- Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Fusion, won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race in Atlanta, Ga. Kenseth moves up 14 spots in the standings to 24th after only running in two races in the series.
- Greg Biffle was the top Ford driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Atlanta, Ga., finishing fourth in his No. 16 Fusion. Biffle moved up three spots in the standings to second place, 73 points behind leader Kyle Busch.
- Jon Wood was the top Ford driver in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in Atlanta, Ga., finishing 10th in the No. 21 F-150. Wood moved up six spots to 24th in the standings.
DEARBORN, Mich., March 9 – A Ford Fusion found its way into victory lane at a NASCAR event for the third straight weekend after Matt Kenseth won the Nationwide Series race in Atlanta, Ga. Carl Edwards put Fusions in the winner’s circle the previous two weekends after winning Sprint Cup races. The victory marked Kenseth’s second win in the Nationwide Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway and his 24th in the series overall.
Patience paid off for Kenseth as it had been 18 Nationwide Series races since his last series victory. He was almost always in contention as 13 of those 18 races resulted in top-five finishes, including six second place finishes.
“There’s a few close races that we had last year in both series where we came up short at the end of the race,” said Kenseth. “Certainly as a driver that’s disappointing your crew, your owner and your engine. Everybody does there job to get you out front with just a short time left in race and you get beat, it’s always disappointing.
“I really thought on the restart that we had about a 50-50 chance because Kevin [Harvick] was pretty fast. On the short run there was a couple of times where I could get around him or stay with him and then after about lap five, he would drive by me and leave me. I just didn’t know with that short run. I thought if we could get through one and two real good and get a little start on him, we might have a shot at it.”
Four other Fusions joined Kenseth with top-15 finishes. Carl Edwards finished fourth, Marcos Ambrose was 11th, Kelly Bires took 12th place and Jamie McMurray finished in 13th. Edwards moved up two spots in the standings to take second place, just 25 points behind leader Kevin Harvick.
In Sunday’s Sprint Cup race, Carl Edwards appeared on his way to a third consecutive victory, taking a large lead with less 50 laps to go when an apparent engine failure ended his day.
Kenseth landed another top-10 with an eighth place finish. Greg Biffle also earned a top-10, leading all Fords with a fourth place finish in his No. 16 Fusion.
“To come back from where we did, Greg Erwin [crew chief] and all the guys did a great job working on this Jackson Hewitt Ford Fusion to get it better and get it to where I could drive it,” said Biffle. “I love the pit crew. I’ve been beating those guys up and they just did a stellar job. I picked up three spots on pit road and came out third the last run and that’s really what got us this top-five finish is picking those spots up and getting some clean air on this thing. I was running him down at the end. I was three-tenths faster than the leader, but I just burned myself up trying to race Tony [Stewart].”
Biffle improved three spots in the standings and moved into second place, 73 points behind leader Kyle Busch. Biffle’s effort also helped to keep Ford atop the Sprint Cup manufacturers standings, holding a three-point lead over Chevrolet.
In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck race, four more Fords finished in the top-15. Jon Wood led the way for the F-150s with a 10th place finish, followed by Rick Crawford in 11th, Erik Darnell in 12th and Brendan Gaughan in 15th.
“We’re on a mile-and-a-half on one of NASCAR’s fastest race tracks,” said Crawford. “Later in my career, I feel like I’m going drag racing because I feel like we need to straighten up. But I turned more to the right tonight than I did to the left. Our package wasn’t necessarily the package that we were looking for here in Atlanta, but the Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-Series pickup was a smooth driving pickup.”
Next weekend the NASCAR Sprint Cup and the NASCAR Nationwide Series will compete at Bristol, Tenn., while the NHRA will be in Gainesville, Fla.
