More prepared and patient, Trevor Bayne set for full-time Cup drive

By Feb 8, 2015, 7:39 PM EST
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Trevor Bayne’s “A Star Is Born” moment at the 2011 Daytona 500 proved to be something else entirely.

Bayne shocked the NASCAR world with his victory for the Wood Brothers in that year’s Great American Race. While he ran with that team on a part-time basis in Sprint Cup for the next four seasons, a full-time Cup ride didn’t materialize.

Instead, Bayne’s main focus shifted to the Xfinity Series, where he raced the full 2013 and 2014 seasons for Roush Fenway Racing.

The 23-year-old Tennessee native will finally get the chance to compete every weekend at NASCAR’s top level this season in Roush Fenway Racing’s revived No. 6.

“It’s been a really wild last few years for me,” Bayne said during the recent NASCAR media tour in Charlotte. “To go from winning [the Daytona 500] and expecting to be full-time that season to going back to [Xfinity] part-time and part-time Cup, and then full-time [Xfinity], and now to be full-time Cup, it’s been wild.

“But what I can say is that I’ve had confidence that Jack Roush was a man of his word, and that at some point, I’d be driving his Sprint Cup cars full-time like he had promised. And now that opportunity’s come.”

The journey to a full-time Cup program may not have been what Bayne had pictured following his Daytona triumph, but he says the experiences he’s had in the last four years have not only made him more prepared but taught him patience.

“There were times where I’d call somebody that was close to me and be frustrated that I wasn’t running full-time Sprint Cup, and they would remind me of what I’ve been through,” he recalled. “I think 2011 probably aged me 10 years.

“But the last couple of years have been more mellow. I feel like they’ve been kind of in the middle. No extreme highs or lows, and that’s taught me a lot in how to handle that as well. Going into this season, I feel more well-rounded than I would have been in 2011 running full-time [then].”

Another good sign is that Bayne’s maintained his physical health after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in late 2013 (he’s mulling over a return to doing triathlons). With that, he’s putting full focus on developing a rapport with crew chief Bob Osborne and also helping Roush return to its winning ways after a couple of down years.

“We were reacting on a Monday to what happened on Sunday and just kind of shotgun-blasted ideas,” Bayne said of Roush Fenway Racing’s struggles in 2014. “What you do is you work really hard but you don’t make any ground. It’s like being in water and you feel like your drowning; you start paddling hard, but you sink. You have to take smooth, calculated strokes.

“I feel like that’s what we’re doing now. We’ve hired the right people, we’ve got the right talent with drivers, and I feel like now we can have a productive plan to go forward.”

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What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been
Trevor Bayne’s Daytona 500 win didn’t send him on a path to superstardom. Instead, it marked the beginning of a four-year run that saw him jump regularly between the Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series.

2011
Sprint Cup – 17 starts, 1 win, 1 top-5, 1 top-10 (Won Daytona 500)
Xfinity – 29 starts, 1 win (Texas), 5 top-5s, 14 top-10s

2012
Sprint Cup – 16 starts, 0 wins, 0 top-5s, 2 top-10s (Best finish of 8th, Talladega)
Xfinity – 6 starts, 0 wins, 1 top-5, 3 top-10s, 1 Pole (Best finish of 4th, Las Vegas)

2013
Sprint Cup – 12 starts, 0 wins, 0 top-5s, 0 top-10s (Best finish of 16th, Charlotte)
Xfinity – Full season: 1 win (Iowa), 7 top-5s, 21 top-10s, 1 Pole, 6th in Points

2014
Sprint Cup – 12 starts, 0 wins, 0 top-5s, 0 top-10s (Best finish of 19th, Texas and Michigan)
Xfinity – Full season: 0 wins, 5 top-5s, 21 top-10s, 1 Pole, 6th in Points (Best finish of 2nd, Dover and Chicago)

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).