Increase of six races from 2014 equals most run by team since 2011
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Wood Brothers Racing will increase its NASCAR Sprint Cup Series involvement in 2015, announcing plans Wednesday to compete in 18 points races this season with driver Ryan Blaney.
In addition to the 12 races previously scheduled, the team has added six more stops, with sponsorship from Snap-On, PPG and SKF helping make the move possible.
“We’re going to the first Loudon race, to Kentucky, the night race at Bristol and Darlington,” team co-owner Eddie Wood said of the additional races. “Chicago in the fall and the fall race at Charlotte.”
It will be the most attempts for the legendary organization since 2011 when Trevor Bayne made 17 starts and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. one.
“We’re really excited about going back to Darlington,” Wood said, “all the history that’s in place there. We’ve been working hard on (increasing the number of races) and we’re really happy to expand.”
Blaney competed full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2013-14 for Brad Keselowski Racing, owned by 2012 Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski. He also made 14 starts in what is now the XFINITY Series for Team Penske as well as two Sprint Cup starts.
A new alliance with Team Penske opened the door for the Wood Brothers to put Blaney in the familiar red and white No. 21 Ford when Bayne made the move to run full-time in Sprint Cup for Roush Fenway Racing this season.
It also allowed crew chief Jeremy Bullins to join the organization. Bullins worked with Blaney in the XFINITY Series last season for 10 races, and the pair won at Bristol in August.
Bayne scored a highly popular Daytona 500 victory in just his second Sprint Cup start while with the Wood Brothers in ’11. Now with Blaney behind the wheel, Wood said the team is hopeful for another fast start. The organization, which began fielding cars in NASCAR’s premier series in 1950, needs only two victories to reach the 100-win milestone.
“Absolutely,” Wood said. “We’re looking forward to going to Daytona and getting started. Ryan is already a proven winner in Trucks and XFINITY with Jeremy … the only difference (now) is it’s a Cup car.”
The additional races won’t mean an increase in personnel “because the races are spread out enough,” he said.
“Last year we kind of had a hole in our schedule in the fall. … This fixes that. The amount of people and support we have for that is just perfect. You can get up to about, say, 20-22 races and when you step over that, all of a sudden you have to have a lot more people, a lot more cars, everything.”
Blaney, the son of former World of Outlaws champion and Sprint Cup driver Dave Blaney, wouldn’t mind running the entire Sprint Cup schedule.
“I want the whole thing — I want 36,” he said. “But we’ll take 18.
“We’re happy that we can extend the Wood Brothers’ schedule … we’re really happy to be a part of that.”
Should Blaney break through and earn his first career victory in Sprint Cup in ’15, he wouldn’t be eligible for one of the 16 spots in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field since he’s not scheduled to run all the races.
“Give me Daytona and then we’ll worry about that,” said Len Wood, Eddie Wood’s brother and a co-owner of the team. “I hope to have a reason to worry about that.”