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CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — It's been 16 years since Mark Martin won the Coca-Cola 600, and a Ford driver has not been to victory lane for the marquee event since. A Ford driver hasn't hoisted a Cup championship trophy since 2004, either.
There have been some highlights during this past decade of mediocrity, but coming up empty every year in the chase for NASCAR's biggest prize got very tiring to the Ford group.
"Four years ago we got very serious about, 'We don't just want to be here, we want to be here to win,'" said Mark Rushbrook, global director at Ford Motor Co. "To do that, we knew we had to fix everything."
