Kenseth wins last Nationwide race, Elliott crowned youngest champ in NASCAR history, Penske takes owners title

By Nov 15, 2014, 8:02 PM EST
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Matt Kenseth rallied for a green-white-checker flag victory in the final race of both the 2014 season and in the seven-year history of the Nationwide Series on Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The series will be rebranded as the Xfinity Series for 2015.

With two laps to go, shortly after Kyle Larson passed Kenseth for the lead, Josh Berry got loose and collected Brendan Gaughan in the process, just before the leaders reached the start/finish line for what would have been the white flag lap.

As a result, the scheduled 200-lap was extended six additional laps. After cleanup of debris from the wreck, Kenseth got a great restart on Larson and sailed on to his first NNS win since last season.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve won a race in anything,” Kenseth, who has not won a race in the Sprint Cup Series either this season (after winning seven last season), told ESPN afterward.

“Kyle (Larson) got around me on the second-to-last restart,” Kenseth said, “and when he chose the bottom there and I had Kyle (Busch) behind me, I knew we had a shot again, I just had to do a better job than I did the time before. Luckily, we got that last chance to redeem ourselves.”

Busch also rallied to pass Larson on the final lap of overtime to finish second, while Larson finished third, followed by Ryan Blaney and Chris Buescher.

Regan Smith was sixth, followed by Ty Dillon, Brad Keselowski, Elliott Sadler and Brian Scott.

Even with his eighth-place finish, Keselowski – filling in for teammate Joey Logano, who will battle for the Sprint Cup championship on Sunday – still ended up high enough in the finishing order to earn the NNS owner’s championship for Roger Penske.

Lastly, even though he finished 17th in the race, Chase Elliott officially accepted the last NNS championship trophy, as well, making last weekend’s clinching of the title at Phoenix International Raceway official.

It was 10 years ago that JR Motorsports opened its doors, and now it has reached the pinnacle of the NNS, with the 18-year-old Elliott becoming the youngest major series champion in NASCAR history.

“We’re very proud of Chase and the whole team,” JR Motorsports co-owner and Sprint Cup star Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “They did a great job. Everybody that has ever worked at JR Motorsports ought to be real proud to have helped us get to where we are today.”

Elliott, who had a series-high three wins and 16 top-five finishes this season, will return to JRM for next season for what will be the first year of the Xfinity Series.

“It means the world to me, not just to myself, but this is a huge accomplishment for our whole team,” Elliott said. “The last week allowed me to sit back and think of not only all the great people that made it possible this year, but there’s a lot of names, smart people and great racers that have helped me get to this point that have allowed me to stand here tonight.

“A huge thanks to all of them, they know who they are. This is a dream come true. I’d have never thought it at the beginning of the season. We’re looking forward to enjoying it as much as we can.”

Crew chief Greg Ives, who will replace Steve Letarte as Earnhardt’s crew chief in the Sprint Cup Series next season, would have liked to have seen a better finish, but there’s no denying the incredible accomplishments the entire team has done in 2014.

“The car was fast, and you can’t doubt the talent that Chase has in the car,” Ives said. “It’s kind of bittersweet, the last race of the season for Chase and we definitely wanted to run better than this.

“We tried something a little different, you can’t change it, can’t go back on it and go fight the adversity, and Chase was doing that. I’m very proud of that young man. He’s got a lot of years in front of him.”

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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).