Ford celebrates milestone 1,000th victory in NASCAR

By Jun 16, 2013, 8:00 PM EDT
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64 years after earning its first victory in what is now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the Ford Motor Company has 1,000 wins in America’s most popular form of motorsport after Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle triumphed in today’s Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

“I am just super excited for Ford,” said Biffle, who has earned 53 wins for Ford in his NASCAR national series career. “…I think I contributed over 50 of those, which is a small number compared to 1,000, but still [I’m] sure excited to [win] No. 1,000.”

The Blue Oval’s milestone includes 900 Ford-branded victories across the Cup Series, the Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series, as well as 100 victories combined from its Lincoln and Mercury brands. The very first NASCAR-sanctioned Cup race was won by Lincoln driver Jim Roper on June 19, 1949 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

One year later, the Ford brand notched its first win at Dayton, Ohio, with “Shirtless” Jimmy Florian at the controls of a flathead Ford that, according to a friend of his, once belonged to the Detroit chief of police. Florian became the first of 124 different drivers that have won at least one race for Ford in NASCAR’s top three categories.

Biffle’s car owner, Jack Roush, leads the Ford camp with 313 victories in 25 years of NASCAR competition – 131 in Sprint Cup, 132 in Nationwide, and 50 in the Trucks. He compared today’s victory with the one his team earned on another special day for Ford, when a young Kurt Busch took the checkered flag at Michigan during the company’s 100th anniversary back in 2003.

“Those are two great milestones that I’ve been honored to be a part of,” said Roush. “As far as the 1,000 wins that Ford has had here in NASCAR, it’s over 50 years, and we’ve been involved just over half of that time, and there have been a lot of great teams and a lot of great drivers that have been part of that, and we’re just glad and honored to be a part of that history.”

A history that, in addition to 1,000 race wins, has also seen 20 manufacturer’s championships and 13 driver’s titles. Indeed, Ford’s NASCAR legacy is one that they can take immense pride in.

“Ford has been an important part of our sport since their first win,” said NASCAR president Mike Helton in a statement. “We congratulate the entire Ford Motor Company and the race teams, past and present, that have contributed in this very significant milestone of their 1,000th win.”

Some more Ford statistics for you:

  • Wins by series: 715 victories in Sprint Cup (615 – Ford, 96 – Mercury, 4 – Lincoln), 200 in Nationwide, 85 in Trucks.
  • All-time winningest driver: Mark Martin, 89 wins – 35 in Cup, 47 in Nationwide, 7 in Trucks.
  • Eight Sprint Cup driver’s titles from Ned Jarrett, David Pearson (2), Bill Elliott, Alan Kulwicki, Dale Jarrett, Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch.
  • Four Nationwide driver’s titles from Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2).
  • One Truck driver’s title from Greg Biffle.

Ford Mustang GT3 test has Austin Cindric dreaming of Daytona: ‘I want to drive that car’

By Mar 22, 2023, 2:30 PM EDT
Cindric Ford GT3 test
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
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Austin Cindric wasn’t the “mystery” test driver behind the wheel of the new Ford Mustang GT3 at Sebring International Raceway, but the Team Penske driver desperately wanted to be.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, an amateur sports car driver himself, made the big reveal via a Tuesday tweet that provided the first video evidence of the GT3 Mustang on track.

“I’ve watched the video in question about a million times,” Cindric said Wednesday during a Ford Performance Zoom news conference to promote NASCAR’s first road course weekend of the season at Circuit of the Americas. “Definitely exciting times for sure. I want to drive that car. It suits my experience level and also the relationships that I have.”

Ford will enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next season with its GT3 Mustang, entering a two-car factory effort (that will be managed by Multimatic) in GTD Pro and making customer cars available in the GT Daytona category.

That increases the likelihood of seeing more NASCAR drivers crossing over to IMSA. Cindric has been the only full-time Cup driver in the Rolex 24 at Daytona the past two years, but Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook has said the GT3 Mustang will provide more opportunities.

Ford has used its GT4 Mustang as a NASCAR driver development tool in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Harrison Burton and Zane Smith combining to win the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in January.

“We’re excited about the Next Gen car and the new architecture there and the similarities between that car and GT3 and even GT4 cars,” Rushbrook said at the announcement of the Ford GT3 program in January 2022 at Daytona. “We think it’s a great opportunity and to do be able to do that in a 24-hour race and get NASCAR drivers even more time is something we need to consider taking advantage of that opportunity.”

Given his sports car background, Cindric probably still would be in the Rolex 24 regardless. He has eight IMSA starts since the 2017 season opener at Daytona, racing a Lexus RCF GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT category. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner made his second LMP2 start this year with Rick Ware Racing.

But Cindric’s preference naturally would be in a Ford, particularly with sports car racing enjoying convergence and crossovers in both GT and prototype racing.

“It’s an exciting time in GT racing, just as it is now for prototype racing with a lot of new regulations and manufacturers building new GT3 cars,” he said. “And also the opportunity with WEC (the World Endurance Championship) and Le Mans and how that all lines up for that category of car. It’s definitely an exciting time. I want to be as much of a part of that as possible.”

Though those odds seemingly will increase with multiple Ford entries in the Rolex 24 field next year, Cindric said NASCAR drivers still have to put in the networking to land rides as he has in recent years.

“Now how (the GT3 Mustang) relates to specifically NASCAR drivers and how often they want to be in the Rolex, could it be an influence? Absolutely, as far as the tie-in with the manufacturer,” Cindric said. “But the challenge and the drive and the logistics of getting an opportunity for a race like the Rolex 24 will be just as challenging as it always is to find your one-off ride for the race. At least from my experience, that’s what I still anticipate.”

It turned out the “mystery” test driver wasn’t from NASCAR (Farley revealed the driver to be 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Joey Hand after a fan asked whether it was Joey Logano).

But Cindric believes there could be more Cup drivers — and perhaps himself — behind the wheel of Mustang GT3s in the future.

“There’s definitely more of a pathway than I think there would be before as far as Ford drivers are concerned,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to drive that thing. It’s obviously a great looking car. That’s the first box you’ve got to check. And it’s cool (to have) a guy like Jim Farley, no doubt he’s a racer just as much as he is steering the ship for Ford. It’s cool to see he’s just as excited as the rest of us about it.”