Tag Archives: David Pearson

Blaney Honoring the Late Neil Bonnett at Talladega

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Ryan Blaney and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team are planning an encore presentation of their throwback theme first used at the Darlington Raceway earlier this season.

Blaney, at his own request, will wear the same uniform he wore during the Southern 500 to honor David Pearson.

At Talladega, he’ll wear the uniform in honor of both Pearson and the late Neil Bonnett, who was from Bessemer, Ala., and considered Talladega his home track.

Bonnett succeeded Pearson as driver of the iconic No. 21 midway through the 1979 season and used a uniform just like the one Pearson wore. Once aboard the No. 21, Bonnett won in his third start, at Dover International Speedway. He won twice more that season, at Daytona and Atlanta. Continue reading →

Throwback Thursday: A Dover Race Lost Because of a Lug Nut

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Photo - Courtesy of Wood Brothers Racing

Photo – Courtesy of Wood Brothers Racing

The Motorcraft/Quick Lane team, with rookie driver Ryan Blaney now at the wheel, will be back on the track at Dover International Speedway this weekend for the first time since 2008, when the team cut back to a partial Sprint Cup schedule.

For the Wood Brothers, it’s a return to one of the tracks where they had great success in years past.

The Woods won seven times at Dover over the years, beginning with their first trip there in the fall of 1972.

David Pearson led 350 of that race’s 500 laps to win by three laps over second-place Richard Petty. Pearson swept the Dover races in 1973, beating Cale Yarborough in the spring and Bobby Allison in the fall.

Pearson won two more, in the spring of 1975 and the spring of 1978. Continue reading →

Talladega’s a Special Place for Ford and the Wood Brothers

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Ryan Blaney, driver of the #21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, practices for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on May 1, 2015 Photo - Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

Ryan Blaney, driver of the #21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, practices for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on May 1, 2015
Photo – Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

Ford Motor Company in general, and the Wood Brothers in particular, have had some glorious Sunday afternoons at Talladega Superspeedway through the years.

In the early years of the track that opened in 1969, the Wood Brothers won five races from the spring of 1971, when Donnie Allison drove the iconic No. 21 to victory at his home track, until the fall of 1979, when another Alabama driver, the late Neil Bonnett, scored the victory.

In between were three consecutive wins in the spring race by David Pearson, from 1972-1974. Continue reading →

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

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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 →

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series News & Notes – March 2016

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F4R-SCS-News-NotesThe NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will return to action next weekend for the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Teams will race 263 laps for 500 miles on Sunday, April 3rd. FOX Sports 1 will begin their pre-race show at 2 pm ET with the green flag at around 2:30 pm ET. Fans can also listen to the race on MRN or SiriusXM, channel 90.

Thrilling Competition Continues at Fontana with

Track-Record 51 Passes for the Lead

The high quality of racing produced in the first four races of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season continued at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday, where drivers tallied a total of 51 green flag passes for the lead, a high at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana since loop date began in 2005.

That marks the second time in the first five races this season for setting a new track record of green flag passes for the lead, as Atlanta had 44 green flag passes for the lead. Continue reading →