Statement from Chairman & CEO Richard Childress, regarding Paul Menard & Menards Inc.
“Paul Menard and Menards, Inc. have had a partnership with RCR for seven years. Together, we have enjoyed a tremendous amount of success, including Paul’s emotional win at Indianapolis in 2011. He is a very talented driver and a good friend. Everyone at RCR wishes both Paul and Menards nothing but the best in the future.
Our entire RCR organization is 100 percent focused on getting all three of our Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series programs in the playoffs this year, and bringing another Cup championship to RCR in 2017.
We will be announcing our plans for a third Cup team and our overall 2018 team lineup at a later date.”
Ryan Blaney will move to a third Team Penske entry in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018, with Paul Menard shifting to the Wood Brothers Racing team next season.
Both organizations made the joint announcement Wednesday, firming up two more partnerships in the annual “Silly Season” shuffle of driver-team pairings. Team Penske and the Wood Brothers share technical information through an alliance.
On a Wednesday afternoon teleconference, Tim Cindric, president of Team Penske, and Eddie Wood, co-owner of Wood Brothers Racing confirmed that crew chief Jeremy Bullins will stay with Blaney and move to the No. 12, while Greg Erwin will crew chief the No. 21 in 2018.
Blaney, 23, is in his third season driving the Wood Brothers’ famed No. 21 Ford. He scored his first Monster Energy Series victory earlier this year at Pocono Raceway. He will drive the No. 12 Ford Fusion next year and has blossomed into one of the sport’s young stars. He hosts a weekly podcast called “Glass Case of Emotion” on NASCAR.com, which you can watch here.
“For some time now, we have wanted to bring Ryan in to run a third car for us, but things just needed to make sense from a timing and business perspective,” team owner Roger Penske said in a press release. “We have been working on making this a reality, and 2018 is the right opportunity to make this move and return our organization to a three-car team. Having a company like Menards, and a businessman like John Menard, be a part of this transition is also fantastic for our organization. The benefits of having three full-time teams under our roof, along with the continued technical partnership with the Wood Bothers, will help us remain competitive in the ever-changing NASCAR landscape.”
The transition returns Blaney to the team that gave him his start in NASCAR’s premier series. Blaney made two starts in Team Penske’s No. 12 Ford in 2014 before joining the Wood Brothers, a satellite operation to Team Penske.
Blaney also has driven part-time in six seasons of XFINITY Series competition, notching all five of his wins with the Roger Penske-owned operation. Beginning in 2018, he’ll be a direct teammate to Penske veterans Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.
“This is a huge opportunity for me and my career,” Blaney said. “I’ve had some great moments with both Team Penske and the Wood Brothers over the last few years. I know for a fact I wouldn’t be where I am today without Roger (Penske), Eddie and Len (Wood) and the opportunities their organizations have given me. I’m excited about the future.”
Wednesday’s news concludes an ambitious couple of days for Team Penske, which announced on Tuesday that 2012 premier series champion Brad Keselowski had agreed to a multiyear contract extension. Earlier this season, the team extended Logano’s contract through the 2022 season.
Menard, 36, will shift over to the Wood Brothers after a seven-year run in Richard Childress Racing’s No. 27 Chevrolet. That tenure included Menard’s lone premier series win (2011, Indianapolis) and two of his three career XFINITY victories.
Menard has made 383 NASCAR premier series starts since his debut in 2003. He currently sits 23rd in the series standings.
“To get the chance to drive the iconic No. 21 for the Wood Brothers is the coolest thing I’ve ever got a chance to do,” Menard said. “I’m looking forward to working with the team, working with Roush Yates, Ford Performance and Team Penske to see what we can do. Ryan (Blaney) has done a fantastic job and is a constant threat to run up front. Hopefully, we can do the same thing and keep the momentum going into 2018 and beyond.”
Menards will sponsor the No. 21 Ford for 22 Monster Energy Series races. Additional sponsorship, including plans for long-time partner Motorcraft/Quick Lane, will be announced at a later date, the team announced in a press release.
Menard also will run a handful of XFINITY Series races for Team Penske in 2018.
Richard Childress, the Chairman and CEO of RCR, released a statement following news of Menard’s departure:
“Paul Menard and Menards, Inc. have had a partnership with RCR for seven years. Together, we have enjoyed a tremendous amount of success, including Paul’s emotional win at Indianapolis in 2011. He is a very talented driver and a good friend. Everyone at RCR wishes both Paul and Menards nothing but the best in the future. Our entire RCR organization is 100 percent focused on getting all three of our Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series programs in the playoffs this year, and bringing another Cup championship to RCR in 2017. We will be announcing our plans for a third Cup team and our overall 2018 team lineup at a later date.”
Wood Brothers Racing, which has had the likes of David Pearson, Curtis Turner, Cale Yarborough and Buddy Baker pilot the iconic No. 21, currently sits at 99 career wins in the Monster Energy Series.
“It’s fantastic to have the ability to continue to race in the highest level of motorsports full-time and something we look forward to doing with Paul for years to come,” Eddie Wood said in a team release. “I know this will allow us to continue to perform as an organization and will give Paul a great opportunity to go out there and compete for wins.”
Adam Stevens, crew chief of Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and crewmembers of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. had a verbal confrontation on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Video that first aired on FS1 Tuesday night shows Stevens approaching the 78 crew in their box, instigating some pointed words.
“I don’t care who you are — get out of my box,” one crewmember shouted at Stevens, who replied “Alright, cowboy.”
Busch and Truex Jr. were involved in a wreck on Lap 112 at the Brickyard. Truex Jr. was running first and Busch second before wrecking out.
Coming out of Turn 1, Truex Jr.’s car got loose, slid up the track and smacked Busch’s car. Both machines hit the wall hard, with Truex’s car catching fire.
It has been a week of high-profile NASCAR announcements, from Alex Bowman’s 2018 job behind the wheel of the Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 88 to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s new digs in the NBC television booth in 2018 to former Cup champion Brad Keselowski’s big news Tuesday that he has re-upped with Team Penske.
And, oh by the way, Kasey Kahne also broke a three-year winless streak with a victory Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet. In this especially busy news cycle, Kahne’s accomplishment may appear somewhat overshadowed. But don’t underestimate the impact.
It had been 102 races since the 36-year-old from tiny mountainside Enumclaw, Washington had last grinned and hoisted a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series trophy. And he did so late Sunday night in one of NASCAR’s most prestigious Victory Lanes, in a town – Indianapolis — where he came to essentially launch his racing career almost two decades ago.
As Kahne told me earlier this month, Indianapolis Motor Speedway “has long been circled’’ as a place he could right the team’s ship.
The timing of Kahne’s playoff-boosting win is huge as he makes a case to legitimately challenge for the Cup alongside the sport’s biggest names. And for Kahne, it’s especially significant considering his future at Hendrick Motorsports — where he races alongside teammates Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Chase Elliott — is apparently uncertain despite another year left on his contract.
“This shows that I gave it all that I can to get a win,” Kahne acknowledged. “It shows that I’m passionate about driving stock cars, that I can still win races, too.”
On Sunday evening in one of the most unique race settings – a setting sun capping an extended-hours race – Kahne did just that – he reminded people why he is an 18-race Cup winner and why he was Rick Hendrick’s pick five years ago to steer the No. 5 Chevrolet.
“I was just not going to give up,” Kahne said so simply and succinctly, opening his winner’s press conference late Sunday night after getting some IV fluids to counter the long day and extreme heat.
“Unbelievable to win at Indianapolis,’’ Kahne said. “Unbelievable to win a Cup race. It’s been a while. It feels really good for myself and my confidence. I know it’s great for our team. We needed it as a team.
“Just really, you know, excited. Indy, I moved here in 1999, lived here for three summers, raced sprint cars, midgets all around the area. This was the track that I always wanted to win at, and dreamed of racing at. “
And certainly getting over that winless hump is beyond a big deal to the team. It makes Kahne one of the 12 race winners poised to fill that 16-driver playoff field, which will set in stone after the Sept. 9 regular-season finale at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.
NASCAR fans may remember Kahne has shown a knack for winning when it counted most – his last playoff appearance in 2014 came after he won at Atlanta the next-to-last regular-season race.
So with confidence anew, Kahne, his team, and the series heads to Pocono, where Kahne is a two-time race winner. In fact he’s raised trophies at four of the six upcoming regular-season venues, including Pocono, New Hampshire, Bristol and Richmond.
“We have a lot to work on, for sure, but we are heading the right direction,’’ Kahne said Sunday night. “We won a big race today. I feel good about it, man. I feel like I can still race these cars. I’ve known that, and I’ve wanted to, and I have the passion to. So to be able to get a win at this track, this stage, was great for our whole team today, for sure.”
And so like some other 2017 winners, Ryan Newman – who broke a long winless drought – and Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who hoisted their first ever Cup trophy, Kahne’s win this weekend will be a big boost for the rest of the season. And perhaps make a difference in the path of his career.
“I would hope that this would give us all confidence and give us momentum and push us to, yeah, we’ve been at the shop, giving a 100 percent, but now we really are giving 100 percent,’’ Kahne said.
“Now we’re really excited to go to the next race because we didn’t run 15th or 18th or crash today, we actually won the Brickyard 400. So I just think that it helps me and it helps my guys.
“I don’t see how that can’t make us better the last 17 races of the year.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth, Chris Buescher and Landon Cassill spent their Tuesday conducting a Goodyear tire test at Dover International Speedway.
With six races remaining to set the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoff field, Earnhardt is still looking for a regular-season win and is coming off a disappointing 36th-place showing at Indianapolis on Sunday. However, he reiterated he still has full confidence in his Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet crew, and this week he used his vast social media following to defend crew chief Greg Ives from naysayers.
“For folks talkin down on Greg Ives, ya’ll need to shut THAT (expletive) down. He never gave up on me. We are a tight group and will finish together,’’ Earnhardt posted Sunday on Twitter.
And, he added in a reply, “Maybe it’s not worth mentioning here. But I don’t like anyone implying otherwise. He’s my guy. Extremely talented.’’
Earnhardt was asked Tuesday at the Monster Mile about his very public vote of confidence for Ives, and the fact he felt he needed to remind his massive fandom that he stands firmly with his crew for the victories and the challenges.
“We’ve had a difficult year,” Earnhardt said during a break in testing for the upcoming tripleheader playoff weekend at the 1-mile concrete oval on Sept. 29-Oct. 1. “And it was just a little rumbling in the background from fans and they love to target the crew chief. Our struggles are no one individual’s responsibility.
“I think that being my crew chief, we have such a passionate fan base and such a large fan base, it’s a challenging position. I’ve seen that with all the guys I’ve worked with. … They really get picked apart.”
Earnhardt announced Monday he would join the NBC broadcast booth in 2018 after stepping out of the car at the conclusion of the season. And he acknowledged his team has some work to do in the final six regular-season races in order for him to earn a shot in NASCAR’s playoffs.
He’s had only one top-five finish this season and four top 10s through the first 20 races. However, Earnhardt’s team won the pole for the July race in Daytona Beach and two of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet’s top-10 finishes have come this summer.
“We’ve had some pretty difficult results and a lot of opportunity to be frustrated and miserable,’’ Earnhardt said. “But I don’t want this season to be remembered by my crew chief, myself, or my guys as a miserable time. And the fans have an influence on that. They can definitely ease up a little bit on Greg and realize he’s extremely talented and he’s in that position for a reason.
“He’ll have incredible success beyond my driving career as a crew chief at HMS. … he won a championship with Chase (Elliott) in the XFINITY Series and he won five championships with Jimmie Johnson, as his lead engineer.
“Maybe Twitter isn’t the place to draw attention to things like that, but you just hear chatter over a long period of time. I feel like you have to stand up for your guys. It’s not OK to be a fan and dog the crew. You’re a fan of the team and it’s important they embrace the crew chief, the guys on the crew, the mechanics, the tire changers.
Three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart scored a sprint car victory Monday night, prevailing in the 30-lap main event at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway.
Kyle Larson, a two-time winner in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this year, also posted a sprint-car win Monday, starting first and taking the 25-lap feature at Ohsweken Speedway in Ontario, Canada.
Paul Arch photo
Stewart won his qualifying heat and started third in the A-main at the half-mile dirt track in Imperial, Pennsylvania. The 46-year-old driver took over the top spot when lapped traffic ensnared leader Tim Shaffer with eight laps to go.
The victory was the second of his career in the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions and his first in that series since Feb. 11, 2012. Stewart purchased sole ownership of the All-Star Circuit of Champions tour in January 2015.
The event — the finale of the I-79 Summer Shootout — was hastily rescheduled for Monday after a Saturday rainout.
Larson emerged from a battle with eventual runner-up Parker Price-Miller to lead the final 10 laps of the Burger Barn Northern Summer Nationals for 360 Sprint Cars.
The win on the .375-mile dirt track continued his recent hot streak this season in open-wheel competition. Larson is scheduled to race Tuesday night at Ohsweken in the World of Outlaws series.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Clint Bowyer will hit the track for this year’s throwback race, the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, sporting a blue and white paint scheme and Carolina Ford Dealers detailing in honor of NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Mark Martin.
Bowyer and Martin were among the principals unveiling the paint scheme for the No. 14 Ford Tuesday at the Hall of Fame. The Bojangles’ Southern 500 is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 3.
Martin ran the paint scheme from 1988-91 while competing in the NASCAR XFINITY Series for team owner Bill Davis, winning races at Rockingham, Bristol and Myrtle Beach.
That the overall look is simple, Bowyer said, is a bonus.
“That’s the way they were, right?” Bowyer said. “That’s old school and that’s what’s so neat about all these schemes. I appreciate that. …
“I guarantee you that Carolina Ford Dealers will show up big time on the race track just like it was intended to do back in ’89. I love these schemes. I think they’re important to remember our legends.”
That the car is tied to Martin makes it that much more special, according to the Stewart-Haas Racing driver.
“It’s all about Mark,” he said. “When you think about my heroes and the people that I really looked up to in this sport, Mark was at the top of the list. He was my teammate in 2012 and it meant so much to me to race alongside him back in the MWR days.”
Bowyer and Martin were teammates at Michael Waltrip Racing from 2012-13.
Martin was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame earlier this year. He won 40 times in what is now the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, scored 271 top-five and 453 top-10 finishes. He also won 56 poles.
For several years, he was the all-time wins leader in the XFINITY Series as well and finished his career with 49 victories in that series.
“If I think about it, yeah, I definitely feel old,” Martin, 58, said. “But for me it is such an amazing honor to have our heroes of today recognize the heroes of the sport.
“The throwback program at Darlington is the coolest thing I’ve ever been a part of and seeing this car is really a time check, a time stamp for me. Carolina Ford Dealers was the first sponsor I had that did full-fledged television marketing; they did lots of radio spots and lots of television spots. It was really my first sponsor that I did that kind of work with.”
The 2017 event will be the third year the track has hosted a throwback program, and this year’s race features paint schemes from the 1985-89 era.
Track officials announced earlier this year that NASCAR Hall of Fame drivers Richard Petty and Bill Elliott would serve as honorary pace car drivers prior to the start of the legendary event.
Ah, the Brantley Gilbert Big Machine Brickyard 400 — one of the most iconic races on the NASCAR schedule, on one of the most historic stages in all of motorsports. From yellow-shirts to yellow flags, this year’s trip to Indianapolis had it all.
Thumbs Up: Underdogs!
A lot of cars got torn up at the Brickyard this year. Seventeen did not finish with the official cause as “crash,” to be exact.
Attrition in a race often means underdogs get a chance to shine. After all, racing on a shoestring budget means keeping the car clean is an essential skill. So, when, like in this year’s race at Indianapolis, the leaders wipe each other out, and a lot of faster cars crash, the finishing order looks different than usual.
Matt DiBenedetto, driving the No. 32 for Go Fas Racing, finished eighth.
Chris Buescher came home in ninth for just his fourth-career top 10.
Timmy Hill, making his 200th NASCAR national series start, finished a career-best 14th in Carl Long’s Chevrolet.
Thumbs up for the small teams and lesser-known drivers making the most of a tough race on a giant, historic stage.
Thumbs Down: Red Flags
You know what’s good? Racing. Lots of racing. Like, specifically, when cars are moving at full speed past each other. For 400 miles at a time.
The inverse of that — when cars are not moving — is not very fun.
This year’s Brantley Gilbert Big Machine Brickyard 400 was halted three times: once for weather, and twice for crash cleanups. That means three race stoppages — three times where (most of) the cars stopped racing!
NASCAR has confirmed this is the 6,438th red flag of the day
I get it. Red flags are necessary for fan and competitor safety. But, by golly, I like to watch cars go. Thumbs down for when cars are not racing.
I suppose, though, that by this logic, the checkered flag should also receive a thumbs-down, since it signifies the end of racing …
Thumbs Up: Goin’ For It
You’ve got to hand it to Jimmie Johnson for giving it his best effort.
While the No. 48 car experienced engine woes, sending smoke out of the back of his Chevrolet, it didn’t stop Johnson from attempting a daring three-wide pass for the lead. We’d be using the word “YOLO” if it were 2012.
The scientific term in the racing community here is “goin’ for it,” and it’s worthy of a thumbs up, despite the maneuver ending Johnson’s day early.
Thumbs Down: Crashing When You’re Leading
It was looking like a battle between Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. for most of the race — the pair finished 1-2 for the first two stages, until that fateful restart, when, well …
A bonus thumbs-down for the word “three-peat.” Yeah, it’s a clever word, but it’s a little too clever.
Biggest Thumbs Up of the Week: Kasey Kahne Returns to Victory Lane
Kasey Kahne’s summer of bad luck has seemingly reached an end after he claimed his first victory in more than 100 races.
After five unlucky crashes in the prior eight races, and slumping to a disappointing 22nd in points standings, things hadn’t been looking great for Kahne. The past doesn’t mean much now, as Kahne now suddenly finds himself in playoff contention.
The explanation for Kahne’s bad luck spell seems pretty obvious: clearly, he broke a mirror on July 23, 2010 — he’d only won six races in the following seven years. His seven years of bad luck ended Sunday when the overtime yellow flag ended the race just before sunset Sunday.
A big thumbs up for the No. 5 car appearing in Victory Lane once again.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — For the next three weeks, Kids Drive NASCAR will celebrate the next generation of NASCAR® fans by engaging children and their families with fun and interactive social content, kids’ takeovers and at-track events and activities, NASCAR announced today.
Beginning today, kids will go head-to-head with some of the sport’s top drivers in Kids vs. Drivers, a series of timed activity challenges on social media. Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series™ driver Kyle Busch kicked off Kids vs. Drivers with the 18-second toss challenge on AccelerationNation.com.
Parents can share their children’s video responses to Busch, Kyle Larson and Joey Logano via Twitter or Instagram tagging #KidsDriveNASCAR and #Promotion, or upload them to the web site for a chance to have the drivers share the content.
“Kids Drive NASCAR is about bringing kids even closer to the sport they love and the drivers they idolize,” said Jill Gregory, NASCAR senior vice president and chief marketing officer. “This year, we’ve expanded the campaign to three weeks and five race tracks — with no shortage of fun events, activities and content for children and their families.”
Beginning this weekend at Iowa Speedway and Pocono Raceway and culminating Aug. 13 at Michigan International Speedway, children attending NASCAR national series races will take part in live Kids vs. Drivers challenges, attend driver and crew chief meetings and autograph sessions, and receive behind-the-scenes garage tours.
Kids will also take over race weekend roles usually reserved for adults. NASCAR and participating tracks — which also include Watkins Glen International and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course — will host children as honorary race officials, green-flag wavers, reporters and photographers.
Leading up to Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, Pocono Raceway will host its 10th annual Lehigh Valley Children’s Hospital Kids Day. Free activities will include face painting, bounce houses, photos booths and other educational activities.
Earlier this season, NASCAR and the tracks rolled out a youth ticketing program offering free tickets to kids ages 12 and under for all NASCAR XFINITY Series™ and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series™ events. Parents can visit NASCAR.com/kidstix for information about free and discounted youth tickets.
NASCAR’s social media channels will share Kids Drive NASCAR content throughout the three weeks, including videos and Snapchat takeovers featuring young drivers. In addition to participating in the Kids vs. Driver video challenges, fans are encouraged to share pictures and videos of their families and children enjoying NASCAR races using #KidsDriveNASCAR.
Kids Drive NASCAR is part of the sport’s broader efforts to engage kids at the track, online and in the classroom. Last year, NASCAR launched the NASCAR Acceleration Nation app, the first digital experience created just for kids featuring racing-themed games, activities and fun ways to learn more about NASCAR.
The app can be downloaded for free at the App Store and Google Play. In partnership with Scholastic, NASCAR also developed the industry’s first Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) in-school education program.
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to Pocono Raceway for the Overton’s 400 on Sunday, July 30 at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (channel 90) and MRN, with additional coverage on NASCAR.com.
A double-header on Saturday, July 29 begins with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Pocono (1 p.m. ET; FOX, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and MRN) followed by the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Iowa Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SiriusXM NASCAR and MRN).
About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States. NASCAR consists of three national series (Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR XFINITY Series™, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series™), four regional series, one local grassroots series and three international series. The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship™, the premier U.S. sports car series. Based in Daytona Beach, Fla., with offices in eight cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico and Europe. For more information visit https://www.nascar.com and http://www.IMSA.com, and follow NASCAR on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat (‘NASCAR’).
Brad Keselowski, the 2012 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, has reached an agreement with Team Penske officials to remain with the organization as driver of the No. 2 Ford.
The multi-year agreement was announced Tuesday by Team Penske officials in a news release.
“In the time that Brad has driven for Team Penske, he has risen to the top echelon of stars in NASCAR,” team owner Roger Penske said. “Brad and Paul (Wolfe, crew chief) have established a terrific, winning combination and they are both real leaders within our team.
“More than just wins and championships, Brad is an important part our relationship with Ford Performance and his work with the Checkered Flag Foundation shows what kind of person he is away from the track. There is no question he continues to be a great fit for our organization.”
Keselowski is a 23-time winner in the Monster Energy Series. He has 85 top-five and 139 top-10 finishes in 289 career starts, as well as 13 poles. The 33-year-old is a native of Rochester Hills, Mich.
“Roger and everyone at Team Penske have given me everything we need to win championships at the highest levels of NASCAR,” Keselowski said. “As I have said all along, Team Penske is where I want to be and I am thrilled to continue with the organization well into the future. I have a lot of years left in the sport and I truly feel our best years are ahead of us.”
The organization also announced a contract extension with Wolfe, the former racer who guided Keselowski to the XFINITY Series championship in 2010 and has been his MENCS crew chief since 2011.
“There is no one I want helping make my race cars go fast more than Paul Wolfe,” Keselowski said. “We have a lot of continuity between the two of us, and really the entire No. 2 Ford team, which is so important in today’s NASCAR.”
A winner in all three NASCAR national series, Keselowski earned his first Cup win in 2009 at Talladega while driving on an interim basis for Phoenix Racing and team owner James Finch.
Dave Pericak, Global Director for Ford Performance, called Keselowski “an integral part of our Ford program, and we appreciate his leadership within the team and among the drivers in this sport.
“We look forward to helping him take Ford and Team Penske to Victory Lane many more times in the years ahead,” Pericak said.
Team Penske fields two entries in the MENCS, the No. 2 Ford of Keselowski as well as the No. 22 for Joey Logano. Keselowski has two wins this season while Logano has one.
The organization also fields the No. 22 full time in the XFINITY Series as well as the No. 12 on a part-time basis.
