The Ford race cars of Roush Yates were setting new time records all weekend, first on the race grid and record-book fast both in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series, and ARCA Series.
Sam Hornish Jr. turned in the fastest time in the battle for pole position for the Nationwide Zippo 200 on Saturday for the second straight year at The Glen in the record lap of 123.291 mph. This speed beat the previous mark of 123.241 mph set two years ago by Kurt Busch.
Eventually, Brad Keselowski would beat his teammate Sam Hornish Jr. to the finish line on Saturday to win the Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen International. In the end, all three Penske race cars led the 200-mile race for the duration, accept for nine laps. This Nationwide Series win is the fourth in a row for Brad Keselowski and the ninth Nationwide Series win of 2013 for Ford Racing and Roush Yates Engines.
The performance by Brad Keselowski was truly amazing. Starting in fifth position he managed to move steadily up the ladder and would eventually lead a total of 46 laps in the No. 22 Hertz Ford Mustang.
He had to take the lead from his teammate and friend Joey Logano with just 16 turns around the track to go and keep Sam Hornish Jr. behind him to win by just 1.418 seconds in the end to win.
Mason Mitchell drove his No. 82 Happy Cheeks Ford to the pole position in the record lap of 93.963 on the Berlin Raceway on Saturday for Empire Racing-Mason Mitchell Motorsports during the ARCA Series. Mason will now see his name in the record books, with the top qualifying lap at the .4375-mile race track.
The driver for the No. 9 Stanley Ford, Marcus Ambrose, won the pole for the Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen International on Sunday in the record-breaking lap of 128.241 mph. This mark is one mile an hour faster than the old mark of 127.020, set by Juan Pablo Montoya just one year ago. The 128 mph mark set by Marcus Ambrose occurred during the last qualifying group and proved too much for the other drivers on the track to match on Sunday.
The new Gen-6 race car appeared to handle the track better than the old car and it was obvious drivers were able to stay off the gas a little more, which seemed to help the brakes on the cars a bit. Watkins Glen appears to be a good track for Gen-6 race cars and the times recorded back this up.
All in all, a really good day for Penske Racing, but they still have some work to do to catch Austin Dillon. They sit just three points behind after this race, as the battle for the Nationwide Series Championship continues in Mid-Ohio next week.
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