7 reasons to watch the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway: No. 1 - Ford
Since its inaugural NASCAR Cup event in 2001, there have been eight races at Chicagoland Speedway.
Chevrolet has won six of them. Dodge and Toyota have been victorious once each.
And Ford? Zero. Nada. Zilch.
So it would seem that one particularly interesting thing about this year’s Lifelock.com 400 is the prospect of, finally, a Ford victory at Chicagoland.
If you play the odds, the numbers don’t look good.
Ford’s best showing was in 2001. Kevin Harvick drove a Richard Childress Chevrolet to victory but Fords finished second through eighth.
Harvick won again in 2002, leading a one-two finish for Chevrolet.
Ryan Newman crashed Chevy’s party in 2003 when he won in a Penske Dodge. But Chevrolets finished second through fifth.
In 2004, Tony Stewart led another one-two Chevy run and the next year, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the winner in a race that saw Chevy claim four of the top five positions.
Jeff Gordon won in Hendrick Chevrolet in 2006 as Chevy claimed eight of the top 10 positions, including the top six.
Stewart earned his second Chicagoland victory in 2007 and had to beat a couple of Ford drivers – Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards – to do it.
Last year, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch gave Toyota its first win at Chicagoland. The Chevrolets of Jimmie Johnson and Harvick finished second and third.
Save for 2001, Ford hasn’t played much of a leading role in Chicagoland’s statistical history.
But with this year’s Lifelock.com 400, the slate is wiped clean, isn’t it?
And Ford has yet another chance to win at Chicagoland.
The question is, of course, will it – at last?
