The 2012 NASCAR season comes to a close this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Roush Fenway Racing hopes to build on its rich history at the 1.5-mile oval. RFR earned its first Homestead victory in the 1998 NASCAR Nationwide Series with Jeff Burton, and claimed its first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win in 2002 when Kurt Busch won from the pole. That same weekend, Greg Biffle earned Roush Fenway its first Nationwide Series championship.
Since then, RFR has amassed 10 wins, 41 Top-5 and 54 Top-10 finishes in 130 starts across NASCAR’s three narional divisions. In addition, the team is ranked first among all Sprint Cup Series teams with seven wins in Homestead’s 14-year history with the series.
Of the eight drivers who have won a Sprint Cup Series race at the South Florida oval, RFR’s Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth have all celebrated in Victory Lane there. Biffle leads the way with three wins, accumulated in a dominant three-year run from 2004 to 2006.
Biffle is tied for first place on the career Homestead Sprint Cup wins list, and all three RFR drivers also rank in the Top-10 in Homestead driver rating over the past seven years, with Edwards leading the way. Kenseth holds the record for most laps led by a race winner, leading 214 circuits en route to victory in 2007.
Reigning Nationwide Series champion and 2010 Rookie of the Year Ricky Stenhouse Jr., has also left his mark on the Homestead oval, with pair of Top-5 finishes in two career starts there. He also averages a third-place finish there, and ranks in the Top-5 in driver rating.
Stenhouse comes to Homestead with a 20-point lead in the Nationwide championship standings. He and his No. 6 Ford Mustang team look to repeat history Saturday, with back-to-back NNS championships, becoming only the sixth driver in history to accomplish that feat.
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