Kyle Busch wins another NASCAR Truck race, this time at Charlotte

By May 16, 2014, 11:06 PM EDT
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Last week. The track was Kansas Speedway. The top three trucks were 51-88-19.

Friday night. The track was Charlotte Motor Speedway. The top three trucks were 51-88-19.

The result? Nearly identical.

Kyle Busch won his second straight NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race this evening in the No. 51 Hire Our Heroes/Toyota Care Toyota, from Matt Crafton and the No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford driven by BK himself.

The win is Busch’s 38th overall, and fourth in his last four starts dating to 2013 (three-for-three this year) in the Truck Series.

The only difference from the top three last week was that Joey Logano drove the No. 19 BKR Ford in Kansas. These were also the top three starters in Friday night’s race.

For Busch, this Friday night was yet another crushing tour de force, his 19th win on a 1.5-mile track and his fourth straight in a truck at Charlotte. He led 130 of 134 laps.

“This thing was stout, it showed in qualifying, and showed in the race,” Busch said in victory lane. “It was a fun race for us. We had a dominant beast, especially on the long runs. It seemed like in traffic, I didn’t lose as much as other guys. There’s no secrets (to restarts) – the biggest thing was just timing. You play those games, and see them happening. I try not to do that do often.”

Crafton was second, the fifth time he’s finished second to Busch in the trucks.

“I’m gonna have to whoop him in some way. I’m getting tired of it,” Crafton joked post-race. “We struggled a bit on pit road, although we got back some track position. The last five laps it just went away, but overall not a bad run.”

With his third top five finish of the season, Crafton is the points leader by 11 points over Timothy Peters.

Said Keselowski, who finished third: “I was wishing for a caution, just not all the ones with 25-30 to go. We were trying to snooker Kyle but didn’t get the chance. It wasn’t meant to be. We are trying to find a little bit more speed to run with the 51.”

Behind the top three, John Wes Townley finished a career-best fourth, although his night was marred by a moment of contact where he attempted to thread the needle between Keselowski’s teammate Ryan Blaney and Brian Ickler in the tri-oval. Peters finished fifth.

On Lap 105, Townley pitched Blaney, whose truck took off when it hit the grass at the second apex of the tri-oval, then slid up the road into Ickler who had nowhere to go.

Said Blaney of JWT, “(Expletive) happens. I don’t know what he was thinking.”

The Blaney-Ickler accident was one of several over the course of the races, which was interrupted by nine cautions for 47 laps.

The series resumes at Dover in two weeks, on Friday, May 30.

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).