Kurt Busch has been the top finishing Ford in six of 33 races this season. Credit: Autostock
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
October 28, 2002
10:40 AM EST (1540 GMT)
HAMPTON, Ga. -- For the second time in three years, a victory in a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race has clinched the series' manufacturers' title for Ford Motor Company.
 | NAPA 500 | | | | | | |
|
|
Kurt Busch's third victory of the season in Roush Racing's No. 97 Rubbermaid Taurus, in Sunday's NAPA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, gave Ford an insurmountable 26-point lead over Chevrolet with three races remaining.
The championship marks the third time in Taurus' five-year history as Ford's vehicle of choice in Winston Cup racing that it has won the title. It is the 15th manufacturers' championship overall for Ford, which Sunday scored its 12th victory of the season.
Dale Jarrett, the 1999 Winston Cup champion, clinched the 2000 manufacturers' title for Ford with a win in the Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 at North Carolina Speedway. Ford also won the title in 1999.
Nine of 13 full-time Ford drivers have scored manufacturers' points, with Busch, Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth sharing honors as Ford's highest finisher six times each. Ford is the only manufacturer that had at least one car in the top-five in every one of the season's 33 races to date.
Manufacturers are awarded points on a 9-6-4-3 basis, with only the top finishing car from each manufacturer gaining points.
Chevrolet has 10 wins this season, Dodge seven and Pontiac four.
|
;)
