Matt Kenseth earns second consecutive win, pads Chase lead

By Sep 22, 2013, 5:57 PM EDT
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Matt Kenseth’s magical season continued today at New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s “Magic Mile,” as the Joe Gibbs Racing pilot earned his second consecutive victory in his 500th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start – joining seven-time Cup champion Richard Petty as the only drivers to win on that particular occasion.

JGR teammate Kyle Busch steadily whittled away at Kenseth’s edge over the final 40 laps at NHMS, but ultimately finished half a second behind for his second consecutive runner-up finish. As a result, Kenseth has extended his lead in the Chase for the Sprint Cup over Busch by 14 points after two post-season events.

Out of his seven wins this year, Kenseth’s triumph in today’s Sylvania 300 may have been the most surprising of the lot as he has never had a solid record at New Hampshire. Prior to today, he had never won on the flat mile oval and his best finish there had been a runner-up from all the way back in 2004.

Perhaps for those reasons, Kenseth appeared happily shocked at being in Victory Lane even with his eyes wrapped in sunglasses.

“I don’t really know what to say except, ‘Praise the Lord’ – this has just been an unbelievable opportunity,” Kenseth said afterwards to ESPN. “For me to win at Loudon, first of all, is more than a dream because this has probably been one of my worst places. That just shows you how good this team is.

“Honestly, we just need to take it one day at a time. It’s been a great start for JGR – Kyle ran second in both [Chase] races, had real strong cars. All three teams are working really closely together…Man, I just feel like the luckiest guy in the world to be standing here honestly. I’m gonna enjoy it and I look forward to getting to Dover.”

Busch briefly battled with Dale Earnhardt Jr. for second position shortly after the restart with 43 laps remaining, then closed the gap to Kenseth as they hit lapped traffic in the final circuits. But once more, he had to settle for P2 in the end – a great result for him championship-wise, but not the result he desperately wanted.

“The 20 had a lot more than us this week, and we’re not sure why,” Busch said. “Sometimes, you get those magical cars, but hopefully, there’s a couple for us left this year.

“…We needed traffic. He didn’t do traffic very well, but it was hard for me to get through traffic as well. He was faster than we were if there was no traffic; he could drive back away from me but I ran him down and got to him. It was going to be interesting if we’d got there, but I didn’t get there.”

Greg Biffle came on strong late to secure a third-place finish, enabling him to leap six spots in the championship to fifth place. Jimmie Johnson also had a solid afternoon with a fourth-place effort, and Jamie McMurray rounded out the Top 5 ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Brian Vickers, Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards, and Martin Truex Jr.

Truex, who faces an uncertain future with the pending departure of his main sponsor, NAPA Auto Parts, was strong in the early going but faded back late after leading 98 of 300 laps.

“We had a good car in the first half of the race, and then we started getting tight,” Truex said. “It was cooling off, clouding up and we just never could get it turning again. The last set of tires were just terrible for us and we couldn’t do anything with it.”

Ford unveils a new Mustang for 2024 Le Mans in motorsports ‘lifestyle brand’ retooling

Associated PressJun 9, 2023, 7:00 PM EDT
Ford Mustang Le Mans
Ford Performance
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LE MANS, France — Ford has planned a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans with its iconic Mustang muscle car next year under a massive rebranding of Ford Performance aimed at bringing the automotive manufacturer “into the racing business.”

The Friday unveil of the new Mustang Dark Horse-based race car follows Ford’s announcement in February (and a ballyhooed test at Sebring in March) that it will return to Formula One in 2026 in partnership with reigning world champion Red Bull.

The Mustang will enter the GT3 category next year with at least two cars in both IMSA and the World Endurance Championship, and is hopeful to earn an invitation to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The IMSA entries will be a factory Ford Performance program run by Multimatic, and a customer program in WEC with Proton Competition.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, also an amateur sports car racer, told The Associated Press the Mustang will be available to compete in various GT3 series across the globe to customer teams. But more important, Farley said, is the overall rebranding of Ford Performance – done by renowned motorsports designer Troy Lee – that is aimed at making Ford a lifestyle brand with a sporting mindset.

“It’s kind of like the company finding its own, and rediscovering its icons, and doubling down on them,” Farley told the AP. “And then this motorsports activity is getting serious about connecting enthusiast customers with those rediscovered icons. It’s a big switch for the company – this is really about building strong, iconic vehicles with enthusiasts at the center of our marketing.”

Ford last competed in sports car racing in 2019 as part of a three-year program with Chip Ganassi Racing. The team scored the class win at Le Mans in 2016 in a targeted performance aimed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ford snapping Ferrari’s six-year winning streak.

Ford on Friday displayed a Mustang with a Lee-designed livery that showcased the cleaner, simplified look that will soon be featured on all its racing vehicles. The traditional blue oval with Ford Performance in white lettering underneath will now be branded simply FP.

The new mark will be used across car liveries, merchandise and apparel, display assets, parts and accessories and in advertising.

Farley cited Porsche as an automaker that has successfully figured out how to sell cars to consumers and race cars in various series around the world while creating a culture of brand enthusiasts. He believes Ford’s new direction will help the company sell street cars, race cars, boost interest in driving schools, and create a merchandise line that convinces consumers that a stalwart of American automakers is a hip, cool brand.

“We’re going to build a global motorsports business off road and on road,” Farley told the AP, adding that the design of the Mustang is “unapologetically American.”

He lauded the work of Lee, who is considered the top helmet designer among race car drivers.

“We’re in the first inning of a nine inning game, and going to Le Mans is really important,” Farley said. “But for customer cars, getting the graphics right, designing race cars that win at all different levels, and then designing a racing brand for Ford Performance that gets rebranded and elevated is super important.”

He said he’s kept a close eye on how Porsche and Aston Martin have built their motorsports businesses and said Ford will be better.

“We’re going in the exact same direction. We just want to be better than them, that’s all,” Farley said. “Second is the first loser.”

Farley, an avid amateur racer himself, did not travel to Le Mans for the announcement. The race that begins Saturday features an entry from NASCAR, and Ford is the reigning Cup Series champion with Joey Logano and Team Penske.

The NASCAR “Garage 56” entry is a collaboration between Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear, and is being widely celebrated throughout the industry. Farley did feel left out of the party in France – a sentiment NASCAR tried to avoid by inviting many of its partners to attend the race so that it wouldn’t seem like a Chevrolet-only celebration.

“They’re going right and I’m going left – that NASCAR thing is a one-year deal, right? It’s Garage 56 and they can have their NASCAR party, but that’s a one-year party,” Farley said. “We won Le Mans outright four times, we won in the GT class, and we’re coming back with Mustang and it’s not a one-year deal.

“So they can get all excited about Garage 56. I almost see that as a marketing exercise for NASCAR, but for me, that’s a science project,” Farley continued. “I don’t live in a world of science projects. I live in the world of building a vital company that everyone is excited about. To do that, we’re not going to do a Garage 56 – I’ve got to beat Porsche and Aston Martin and Ferrari year after year after year.”

Ford’s announcement comes on the heels of General Motors changing its GT3 strategy next season and ending its factory Corvette program. GM, which unlike Ford competes in the IMSA Grand Touring Prototype division (with its Cadillac brand), will shift fully to a customer model for Corvettes in 2024 (with some factory support in the IMSA GTD Pro category).