Brad Keselowski hungry to reclaim his place at the top

By Jun 30, 2014, 1:12 PM EDT
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Taking a field of the finest stock car drivers on the planet to the proverbial woodshed would give anybody a heaping dose of confidence.

So it went for Brad Keselowski, who after burying the field last Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway, declared over his team’s radio that “this feels like championship form to me.”

But those words weren’t just solely derived from the thrill of victory.

After defeating Jimmie Johnson for his first Sprint Cup title in 2012 and then being unable to defend it last year when he failed to make the Chase, Keselowski has aimed to show that he is indeed one of the best drivers this sport has to offer.

His Team Penske crew has responded, giving him fast cars almost every week. And on Saturday night, he emphatically converted that speed into a statement performance at Kentucky, leading 199 of 267 laps en route to his second Sprint Cup win of 2014.

Could that effort prove to be the start of his drive to a second Cup title? Why not? His win at Kentucky in 2012 served that very purpose, after all. Following that particular triumph, he earned two more wins and 16 Top-10s over the final 19 races of that year, which proved enough to hold off Johnson.

Then there’s the fact that half of the 10 Chase tracks are 1.5-mile, intermediate ovals just like Kentucky. You get one guess on what type of track Keselowski’s wins this season have come at.

But perhaps the most important thing in Keselowski’s favor? Experience.

The Michigan native went from the highest of highs in 2012 to the lowest of lows in 2013. Last season, Keselowski could not find the consistency that had helped him become a champion, and it ultimately cost him a spot in the Chase.

There’s no doubt that this past winter had to be humbling for him and the No. 2 team. But it’s also made him more appreciative of being able to have nights like he had on Saturday.

It’s also made him hungry – perhaps as hungry as he’s ever been in NASCAR’s top level. He wants to prove to all of us that he will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.

“I want to win another championship,” he said in post-race. “I don’t want to just win one. I think I have the team to do it, with Paul and the guys. I have the owner to do it with Roger Penske, and the urgency is now. I don’t want to win one championship and that be it for my career. I’m not going to be happy with that.

“And I want to win another championship, but I don’t want it to be five or ten years from now. I don’t want to be a guy that contends for a championship every three or four years, I want to do it each and every year, and I know that opportunity is here, and it’s present, and I want to make the most of it, and I’m not afraid to communicate that.”

As for the here and now, Keselowski knows it won’t be easy to overcome the Hendrick Motorsports armada. He and Penske teammate Joey Logano have been solid this year, but HMS is still regarded as the strongest team overall in the Cup garage.

Keselowski’s crew chief, Paul Wolfe, noted that it will take an all-around effort to beat them and everyone else.

“I think we look at our program as a whole and look at areas where we can be stronger, where we need to improve, and whether it’s with our aero department or our chassis or the guys working on the cars, the pit crews, we look at it all,” Wolfe said.

“To be able to win another championship, we’ll have to be very good in all those areas, and we’ll continue to evaluate and do what we need to do to be able to be good in all those areas.”

But one area where they’re not lacking is determination. Armed with a sharpened focus and a resolve to take back what was once theirs, Keselowski and his team are looking like a group that will be very dangerous when the Chase for a championship begins.

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).