Ford earns 1,000th NASCAR national series win

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Staff Report

Reaches milestone on 110th anniversary of Ford Motor Company’s incorporation

Ford earned its 1,000^th NASCAR national series win on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich.

Greg Biffle did the honors as the Blue Oval celebrated about an hour drive west of its Dearborn headquarters with his fourth career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at the track. The win moved him from the Chase bubble in 10^th to eighth.

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

1,000 NASCAR WINS

— 615 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins by Ford
— 96 Sprint Cup wins by Mercury
— 4 Sprint Cup wins by Lincoln
— 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series wins by Ford
— 85 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series wins by Ford

TOP FIVE DRIVERS BY WINS

— 89: Mark Martin (35 NSCS/47 NNS/7 NCWTS)
— 73: David Pearson (73 NSCS)
— 64: Carl Edwards (20 NSCS/38 NNS/6 NCWTS)
— 53: Greg Biffle (19 NSCS/18 NNS/16 NCWTS)
— 43: Ned Jarrett (43 NSCS)

On Friday, Biffle was asked about getting the 1,000^th win for the manufacturer and talked put it in the perspective of his season as he attempts to earn Ford’s first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup since the inaugural Chase in 2004.

“There are a lot of things on the line for us as far as that win,” Biffle said. “One, it would be our first of the season; two, it would propel us towards the Chase; and three, the 1,000^th win for Ford Racing in NASCAR.”

The weekend started for Ford drivers on Thursday in Dearborn, where Carl Edwards said he became one of “only eight or nine people” to drive “Sweepstakes,” a car designed by Henry Ford, who drove it to his company first victory on Oct. 10, 1901 at the Detroit Driving Club in Grosse Pointe, Mich. It was the first and only race Ford ran and set him on the road to establishing Ford Motor Company 110 years ago to the day on Sunday.

After winning the Coors Light Pole Award with an average lap of 202.452 mph, Edwards talked about driving Ford Racing’s first winning car.

“We got it up to maybe 20 or 25 miles per hour driving on the road there, and they said it would go 73 miles per hour in 1901,” said Edwards, who finished eighth on Sunday. “It was scarier driving that thing 25 miles per hour than it was driving the corner here at 205. Those guys were brave.

“The neatest thing about that which I didn’t know until I talked with Edsel Ford and the guys there is that if it weren’t for winning that race, Ford Motor Company as we know it might not exist,” Edwards said. “For him to risk everything and build this race car and go out and race it and win and be able to put together investors for Ford Motor Company was huge.”

The No. 16 team’s win extended owner Jack Roush’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series record of 13 victories at his home track and was a record 45th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory for Ford and Mercury at MIS.

“Here we are in the summer of 2013 celebrating Henry Ford’s 150^th birthday and in the same year we’re celebrating our 1,000th win in NASCAR,” said Jamie Allison, director, Ford Racing. “We all know how Ford Motor Company started, and I think reaching this milestone really honors the spirit of what Henry Ford started.”

Understanding the importance of the track’s proximity to the auto manufacturing hub of Detroit, MIS President Roger Curtis announced Friday that a manufacturer’s trophy will be awarded after each NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, beginning with the Pure Michigan 400 on August 18, for the car company that goes to Victory Lane.

Allison acknowledged that winning at MIS held special meaning for Ford.

“We want to show up and compete and win in front of our friends, our neighbors, our employees, the entire network of people who support our company, whether it’s executives, fans, you name it,” Allison said. “It’s an extra level of pride that comes with being here in your hometown.”

Ford’s winning ways began at the beginning of NASCAR as Jim Roper in a Lincoln won the first Strictly Stock, now Sprint Cup Series, race in the sport’s history on June 19, 1949 at the old Charlotte Speedway.

Sixty-four years later, Ford supports 11 full-time drivers in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition, five in the Nationwide Series and two in the Camping World Truck Series. Ford competes in all three national series with support of Front Row Motorsports, Germain Racing, Penske Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing and the Wood Brothers. This season, Ford added full-time support of Brad Keselowski Racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Trevor Bayne, who claimed the manufacturer’s 200^th NASCAR Nationwide Series victory last Sunday at Iowa and its 600^th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win in the 2011 Daytona 500, finished 15th in the No. 21 car for Wood Brothers.

Bayne noted on Friday that the Blue Oval supported his No. 6 Nationwide car under the hood as well as being a sponsor.

“Ford is such a huge backbone of our team,” Bayne said. “Not only do they give us manufacturer support, but they were actually on our race car last weekend at Iowa with the Ford EcoBoost Mustang, so we could not do it without them.”

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Zack Albert

Hendrick Motorsports drivers take brunt of topsy-turvy day

Several drivers needing shots in the arm in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings instead took hard shots Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, with early pitfalls dramatically impacting their rank with 11 races left in the regular season before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Hendrick Motorsports, typically up front performance-wise, was first in line for servings of adversity with all four of its entries hitting snags.

Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch — all former Michigan winners — hoped to capitalize on their experience at the 2-mile track in the Quicken Loans 400. But the quintet was unable to solidify their positioning in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup postseason hunt, and points leader Jimmie Johnson saw his lead shrink significantly after a late-race tire issue.

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Gordon was the first to encounter trouble, colliding with Bobby Labonte in just the fourth of 200 laps and smacking the outside wall. His 39th-place finish dropped him a whopping five spots from 11th to 16th in the points as the four-time series champion lost his hold on one of the two Wild Card playoffs spots.

Gordon, a five-time Coors Light Pole winner at Michigan, attributed a portion of his misfortune to starting back in the pack in 29th place.

“For years I’ve always said I don’t believe in good luck or bad luck that you make it,” said Gordon, who managed to return to the race after 130 laps in the garage but retired early for his fourth DNF of the season. “Just in that instance right there I call that being at the wrong place at the wrong time, but I also know that we contribute to where we started. We started back there and we were moving forward which I’m proud of, but the fact that we are back there.

“I put as much blame on myself. I really struggled this weekend when we went into qualifying trim. I’ve struggled all year. Shoot, the last two years with qualifying and I don’t know what it is, but we have to get it better. Starting back there you are only putting yourself into those positions to have those kinds of things happen.”

Two different problems affected Kahne and Earnhardt, Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates, shortly after the race’s midway point.

Kahne brought out the race’s sixth caution period after a cut tire sent his No. 5 Chevrolet hard into the turn 2 wall in Lap 102. Kahne was uninjured, but his demolished car relegated him to a 38th-place finish.

The outcome continued a recent slide for Kahne, who was as high as second in the standings after a runner-up finish at Kansas on April 21. Since then, he’s gradually slid out of the top 10, with Sunday’s crash moving him from eighth to 12th in the points in one swoop. His one victory this year — at Bristol in March — does help him cling to one of the Chase wild-card spots.

Earnhardt was the next Hendrick driver to watch his day end early. His No. 88 car slowed dramatically for a lap before trailing a plume of smoke to bring out a 130th-lap yellow flag. Earnhardt finished third the previous week at Pocono Raceway to jump two positions into fourth in the Sprint Cup points; his failure to finish Sunday knocked him back three slots to seventh place.

“Just telling them guys to hold their head up they did a great job overnight getting the car competitive,” Earnhardt said of his crew. “We had a first- or second-place car right there.”

The lone bright spot for the Hendrick operation was primed to be Johnson for the second straight week, but his No. 48 Chevy slowed with a blown tire just three laps from the finish. He limped to the pits and finished 28th, the first driver one lap down.

The downfall allowed second-place Carl Edwards, who ran eighth Sunday, to chop 20 points off Johnson’s lead, closing to 31 points off the top. Clint Bowyer also moved 20 points closer in third place, finishing seventh Sunday to stand 49 points off the lead.

Kurt Busch, who started second and swept Saturday’s practice sessions, brought out the yellow flag in the 28th lap with a spin and mild contact with the outside retaining wall. The No. 78 driver had inched up nine places in last eight races, but Sunday’s 35th-place finish — seven laps down — pushed him from 15th to 20th in points, increasing his urgency to secure a win for his Wild Card hopes.

Hamlin paid tribute to former Joe Gibbs Racing driver Jason Leffler with a special throwback paint scheme. But his long-shot quest for a Wild Card berth hit another setback with a 30th-place finish after a pair of unscheduled pit stops and lackluster performance.

Hamlin, who missed four races after suffering a back injury in a crash at Auto Club Speedway on March 24, needs to climb into the 11th-20th range in points and collect at least a win or two to have a realistic chance at a Wild Card spot. Sunday, he dropped from 25th to 26th in points to stall his momentum.

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Nascar

Biffle’s decision not to help remove trash from Edwards’ grille causes tension

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Carl Edwards felt his Roush Fenway Racing teammate should have helped him out.

Greg Biffle said that, given the gap between the two Fords, the timing and the fact that he was the race leader overruled any request for assistance.

Edwards was running second to Biffle with less than 50 laps remaining in Sundays’ Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway when the temperature of his car’s engine became a cause for concern.

Trash on the grille created the issue, and Edwards was hopeful that Biffle would slow enough to let him close in and allow the air pressure to remove the debris.

How much longer could he run before harming the engine?

“Somebody get a motor man to make the decision for me,” Edwards radioed his crew “because I’m not going to make the decision."

"(We) didn’t get any help from our teammate, and he put us in a hole."

— Jimmy Fennig

Told the engine should be OK until he pitted, which he did a handful of laps later, Edwards overcame an untimely caution that fell shortly after his green-flag pit stop to finish eighth.

No help from the teammate, came the voice on the radio after the stop.

“He ain’t our teammate,” Edwards shot back.

Biffle, however, said he had other concerns. With the potential to end a 27-race winless streak looming in the windshield of his No. 16 Ford, and a healthy margin on the track, it was a risk he wasn’t willing to take.

“These races are very, very hard to win,” Biffle, who scored his 19th career win and the 1,000th win for Ford Motor Co. across NASCAR national series. “The last win I had was here. This is a competitive sport.”

It would be different, he said “if he was eight car-lengths back, and I didn’t know when I passed him he had something on his grille or I’d let him get it off then. And I don’t know if he did have something …”

Told of his teammate’s potential problem, Biffle responded “I can’t help him … not right now. This is my chance to win today, right here, and the 48 (of Jimmie Johnson) is coming. I don’t know if you know that or not, but the 48 is coming.”

Afterward, team co-owner Jack Roush defended the decision of Biffle and the No. 16 team.

“There are no team orders for that kind of thing,” Roush said, “but I do support the decision that Greg made to not give up his track position, and we’ll discuss that.”

Edwards, the Coors Light Pole Award winner, led three times for 16 laps, the last time at lap 150 before Biffle came zooming past.

His eighth-place finish enabled him to hold his No. 2 position in the points standings, and cut into Jimmie Johnson’s points lead. He now trails by 31.

“It’s a two way street, right?” Biffle said. “You ask that guy up there to climb back down the rock to help you or you wait for the guy that’s coming (up) and ask him for help.

“There’s two ways of doing it. … There are lots of options … and I had to get stuff off my grille several times.”

Crew chief Jimmy Fennig wasn’t pleased, citing the problems at the end of a race on the fact that the team “didn’t get any help from our teammate, and he put us in a hole.

“We were a bit too free,” Fennig said of the day’s battle on the 2-mile oval. “We finally got it (better) at the end, but we got paper in our grille.

“Tried to get the 16 (of Biffle) to help get it off and he didn’t want to help us.”

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Nascar

Series leader Johnson, teammates all finish outside top 25

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Jeff Gordon couldn’t avoid a spinning Bobby Labonte.

Kasey Kahne slammed the wall in Turn 2.

And Dale Earnhardt Jr. needed 400 miles out of his car’s engine. He got only 262.

Leaving it up to Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson to haul the mail and save the day.

Johnson, a five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, entered Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway with 63 career wins. None had come at the 2-mile MIS.

And although he was closing on race leader Greg Biffle with less than 10 laps remaining, a flat tire inside the final five laps sent Johnson to pit road. He finished 28th.

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“We cut a right-front tire there at the end,” Johnson said, leaning back against the No. 48 entry as his crew scurried around in the background, preparing the car for the journey back to the team’s headquarters in Charlotte, N.C.

“I guess just running that hard trying to get through traffic and get to the No. 16 (of Biffle), we wore through the right-front. I’m kind of shocked because we didn’t have any issues (before that).

“Our strategy was throwing some challenges at us … and we just struggled with maintaining track position. But we had a fast car and I could drive up through there. As soon as I’d get to first or second, a caution would come out and then something would happen again and we’d lose track position.”

The 28th-place finish was the worst of the season for Johnson, but not enough to knock him off his perch atop the points standings. He leads Carl Edwards, who finished eighth, by 31.

As for the remainder of the HMS fleet?

Gordon was able to return after extensive repairs following his lap-6 incident, but fell five spots, to 16th in the points, with the 39th-place result.

Labonte “just did one of those slow spins where I couldn’t tell which direction he was going to go,” Gordon said, “so I had to guess and I guessed the wrong way. I didn’t really have anywhere to go.”

Kahne was leading when his No. 5 Chevrolet slid up the track and into the Turn 2 wall. The car briefly caught fire, but Kahne, uninjured, was able to exit without any issues.

“I would say it was a tire that went down, but I don’t know for sure,” said Kahne, who lost four points positions after finishing 38th. “I just was going into the corner and then it’ ‘boom’ and turned right went straight into the wall.

“Things were working out. I thought it was going to be between myself and Jimmie. We both had two really fast cars.”

Earnhardt Jr. had led 23 consecutive laps before his car’s engine began to sour — less than 30 laps after the Kahne incident. The 37th-place finish dropped him three spots in the standings, to seventh.

Off the pace a day earlier in practice, Earnhardt Jr. said he was “proud” of the work done by crew chief Steve Letarte and the No. 88 team to get the car turned around.

“They made a lot of great changes. And that car was just flying at the end there,” he said.

That speed was perhaps a silver lining for the group on an otherwise forgettable day.

“At least we weren’t running 25th with problems, that makes it all the worse,” Johnson said. “We have fast race cars and I’m proud of everybody at Hendrick.”

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Nascar

The current FedEx driver pays tribute to the first driver of the No. 11 JGR car

BROOKLYN, Mich. – Denny Hamlin and the Joe Gibbs Racing organization are paying tribute to former JGR driver Jason Leffler today with a retro paint scheme on the team’s No. 11 Toyota.

The No. 11 entry features a FedEx paint design similar to that used in 2005, when Leffler made 19 starts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the JGR organization. Hamlin’s crew worked Saturday evening to convert the look of the car in time for today’s Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Leffler died from injuries sustained in a Sprint Car crash June 12 at Bridgeport Speedway in Swedesboro, New Jersey.

A standout in the open-wheel sprint ranks where he won three consecutive Midget titles (1997-99), Leffler was winless in 73 starts in the Cup series. He scored two victories in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series and one in the sanctioning body’s Camping World Truck Series.

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Staff Report

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Posted on June 16, 2013 by Staff Report

NASCAR national series veteran dies after wreck

Driver Jason Leffler, who competed in 423 NASCAR national series races throughout his career, died Wednesday night following an accident at a sprint-car race in New Jersey.

Leffler’s final NASCAR race was at the Sprint Cup Series level last week, when he drove the No. 19 Toyota at Pocono Raceway.

According to local news reports, the driver was airlifted to the hospital after a crash at Bridgeport Speedway. He was pronounced dead shortly after 9 p.m.

Hamlin honors Leffler with paint scheme

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing pay tribute to the first FedEx driver, Jason Leffler. | Read the full story | Paint Scheme Preview | Jason Leffler coverage

Trust fund for Leffler’s son

In honor of NASCAR driver Jason Leffler, who lost his life in a racing accident this week, a trust fund has been established for his five-year-old son, Charlie Dean. A celebration of Jason Leffler’s life will be held on Wednesday, June 19. | Read the full story

Up To Speed: Drivers react to Leffler’s death

At Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers, who were friends and competitors of Jason Leffler, talked about losing Leffler in Wednesday’s sprint car accident. | Watch the video here

Leffler dies after wreck

Jason Leffler died Wednesday night following a crash at Bridgeport Speedway in New Jersey. A two-time winner in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Leffler leaves behind a young son, Charlie. He was 37. | Read the full story

Inherent risk

"People that love to race will go to race. Jason (Leffler) loved to race." That’s a quote from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as he and other drivers like Brad Keselowski talked to NASCAR.com’s Kenny Bruce in the aftermath of Leffler’s death. | Read the full story

 

Video tribute

NASCAR.com remembers Jason Leffler’s life and racing career via video. Included are clips of his national series victories. | Watch the video here

Fondly remembered

As news of Jason Leffler’s death spread, former teammates and team owners all remembered the driver in similar ways — as a great racer, a great teammate and a great man. | Read the full story

Racing community reacts

NASCAR drivers were hit hard by Jason Leffler’s death, and many took to Twitter and other forms of social media to honor their fallen friend. Here’s a collection of remembrances and stories from NASCAR drivers. | Read the full story

Photo timeline

See Jason Leffler’s NASCAR national series career milestones in this photo timeline. Starting in 1999 with Leffler’s win in a midget car to the awards ceremony in 2007 for finishing third in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (then called the Busch Series). | Read the full story

Return to racing roots

Jason Leffler drove in NASCAR’s biggest races, but he never forgot where he came from. So when a NASCAR ride didn’t materialize for 2013, he knew where to look — to the dirt tracks on which he grew up racing, David Caraviello writes. | Read the full story

National series stats

Read Jason Leffler’s career highlights, as well as a year-by-year breakdown of his time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. | Read the full story

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Staff Report

Check out the new looks hitting the track in Sprint Cup and Nationwide

Editor’s note: This story will be updated as additional paint schemes are revealed.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide series return to action this weekend at Michigan International Speedway.

Below are some of the special paint schemes you’ll see for the doubleheader from the Great Lake State.

Denny Hamlin will drive the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota.

DONATE: Charlie Dean Leffler Discretionary Trust

Greg Biffle will drive the No. 16 3M Give Kids a Smile Ford.

SHOP: Greg Biffle die-casts

Austin Dillon will drive the No. 33 American Ethanol Chevrolet.

SHOP: Austin Dillon die-casts

AJ Allmendinger will drive the No. 47 Charter Toyota.

SHOP: AJ Allmendinger die-casts

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will drive the No. 88 National Guard Soldier of Steel Chevrolet.

SHOP: Dale Earnhardt Jr. die-casts

The following special paint schemes will take the track in the Nationwide Series’ Alliance Truck Parts 250:

Trevor Bayne will drive the No. 6 Roush CleanTech Ford.

SHOP: Trevor Bayne die-casts

Paul Menard will drive the No. 33 Menards Chevrolet.

SHOP: Paul Menard die-casts

Cole Whitt will drive the No. 44 Takagi Tankless Water Heaters Toyota.

SHOP: Cole Whitt die-casts

Posted on June 15, 2013 by

No. 7 driver fends off Larson’s late charge for second win of season

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Regan Smith beat Kyle Larson and Mother Nature on Saturday for his second Nationwide Series victory of the season.

He held off the rookie in the final 14 laps to win the Alliance Truck Parts 250 at Michigan International Speedway and extend his lead in the series standings. He took the checkered flag minutes before a light rain began to fall on the race track.

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Parker Kligerman gambled rain would end the race short of the scheduled 125 laps but lost the lead when he had to pit with 13 to go. That opened the door for Smith, who kept his No. 7 Chevy ahead of a charging Larson in the final 10 laps.

"I felt confident even though he was drafting up to me," said Smith, who found himself near the front after a Lap 99 stop for fuel.

"It seemed like once we got the car out front it really came to life. (Crew chief) Greg (Ives) made some really good calls to get us the track position."

Ives said he did all he could to make sure his driver got as close to the front of the pack as he could in the closing laps.

"The strategy was to get him up front and let him get confident and comfortable," he said.

It made for a pleasant homecoming for Ives, a native of Bark River in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

There was no caution flag after Austin Dillon brushed the wall with five laps to go and Larson, who was steadily gaining on Smith in the closing laps, never got a chance to take the lead.

Sprint Cup Series regular Paul Menard gave Chevy a sweep of the top three spots and Kyle Busch and Trevor Bayne rounded out the top-five finishers.

It was the second win of the season and third career series win for Smith, who also was first at Talladega in early May. It’s the 11th straight time he’s finished in the top 10.

Smith, who started 11th, paid tribute to late driver Jason Leffler by displaying a decal over the door pillar of his car and promised a portion of his $45,440 winnings to the trust fund created to assist Leffler’s 5-year-old son.

Leffler, a two-time winner on the Nationwide circuit, died last week after his sprint car crashed at a dirt track in New Jersey. A moment of silence in his honor was held before the start of the race.

Larson, the series’ top rookie, finished in the top five for the fourth time this season and matched his career-best runner-up finish at Bristol.

"It’d be nice to hurry up and get the win," he said. "I think it’s coming soon. We’re getting better every week. Once we go to the tracks a second time I hopefully should start out the races better and hopefully maintain track position."

Drivers qualified under warm conditions earlier in the day but took the green flag under overcast, muggy skies that made the track slick. The forecast was threatening, but rain never came.

Pole winner Dillon looked strongest in the first half of the race but opted not to pit with the rest of the lead pack after a lap 64 caution. A flat left-rear tire soon dropped him a lap down and he ended the day 20th after his late-race contact with the wall.

Joey Logano took the lead after a lap 86 restart but gave it to Kligerman when he pitted 13 laps later. Kligerman was 19th in the unofficial standings but was dropped to 25th after speeding onto pit road for his final stop.

Dillon set a new track qualifying record with a lap of 191.882 mph earlier in the day to earn his fourth straight Coors Light Pole Award, a Nationwide Series record.

It was the second straight hard-luck outing for Dillon, who led 207 of 250 laps a week earlier at Iowa but finished second to Bayne.

Sam Hornish Jr., who started the day second in the standings, left the race on lap 81 after a piece of debris broke his oil pump. It dropped him to 32nd and widened his deficit in the standings.

Hornish fell from 23 points behind Smith to 58. Justin Allgaier crept to just a point behind him.

"There is nothing wrong with our Roush Yates engine other than we hit a piece of debris," Hornish said. "We knew we had a good car that was capable of winning. It just wasn’t our day."

The race wasn’t quite a lap old before the first caution came out. Alex Bowman and Travis Pastrana spun in turn 4 before Brian Vickers crashed into Jeffrey Earnhardt. The latter two cars sustained significant damage.

Vickers, seventh in the series points standings before the start of the race, got back on the track but finished 33rd, 45 laps off the lead. The lead dropped him back to 10th in the standings.

Dexter Stacey brought out the day’s second yellow flag when he struck the turn 3 wall on lap 7.

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Posted on June 15, 2013 by

Fast all weekend in practice and qualifying, No. 78 team is ready to roar

BROOKLYN, Mich. — It’s only a matter of time.

Kurt Busch‘s No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet SS has been too fast, too often (and yes, even sometimes — too furious) to not break through soon for his first win of 2013. The 2004 Sprint Cup Series champion has routinely been at the top or near it in practice and qualifying sessions week in and week out but for various in-race reasons, has yet to reach Victory Lane.

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After linking up with the Denver, Colo.-based team for the final six races last season — the final three of which were all top-10 finishes — the learning curve that comes along with racing for a new team finally seems to be over with after taking a small step back to open the season with three-straight finishes outside the top 20.

“It’s just great to be on the same page with all these guys. It’s just a good feeling. To be on the front row four times this year; it’s all happened since Texas,” said Busch, in his 14th year at the national level. “It was like that race there just turned the switch on for us, and it’s been a great ride. So we’re just going to keep rolling.”

Currently 15th in the Sprint Cup standings and 21 points behind Greg Biffle’s crucial 10th-place spot, this weekend is looking as good as ever for Busch to pick up his first win with Furniture Row and first with any team since taking the October 2011 race at Dover for Penske Racing. His No. 78 Chevy was one of just four cars to top 200 mph in any of the three Michigan practices, taking first in the latter two after a second-place spot on the leaderboard behind Kasey Kahne in the first.

Busch’s average finish of 21.4 at Michigan International Speedway is his third-worst at any Cup track, but it is also just one of five tracks that he has multiple victories at. His speed this weekend (and really all season) is no fluke, as his qualifying speed of 201.879 mph was good enough to put him alongside pole winner Carl Edwards in the front row. However, after spending close to a decade and a half on NASCAR’s national circuit, Busch knows races aren’t won on Fridays.

“To be second, that’s qualifying, now we’ve just got to step into the race and that’s where we’ve got to close the deal,” he said. “We haven’t been as strong as we’ve needed to be in the last section of the race, like after the last pit stop or with two pit stops to go, that’s where we have to find a little bit more improvement. But otherwise, these Furniture Row guys are phenomenal, and we’re knocking on the door.”

If Busch and his crew are able to maintain their game plan and nothing too unexpected happens, there is no reason to believe that his No. 78 doesn’t have as likely of a shot to win the Quicken Loans 400 as any of the other favored drivers (Dale Earnhardt Jr., Edwards, Kahne). Busch’s 124 laps led in 2013 are more than six times as many as he had all of last season. The number also eclipses the individual totals of reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski, 2012 runner-up Clint Bowyer, and Earnhardt, all three of whom are above him in the standings.

Even more terrifying for his competitors is that he realistically has a shot to win back-to-back weeks — something that has not been accomplished by any driver in 2013 — as next week’s location, Sonoma Raceway, ranks among his best. His last two races there have resulted in a victory (2011) and third-place finish (2012), giving him five top-five finishes in 12 starts.

Not lost in all of Busch’s exploits this season is the fact that he does have the beneficial support of a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing.

“It’s vital to be teamed up with a big program to know that they’re working behind the scenes on all the speed that they’re trying to find,” said the 34-year-old. “And then it bleeds over with the things that we have found and have distributed to Richard Childress Racing. So you always hope there’s that nice two-way street. And everybody at RCR has been rooting us on and we’re there trying to push them and there are new things that we’re bringing to the race track and each of the teams are working on little things. They consider us a fourth car.”

With just one car fielded by the small FRR team out of Colorado, Busch benefits from the ability to share notes with his RCR cohorts.

“It’s great to have those teammate notes, so to speak, with (Kevin) Harvick and (Paul) Menard and (Jeff) Burton. That way I can look at notes and understand things quickly. When it comes down to more of the engineering side, and those guys being able to communicate, and it’s the alliance that we have. It’s what we pay for. And it’s great to see it work.”