DAYTONA BEACH, FL, February 7, 2018 – The 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup season gets started this weekend with The Clash at Daytona International Speedway. This non-points event features pole-winners from the 2017 season, along with former Clash winners, former Daytona 500 pole-winners who competed full-time last year, and playoff qualifiers from a season ago. This event has been run in one form or another since 1979. Ford has won The Clash at Daytona eight times by six different drivers

WHO’S IN?

There are six Ford drivers who will compete in The Clash, including all three Team Penske drivers in Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.  Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick will be the Stewart-Haas Racing participants while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. carries the Roush Fenway Racing banner.

LOGANO GOING FOR TWO STRAIGHT

Joey Logano snapped a 13-year Ford winless drought when he won The Clash last year, making him the manufacturer’s first victor since Dale Jarrett in 2004. Logano found himself in the right place at the right time to take the win.  This was Logano’s first Clash win of  his career.  Four Ford drivers finished in the top six spots as Danica Patrick was fourth, Kevin Harvick fifth and Keselowski sixth.

ELLIOTT CLAIMS FORD’S FIRST CLASH VICTORY AT DAYTONA

Bill Elliott became the first Ford driver to win a non-points event in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on Feb. 8, 1987 in what was then known as the Busch Clash.  The format that year was a single 20-lap run (50 miles) with no pit stop required.  Elliott, who started on the pole in his No. 9 Coors Thunderbird after a blind draw, fell back to sixth on the start after Terry Labonte and Ricky Rudd were involved in an accident on the first lap.  On the ensuing restart, Elliott steadily reeled in leader Darrell Waltrip and passed him on lap eight.  Elliott led the final 13 laps and won with an average speed of 197.802 mph, a record that still stands for the event.  A week later, Elliott won his second Daytona 500.

DJ HOLDS OFF JR FOR SHOOTOUT TRIUMPH

Dale Jarrett won his third Budweiser Shootout on Feb. 7, 2004 in his No. 88 UPS Taurus, which represents the last time Ford has won the event.  The race was broken up into two segments – an initial 20-lap run followed by a 50-lapper to the finish – and marked the beginning of Nextel as series sponsor.  Jarrett and Kevin Harvick were side-by-side at the white flag, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. gave Jarrett the push he needed to complete the pass on the outside going through turn one.  The race finished under green with Jarrett holding off Earnhardt Jr. for the win.

FORD’S CLASH AT DAYTONA WINNERS

1987 – Bill Elliott

1992 – Geoffrey Bodine

1996 – Dale Jarrett

1998 – Rusty Wallace

1999 – Mark Martin

2000 – Dale Jarrett

2004 – Dale Jarrett

2017 – Joey Logano

*Courtesy Ford Performance