Ford Drivers Seek To End Coca-Cola 600 Jinx On Sunday

 Around the turn of the century, Ford drivers—and, specifically, Roush Fenway Racing drivers—owned the Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Jeff Burton won the marquee NASCAR Cup Series event in 1999. Matt Kenseth followed in 2000. Burton won again in 2001, and NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin added the capper to a four-race winning streak in the 600 in 2002.
Insurance Center of Dublin 10 4 copySince then, however, no Ford driver has visited Victory Lane in NASCAR’s longest race. It’s not that the Fords have been shut out at Charlotte. Matt Kenseth (2011), Brad Keselowski (2013) and Joey Logano (2015) all won the fall 500-miler before Charlotte Motor Speedway introduced its Roval for the Playoff race in 2018.
But victory in the Coca-Cola 600 has been mystifyingly elusive.
“I don’t know the reasons why,” Logano said during a Zoom video conference with reporters on Friday morning. “I can think of quite a few 600s, at least the 22 (Team Penske Ford), which is what I can control, has been very close to winning. I think I’ve got a few seconds and thirds there (second last year, third in 2011) and have yet to break through.
“As a Coca-Cola driver, I know how big of a deal it is to win that thing and feel the pressure to do it. I want to get it done. I’ve been, like I said, close. There are different things every time, and it takes the whole package to make it happen. The driver has got to be on his game. The pit crew’s got to be on it. The car’s got to be good and things (have) got to fall your way. So I guess, in recent years, it hasn’t for the Ford guys, but I wouldn’t bet money against us this week.”
One of the foremost obstacles in Logano’s way is defending race winner Martin Truex Jr., who has three victories in the last six oval races at Charlotte. That trio of races includes Truex’s masterful performance from 2016, when the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (then driving the No. 78 for Furniture Row Racing) led a record 588 of 600 miles to secure his first win in the Crown Jewel race.
Though Truex lost crew chief Cole Pearn to retirement after the 2019 season, he’s no less confident with his new pit boss, Aussie James Small.
“Absolutely, no question,” Truex said in a Thursday video conference. “I think James has come in and done a wonderful job. I feel like we really picked up where we left off last year, aside from some issues here and there. I feel really good about our group—we’re strong. James has done a really nice job.
“Maybe our cars are not quite as good compared to the competition as they were in the past two years, but again, I feel like we’re right there, and James is doing an awesome job. We’ve been consistently scoring more points than our teammates, except for at the end of the race, so we’re trying to figure that out. Feel like he’s done all the right things, and we continue to get better each week.”
Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service