Richmond can set up end to Ford's winless streak
The Ford Dark Horse Mustang remains winless through the first six races of the Cup season but Sunday night's race at Richmond (7 p.m. ET on Fox) provides an opportunity to snap the streak.
There is no denying that Toyota and Chevrolet drivers have been fast. All four Joe Gibbs Racing drives are top five in laps led. Two have won a race this season. Three Chevrolet drivers have combined to win the other four races.
Ford drivers have only combined for three wins in the past 18 races dating back to Watkins Glen. Chris Buescher won the regular-season finale at Daytona while Ryan Blaney won at Talladega and Martinsville in the playoffs.
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Multiple Richmond winners will be in the lineup for Sunday night’s race.
Still, several numbers provide optimism for members of the Ford Performance heading to the first of two consecutive races in Virginia.
The first number is two. This is the number of Ford drivers to win at Richmond in the last three Cup races.
Joe Gibbs Racing, a Toyota team, has won nine of the last 16 races at Richmond. Only one has been in the Next Gen era.
Chevrolet has one Richmond win in the Next Gen era. Ford has two wins in this span from Chris Buescher and Kevin Harvick.
Buescher is one of three Cup drivers with multiple short track wins in the Next Gen car. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson are the other two. This fact is something that has not gone unnoticed by Buescher.
"(Richmond) is certainly one that we feel like is a great opportunity knowing where we were at last season," Buescher said.
"We obviously have some changes with the new Mustang and with the short track aero package, so we’ve got some changes coming at us, but we’re ready for them and feel like it could be another race-winning day and get our streak started a lot earlier, which sure would be nice."
Other important numbers for Ford ahead of the trip to Richmond:
Seven: The last seven races at Richmond have been won by seven different drivers. Three were in Ford Mustangs.
Buescher (Ford) is the defending winner of the Richmond summer race. He joins Larson (Chevrolet), Harvick (Ford) and Hamlin (Toyota) as winners of Next Gen races at Richmond.
Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota), Alex Bowman (Chevrolet) and Brad Keselowski (Ford) won the last three Gen 6 races at the .75-mile short track.
Two: Number of active Ford drivers to finish top 10 in both Richmond races last season. Joey Logano was seventh in the spring race and fourth in the summer race.
Keselowski was 10th in the spring race and sixth in the summer race as he led 102 laps.
Harvick was the only other driver to finish inside the top 10 in both Richmond races last season, doing so before he retired.
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Three: Number of active Ford drivers to lead at least 100 laps at Richmond. Logano is second among Cup drivers with 223 laps led across the four races. Ryan Blaney is fourth with 131 laps led. Keselowski is seventh with 103 laps led.
Three: Number of drivers who scored their first win of a season at Richmond in the last four races.
Hamlin went winless through the first six races in 2022 before winning at Richmond. Larson's first win last season was Richmond.
Buescher won at Richmond last summer and locked himself into the playoffs for the first time since 2016. That was his first win of the season, something he seeks once again as he heads to Richmond.
Harvick is the lone outlier in the last four races at Richmond. He won the 2022 summer race one week after snapping a 65-race winless streak at Michigan.
Buescher, Keselowski, Logano, Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Michael McDowell, Austin Cindric and Justin Haley all have Cup wins in past seasons. They are all winless heading into the seventh race of the season.
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Ten: Drivers older than 30 have won 10 of the last 11 races at Richmond. Truex has three wins in this stretch. Kyle Busch has two wins. Harvick, Larson, Hamlin, Buescher and Keselowski all have one win in this stretch.
Bowman, who won the 2021 spring race, turned 28 seven days after winning for the first time at Richmond. He is the lone outlier in this stretch of 11 races.
Buescher, Logano, Ryan Preece, McDowell and Josh Berry are all over the age of 30 in the Ford camp. Blaney turned 30 after winning the Cup championship last season. Keselowski turned 40 ahead of the Daytona 500.
Helping Ford snap this season's winless streak will be high on Logano's priority list as he endures his worst start to a season since 2013.
The two-time champ only has one top-10 finish, his fewest through six races since 2013. Logano has a 22.6 average finish and only 485 laps run inside the top 10.
The same goes for Keselowski, who is in the midst of a 104-race winless streak. The 2012 Cup champ has two top-five finishes this season. He also has three finishes of 33rd.
