RICHMOND, VA – September 25, 2019 – Roush Fenway Racing President Steve Newark and owner Jack Roush met with media members at Richmond Raceway Saturday afternoon (September 22nd) to introduce and formally announce the new driver of the No. 6 Ford for the 2019 season, Ryan Newman. The trio took questions from the media in attendance.

STEVE NEWMARK, Roush Fenway Racing — “We’re obviously here to formally announced that Ryan Newman will be joining our organization in 2019. He will be piloting the number 6 Ford Mustang for a full season next year, and we’re absolutely thrilled to bring a driver of Ryan’s caliber to our organization. We truly believe that he fits extremely well with the culture that Jack has built is going to help us compete for wins and championships next year. So, Ryan, we are real appreciative of your desire to come over and be part of the team and really excited about what we can do together next year”

RYAN NEWMAN — “Thank you I’ve I’ve always been a big appreciator of the history of our sport and I think that a big part of that is always been Roush and Roush Fenway Racing, and what Jack’s done and contributed to all forms of Motorsports but specifically in the Cup garage here and he has created a great namesake and opportunity for me for next year. So I look forward to the opportunity of driving and with the ultimate goal of winning. I’m in a position where I’ve never wanted to stop, never wanted to quit, never wanted to retire and want to win a championship. So I am I look forward to this opportunity. Obviously finishing out this year strong as we both can in our respective positions. But at the same time with enthusiasm for the Daytona 500 in 2019.”

JACK ROUSH, co-owner, Roush Fenway Racing —  “I’d like to start by thanking Matt Kenseth and Trevor Bayne for being the most recent custodians of the number 6 car. They’ve done a good job. Matt has brought to us some ideas to make our car better but before I get into that, I’d like to say that Trevor has been one of the finest individuals I’ve ever had to meet in and out of, either in or outside of stock car racing. It’s been a great pleasure to work with him to watch him grow and and share his success he had been in the Xfinity garage as well as that success he had with the Wood Brothers when he was run the partial schedule with them on loan from us.

Matt was identified by Mark Martin as somebody that had his ideas and his questions about the handling of the car and the interaction they had when Matt was just getting started as a rookie back in the early 90s encouraged Mark to ask me to give Matt a chance to to see what he can do in one of our cars. When we got ourselves into a situation where the setups weren’t working, as well as I’d like to early in the year, we had a conversation with Matt and he agreed to come back. Even though the results haven’t justified the effort, we’ve had more speed in  our cars and we’ve got a direction that’s going to be clear that will make better race cars and better racing for our fans going forward.

Ryan Newman has been the one of the most fierce drivers that we faced on the racetrack for his nine years of being involved with the sport. He has demonstrated himself to have good values and one of the things that a driver has to have is a code that makes sense to other drivers and whenever you raced Mark you knew what to expect. Whenever you raced Matt you knew what to expect. And whenever you Ryan you could know what to expect there as well. I look forward for that working in our favor as it has worked to our to our negative side on on a few occasions over the years but I’ve never had a quarrel with Ryan. We’ve always respected what he did and respected where he was coming from and the fact he’s got an engineering degree makes him more valuable to me as a driver than they might be without that with his fierce competitive history.”

JACK ROUSH CONTINUED — “We look forward to going down the road for a number of years. I can’t say how many but for number of years and to to be able to win and compete for a run off of positions late in the years and to race for championships as well as the race to win races on a weekly basis.”

WILL MATT KENSETH HAVE ANY ROLE WITH THE TEAM AND CAN YOU ALSO TOUCH ON IF YOU HAVE ANY SPONSORSHIP TO ANNOUNCE?

STEVE NEWMARK CONTINUED — “Touching on a little bit of the the Matt story I think is appropriate at this time. I know Jack gave you a little bit of insight but obviously an unusual situation this year when we elected to bring Matt on board in the middle of the season. Obviously some of the reasons that Jack mentioned is just you know, his ability to diagnose cars and obviously his long history with our organization. If you ask Matt how it went with his kind of self deprecating nature, he probably would say, he hasn’t helped at all. But from our perspective, he’s been invaluable. He’s really helped us kind of move the needle and try to focus on what we need to do. You know, we went in to that relationship with the intent that the primary focus was on 2018 and we always kind of had it back of mind, we’ll see how it plays out for 19. We had some intent about where that would go. But we always kind of left the arrangement with Matt that he would come back and we would sit down in late August, early September and have a dialogue about what the future looks like. That’s the way it played out. He came and sat down with me when he was looking at everything, talking to his family, considering at what stage he is in his life, meaning that he’s got four young girls and he’s been on the road for almost 20 years, kind of sacrificing a lot of family time that he just wasn’t prepared to run full time. We talked a lot about that and he said he owed it to his family. And so we obviously respect his decision and even through this process, even though it has only really ramped up in the last five to 10 days, he’s been helpful in trying to guide us on direction to go with for 2019 with drivers and other things. What our hope is right now is that we’ll sit down and have a dialogue and figure out what role he may have with Roush Fenway going forward.

The second part, I think, I know, you guys have been hounding us for the last couple weeks asking about what the driver situation was all with appropriate questions. So we’ll have this this conference just really focused on the driver situation and the fact that we’re pretty fortunate to have Ryan come on board. And then as we get into the coming weeks and months, we’ll start talking about some of the partners situation.”

YOU JUST DON’T WANT TO DRIVE  ANYWHERE SO I KNOW YOU ASSESSED ROUSH FENWAY RACING. WHAT DO YOU FIND THERE AT ROUSH FENWAY THAT IS INTERESTING TO YOU.? WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU CAN LAND AND WHAT EXPERIENCE OR WHAT CAN YOU BRING FROM THE OTHER COMPANIES YOU’VE WORKED FOR INTO ROUSH FENWAY?

RYAN NEWMAN CONTINUED — “I go back to my initial statement, I think the history is important thing. If you look at the history of Jack Roush in all forms of automotive relationships, it’s huge from a performance standpoint, what they bring with Roush Yates Engines. The people, everything that’s built and invested is there to stay. As Steve mentioned, it’s just an opportunity for me to help them grow their program from where they have been, and to, hopefully where we all want to be. I think that we have both an equal opportunity of doing that.”

“I think, obviously you bring a level of experience and that experience is good experiences and bad experiences, whether it’s, you know, a shock or a spring package or dealing with certain people or different kinds of programs and how things are run. Shop layouts, different perspectives, I would say that I’ve kind of kept in the back of my mind that make an impact on the end result of being successful. It’s all those things from everywhere from the time that I grew up working in racing them out of my dad’s shop to the different Cup organizations I’ve been a part of.”

STEVE NEWMARK CONTINUED — “We’d probably say Ryan’s being a little bit humble there because we think he’s fairly unique in the garage with his engineering background with a number of different teams and manufacturers that he’s seen. We think that’s going to help tremendously as we’re trying to take that next step.”

WHEN YOU FIRST CAME INTO THE SERIES YOU GOT THE NICKNAME “THE ROCKET MAN” BUT OVER THE YEARS YOU’VE EARNED THE TITLE AS THE HARDEST DRIVER TO PASS ON THE CIRCUIT. WHAT TYPE OF RESPECT LEVEL DOES THAT SHOW YOU FROM THE OTHER DRIVERS?

RYAN NEWMAN CONTINUED — “If I go back and think about it as being called the Rocket Man there was a time where I was winning polls left and right and it just kind of came easy and we had cars and kept track position and not a lot of people had a chance to pass me. As some of that started to deteriorate we weren’t winning polls we were having a race a little harder. I amped up my game of not letting guys by and I never had the guidance of a Mark Martin to teach me to give and take and it took me a couple years I would say to learn the right time to give and the right time to take and the right places on the racetrack to do that equally as important. I think just overall just my experience in the past of of all the things that I’ve done and from a qualifying standpoint back in the day I’ve been a little disappointed quite frankly recently to not even had a pole in the last I guess five years so I look forward to that opportunity changing.”

WITH YOUR UNIQUE BACKGROUND IN ENGINEERING, HOW MUCH OF THAT DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU’RE GOING TO BE INVOLVED WITH THE CONVERSION IN 2019 TO THE PACKAGE AND TO THE NEW BODY STRUCTURE AND HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK THAT CAN SWAY ROUSH FENWAY RACING BACK TO A PERFORMANCE LEVEL THAT THEY USED TO BE AT? “I think from an engineering standpoint, if you look at the way technology has affected our sport and our lives computers are driving pretty much everything not just in the media center here but in the garage and and that is even more important now with the lack of testing which I commend NASCAR on for us to be able to spend time with their families and do the homework on a computer, through simulators and through simulation to to make a difference. I think from an engineering standpoint, having a lot of experience with different packages over the last 18 years of my cup career, and the knowledge of the engineers at Roush Fenway in conjunction with Ford as well to be able to work through the most important race of the season and the Daytona 500 being the first one. The typical cookie cutter racetracks that happened shortly after that are equally as important to winning the championship.”

WHAT DO YOU SEE IN THIS ORGANIZATION AND THE 6 CAR THAT MAKES YOU CONFIDENT YOU CAN BE PART OF THE ANSWER TO THEIR STRUGGLES? “Teamwork, putting the right people in place. They’re willing to listen and make the right decisions collectively. Everybody puts that effort forward. It’s just a matter of how well you do it. With respect to the 78, I think everybody in this room knew that they had their challenges being a Colorado based team starting out, so individually not aligning themselves with people to start with. They chose a very steep uphill battle and they succeeded in doing that but nobody has any kind of guarantee on how long that’s going to last. You look at the history of our sport. The Hall of Famers. The Bobby Allison’s and Darrell Waltrip’s owned teams and they didn’t make it.Jack Roush and Roush Fenway Racing has proven to be a staple from a car and engine standpoint and I don’t see any of that changing. That’s why it was an easy decision.”

YOU STARTED YOUR NASCAR CAREER WITH FORD. WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO OR FEEL COMFORTABLE ABOUT COMING BACK TO FORD?  

RYAN NEWMAN CONTINUED — “I had success in a Ford. It was a good start to my career, both from a back in the day Busch side, even the ARCA side and as well as the Cup side when we when we got the ball rolling. At that point I was with Penske and Penske made the decision to move to Dodge and I’ve landed everywhere but I guess Toyota in my career. I never had an issue at all with Ford. We were always competitive back in the day we we had really strong horsepower.  There’s really two things that are extremely important, a lot of things that are important but two things that are extremely important in what we do and that’s horsepower and downforce. That makes it a little bit easier and for me from my standpoint it’s about people. Ford has proven this year if you look at the results, to have the right people in the right places to be successful and the win column says that.”

*Courtesy of Ford Performance and Roush Fenway Racing

CONCORD, NC, January, 30, 2018 – Racing legend and entrepreneurial pioneer Jack Roush received the prestigious Achievement in Motorsports Tribute Award by the North Carolina Motorsports Association (NCMA) during the 12th Annual Awards Ceremony presented by Fifth Third Bank.

“Jack Roush’s contributions to motorsports are immeasurable and for 30 years, Roush Fenway Racing has been the standard in innovation and performance,” said NCMA Chairman Greg Fornelli. “When you look at his innovations, his record of success and his impact on the sport of auto racing, Jack Roush is the epitome of achievement in motorsports and we look forward to celebrating his amazing career on our biggest night.”

Roush, who founded Roush Fenway Racing in the late eighties, is the winningest car owner in NASCAR history. The Covington, KY native started his NASCAR career in 1988 and has amassed eight championships across NASCAR’s three main major series, including two in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS), five in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) and one in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) with drivers Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Chris Buescher and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Overall, Roush has earned a NASCAR-record 325 wins – including two Daytona 500 victories – 1,456 top-five finishes, 2,566 top-10 finishes, 232 poles, 67,783 laps led and has an average finish of 14.1 in 5,878 career NASCAR starts.

Roush’s multi-car efficiency of scale model become one of the most successful in NASCAR history, with his organization placing an unprecedented five teams in the 2005 10-team ‘Chase’, after coming off back-to-back Sprint Cup Championships in 2003 and 2004. Roush has also been recognized as one of the premier leaders in the garage in driver development, with Roush Fenway having led drivers to 13 NASCAR rookie of the year awards. All-in-all, 19 different drivers have celebrated in NASCAR victory lane with Roush and his teams.

The Roush Fenway organization currently fields multiple teams in MENCS and the NXS with drivers Stenhouse, Trevor Bayne, Ryan Reed and Ford Development Drivers Chase Briscoe, Ty Majeski and Austin Cindric.

An engineer at heart, Roush has always employed a solutions-based approach, be it in competition, business or safety initiatives. He has been involved in numerous safety innovations, including the roof flaps designed to disrupt airflow and prevent cars from going airborne that now are standard equipment for all NASCAR racers.

Roush collaborated with Robert Yates and Ford Motor Company in 2003 to join forces as the exclusive Ford Engine builder for NASCAR. These two legendary engine builders, led by President & CEO Doug Yates helped turned Roush Yates Engines into an immediate success and to date has achieved over 300 combined wins in the NASCAR, IMSA (International Motor Sports Association) and FIA (Federation Internationale De L’Automobile) Series.

In addition, Roush owns Roush Industries, Inc., which employs more than 1,800 people and operates facilities in five states, as well as in Mexico and Great Britain. It is primarily known for providing engineering, management and prototype services to the transportation industry. Roush has also developed a significant role in engineering and manufacturing in the electronics, sports equipment, aviation and motorsports industries.

*Courtesy of Roush Fenway Racing

THIRD CONSECUTIVE XFINITY WIN FOR TEAM PENSKE

LIMEROCK, CT – July 20, 2018 – Ford Chip Ganassi Racing is on a hot streak and hoping to keep it going at the Northeast Grand Prix.

The 2-hour, 40-minute, all-GT class race will put an even greater spotlight on the GTLM category just when the competition couldn’t be more difficult for teams in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Ford CGR, current leaders in the championship points, enters the race hot off two wins in a row, at Watkins Glen (No. 66 Ford GT) and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (No. 67 Ford GT). They also locked out the front row in qualifying at the Glen and put the No. 67 of Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook on the front row at CTMP at p2.

It’s a welcome boost of confidence in the toughest stretch of the season, where teams start to see if they have a realistic chance at winning the championship title. It’s also the home race of Briscoe, who lives in nearby Farmington, Conn. with his wife and two daughters.

“I’m excited to have my home race at Lime Rock, coming off the win in Canada,” Briscoe said. “We’re excited to go there and try to carry some momentum knowing that it’s going to be a really tough race. It always is, but I enjoy the circuit and enjoy the racing there. We’ll be pushing hard for another strong result.”

Ford maintains the series manufacturers points lead over Chevrolet and Porsche entering the Northeast Grand Prix.

“I’m really looking forward to Lime Rock because it’s a different kind of race,” said Müller, who shares the No. 66 Ford GT with Joey Hand. “It’s full of strategy. I’m looking forward to getting the best strategy out of every team and from our Ford Chip Ganassi Racing boys. At the same time, I’m trying to take all the momentum we are having right now the last few weeks, including the podium at the Le Mans 24 and the victory for us at Watkins Glen, then the fabulous victory for the 67 last weekend.”

“We are full of energy and I like to try to direct that energy forwards and push ourselves for Lime Rock,” Müller said. “We’re in the championship hunt and it’s looking really good. I like Lime Rock, Joey likes Lime Rock. It’s a little different race, there are only a few corners but at the same time traffic is really, really important at the same time. It is usually extremely warm and humid so it’s physical for the driver. I’m really looking forward to the strategy calls and at the same time to get good car setup from (engineer) John (Hennek). Really looking forward and can’t wait to get back in the car.”

*Courtesy of Ford Performance

CONCORD, N.C., Sept. 28, 2018 – All-new research and development technology that helps make Ford Performance racecars faster also is helping Ford speed up development of its consumer vehicle lineup and improving the company’s operational fitness.

Breakthroughs including a daily driving vehicle simulator, 3D race environment and other advancements are helping Ford improve product development fitness by reducing the number of physical prototypes. In its latest move, Ford is working to speed up vehicle development and reduce costs through a new production vehicle dynamic simulator in a 33,000-square-foot facility in the heart of NASCAR country in North Carolina.

The initial purpose of the facility – up and running since 2014 – was to develop and test racecars virtually through an immersive simulator. But the tools have become so good so fast that Ford is now using the technology for its production vehicles.

“The mission of Ford Performance is to transfer innovations from racetracks to the driveways of new Ford vehicle owners,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director, Ford Performance. “The tech center and this new driving simulator are two of the most important steps we have taken to help our mainstream engineering partners make sure the next Edge or F-150 is great to drive – even if you don’t check the performance model box.”

A New Day in Product Development

How good are Ford’s advanced aerodynamic development tools? The 2019 NHRA Funny Car program will have no prototype bodies physically created before the racing body is built – a milestone in the history of Ford racing development.

Ford is so confident in its dynamic simulator, development and testing tools that much of its race testing is now done in advance of ever arriving at a racetrack. Virtual prototyping and simulator tools help optimize both performance and manufacturing capability, which becomes critical when designing production vehicles – often made in volumes in the hundreds of thousands annually.

Along with the new simulator, Ford is using several other advanced tools to help speed production development times and cut costs. These include a new dynamic simulator, computational fluid dynamics for aerodynamic testing and virtual manufacturing. Together, these tools are migrating from the super-high-tech, low-volume racing development world to Ford’s global product development system.

Racing Simulator Gets Immersive New 3D Experience

The racing simulator at the Concord facility also received a recent upgrade and now features an immersive 3D environment for drivers.

“I’ve used the simulator a lot and have gotten used to the normal vision, so I was quite apprehensive when they told me we are going 3D,” said Richard Westbrook, driver of the No. 67 IMSA Ford GT, who will be vying to capture a championship next month. “It really is a step up in terms of reality. With all the hard work at the Ford Performance tech center, we now have something we can really rely on to give us a good car when we roll it off the truck in real life.” Before the then-new Ford GT ever put its tires on a racetrack, it racked up hundreds of hours of testing on virtual racetracks around the world.

Each simulator runs on numerous software programs that must all be calibrated to work in perfect harmony – operation, movement, visuals, audio, physics modeling, environment replication, results analysis – so that the experience remains as natural as possible for the operator. Even the slightest amount of difference could pull someone out of focus and induce motion sickness.

Along with upgrades to the race simulator, other breakthroughs include supercomputer modeling of race and regular tires to improve rubber wear and performance.

* Courtesy of Ford Performance

DAYTONA BEACH, FL, February 7, 2018 – The 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup season gets started this weekend with The Clash at Daytona International Speedway. This non-points event features pole-winners from the 2017 season, along with former Clash winners, former Daytona 500 pole-winners who competed full-time last year, and playoff qualifiers from a season ago. This event has been run in one form or another since 1979. Ford has won The Clash at Daytona eight times by six different drivers

WHO’S IN?

There are six Ford drivers who will compete in The Clash, including all three Team Penske drivers in Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.  Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick will be the Stewart-Haas Racing participants while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. carries the Roush Fenway Racing banner.

LOGANO GOING FOR TWO STRAIGHT

Joey Logano snapped a 13-year Ford winless drought when he won The Clash last year, making him the manufacturer’s first victor since Dale Jarrett in 2004. Logano found himself in the right place at the right time to take the win.  This was Logano’s first Clash win of  his career.  Four Ford drivers finished in the top six spots as Danica Patrick was fourth, Kevin Harvick fifth and Keselowski sixth.

ELLIOTT CLAIMS FORD’S FIRST CLASH VICTORY AT DAYTONA

Bill Elliott became the first Ford driver to win a non-points event in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on Feb. 8, 1987 in what was then known as the Busch Clash.  The format that year was a single 20-lap run (50 miles) with no pit stop required.  Elliott, who started on the pole in his No. 9 Coors Thunderbird after a blind draw, fell back to sixth on the start after Terry Labonte and Ricky Rudd were involved in an accident on the first lap.  On the ensuing restart, Elliott steadily reeled in leader Darrell Waltrip and passed him on lap eight.  Elliott led the final 13 laps and won with an average speed of 197.802 mph, a record that still stands for the event.  A week later, Elliott won his second Daytona 500.

DJ HOLDS OFF JR FOR SHOOTOUT TRIUMPH

Dale Jarrett won his third Budweiser Shootout on Feb. 7, 2004 in his No. 88 UPS Taurus, which represents the last time Ford has won the event.  The race was broken up into two segments – an initial 20-lap run followed by a 50-lapper to the finish – and marked the beginning of Nextel as series sponsor.  Jarrett and Kevin Harvick were side-by-side at the white flag, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. gave Jarrett the push he needed to complete the pass on the outside going through turn one.  The race finished under green with Jarrett holding off Earnhardt Jr. for the win.

FORD’S CLASH AT DAYTONA WINNERS

1987 – Bill Elliott

1992 – Geoffrey Bodine

1996 – Dale Jarrett

1998 – Rusty Wallace

1999 – Mark Martin

2000 – Dale Jarrett

2004 – Dale Jarrett

2017 – Joey Logano

*Courtesy Ford Performance

MOORESVILLE, NC, April 12, 2018 – NASCAR and Charlotte Motor Speedway today announced the format and competition package for the Saturday, May 19th Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race, both tailored to achieve one goal – the best possible race for the fans.

For the first time, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series cars will implement the competition package used in last season’s successful NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which saw record numbers in leaders, lead changes and green flag passes for the lead.

Each car will be fitted with aero ducts, a six-inch-high spoiler with two 12-inch ears, a restrictor plate and the 2014 style splitter. Working in concert, these additions create a unique aerodynamic effect, the results of which received high praise from fans and competitors following last year’s Xfinity race at Indianapolis.

“NASCAR is committed to innovation and will always work to improve the racing product for every series and venue,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “The yearly Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race is an opportunity to see your favorite drivers compete under a unique and exciting format and rules package.”

The format for the annual non-points event  roll out like this:

Weekend passes for the Monster Energy All-Star Race are now available at  www.CharlotteMotorSpeedway.com/tickets