Daily Archives: April 1, 2016

#FordRacing has a Rich #NASCAR History at #Martinsville Speedway

Posted on by

After having a week off, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to action for the first of two races this season at Martinsville Speedway.  This marks the beginning of a stretch that will see two of the next three events take place on half-mile tracks.  Here’s a look at Ford’s history at Martinsville.

A FIRST FOR FRED
The first time Ford won a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway also marked the first career victory for 2015 NASCAR Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen.  The date was April 9, 1961 and Lorenzen battled Rex White, who led the first 118 laps after starting on the pole.  Lorenzen, was driving for Holman-Moody when he grabbed the lead on lap 119 and held it until rain came ending the race prematurely after 149 circuits.  Little did anyone know that 54 years later both men would be enshrined into the NASCAR Hall of Fame as part of the same induction class.  Martinsville was a place Lorenzen dominated, winning six times, including four straight from 1963-65.  He was absolutely unbeatable in 1964 as he led 990 out of a possible 1,000 laps (487 in the first and 493 in the second) in winning both races. Continue reading →

Todd Gilliland Chasing #NASCAR History with Winning Ways

Posted on by
Todd Gilliland (L) looks to make history by beating Dan Gurney's (R) record of winning four straight races. Photo - Getty Images

Todd Gilliland (L) looks to make history by beating Dan Gurney’s (R) record of winning four straight races. Photo – Getty Images

NASCAR K&N Pro Victory At Kern Would Match Gurney’s 50-Year-Old Mark

Todd Gilliland heads to Bakersfield, California, on the hottest winning streak in 50 years.

Even if he doesn’t equal the all-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series mark for consecutive victories to start in the series, the 15-year-old from Sherrill’s Ford, North Carolina, is in pretty exclusive company.

It’s a club that includes two drivers in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, the 2015 Daytona 500 winner and Gilliland. That’s it. In the 62-year history of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series – dating back to the West Series’ beginnings as the Pacific Coast Late Model Series – just four drivers in both the East and West have won the first two series races to start their career. Continue reading →

#NASCAR XFINITY Series News & Notes – April 1, 2016

Aside

F4R-XS-News-Notes-Template

NASCAR XFINITY Series teams are off for one more week before heading to Texas Motor Speedway next weekend for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300. Teams will prepare to race 200 laps covering 300 miles at Texas on Friday, April 8th with FOX Sports 1 coverage beginning at 8 pm ET and a green flag around 8:30 pm ET. Radio coverage is on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

Suárez’s 2016 Start is Comparable to Past Champions

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Daniel Suárez is off to a strong start this season. He leads the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship standings by ten points over second-place Elliott Sadler after the first five races. Suárez’s start in the first five races, is better – and in most cases, far better – than those of the last five series title winners. Continue reading →