford Performance for the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season and would once again field four trucks on a full-time basis. Hailie Deegan will be running her first season with the organization while Ty Majeski and former series champions Matt Crafton and Ben Rhodes round out the lineup. Crafton won a championship during the team’s last stint with Ford in 2019, marking his record-tying third title overall.

FORD'S DAYTONA 500 WINNERS

1963 – Tiny Lund (Wood Brothers)

1965 – Fred Lorenzen (Holman-Moody)

1967 – Mario Andretti (Holman-Moody)

1969 – LeeRoy Yarbrough (Junior Johnson)

1978 – Bobby Allison (Bud Moore)

1985 – Bill Elliott (Harry Melling)

1987 – Bill Elliott (Harry Melling)

1992 – Davey Allison (Robert Yates)

1996 – Dale Jarrett (Robert Yates)

2000 – Dale Jarrett (Robert Yates)

2009 – Matt Kenseth (Jack Roush)

2011 – Trevor Bayne (Wood Brothers)

2012 – Matt Kenseth (Jack Roush)

2015 – Joey Logano (Roger Penske)

2017 – Kurt Busch (Stewart-Haas)

2021 – Michael McDowell (Front Row)

2022 – Austin Cindric (Roger Penske)

FORD’S NASCAR XFINITY SERIES DAYTONA WINNERS

1995 – Chad Little (1)

2004 – Mike Wallace (2)

2015 – Ryan Reed (1)

2016 – Aric Almirola (2)

2017 – Ryan Reed (1)

2021 – Austin Cindric (1)

FORD’S NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK DAYTONA WINNERS

2000 – Mike Wallace

2003 – Rick Crawford

2004 – Carl Edwards

2006 – Mark Martin

2015 – Tyler Reddick

2020 – Grant Enfinger

2022 – Zane Smith