NASCAR Cup Series

Ford flashback: Kurt Busch wins at Martinsville in 2002

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:18 p.m. ET

Tim Durr

In 2002, Kurt Busch capped off a long stretch of success by Ford at Martinsville with a win in the Old Dominion 500.

Starting in 1990 when Geoff Bodine won both races at Martinsville in Junior Johnson’s No. 11 Budweiser Ford to Busch’s win in 2002, Ford won 15 of 26 races at the short track.

In the height of the Ford success, Rusty Wallace won four straight at the oldest track on the NASCAR circuit in the midst of the Blue Oval drivers winning seven of nine races there.

Over the past several years, Ford has seen a dip in its top-tier teams as Roush Fenway Racing has faced struggles and Team Penske’s two-car operation has been the lone consistent success story for the Blue Oval manufacturer.

Nowhere is that dip in success more evident than at Martinsville Speedway where Ford hasn’t visited Victory Lane since Busch in '02.

That’s 28 races since its last win there.

This isn’t a post to blast Ford for their struggles, though.

And, they’ll likely start seeing Victory Lane more often as Stewart-Haas Racing makes its move to the manufacturer next season.

In the meantime, Joey Logano has a likely chance to end the streak this weekend at Martinsville.

He’s captured the pole at the paper clip the past three races and outside of his incident with Matt Kenseth causing him to finish 37th, he hasn’t finished worse than 14th in the past three years.

His best finish with Team Penske came in the spring race in 2015 when he finished third after leading 108 laps.

There will be 10 other Fords in the field along with Logano on Sunday for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500, with Logano as the lone championship hopeful for Ford.