MID-SEASON MOMENTUM
2017 Race Season
MOORESVILLE, N.C., July 6th, 2017 – The 2017 race season has started out strong for Ford Performance and Roush Yates Engines. In their 14th year as partners, collaborating on the development of championship caliber race engines, this dynamic partnership has won 18 races and 17 poles across the NASCAR and road racing programs since the start of 2017. This impressive beginning to the year has been due to the success of 12 different drivers and eight different Ford Performance organizations, across all six series.
The racing season kicked off red hot in Daytona Beach, Florida, where five out of the six series started their seasons. Ford Performance proved they were on a MISSION to win from the season-opener, capturing three out of the five wins at Daytona International Speedway.
In the IMSA season-opener, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing reunited the four Ford GT teams to run in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Building on the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans victory, the Ford GTs did not disappoint the fans, taking the pole and the checkered flag in the first IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship endurance race of the 2017 season. The No. 66 team of Joey Hand, Dirk Müller and Sébastien Bourdais mirrored their 2016 Le Mans victory to win consecutive 24-hour endurance poles and races within a span of six months.
In the inaugural IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge (CTSC) race for the Ford Mustang GT4, the No. 59 of Dean Martin and Cameron Maugeri from KohR Motorsports, made history by capturing the pole position at Daytona and recording the Mustang’s first Grand Sport (GS) pole victory.
NASCAR shifted into high gear in February, during Daytona Speedweeks and so did the 27 Ford Performance teams, including new comer Stewart-Haas Racing. Stewart-Haas Racing is a title-winning NASCAR team co-owned by three-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) champion Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation – the largest CNC machine tool builder in North America.
The No. 22, Joey Logano of Team Penske found himself in the right place at the right time to win the Clash at Daytona International Speedway. Logano, became the sixth Ford driver to win the season-opening non-points events.
During the second week of Speedweeks, Roush Fenway Racing found its way to victory lane in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) with the No.16 Ryan Reed, winning his first race at the legendary speedway.
The Daytona 500 proved to be a drag race of horsepower between fellow Ford Performance teammates, Kurt Busch of Stewart-Haas Racing and Ryan Blaney of Wood Brothers Racing. Busch went on to win his first MENCS Daytona 500 and first for SHR under the Ford Blue Oval. This also marked the fifth consecutive restrictor plate win for Ford Performance and Roush Yates Engines.
Powering Daytona | Roush Yates Engines
The No. 4, Kevin Harvick of SHR, captured his career 18th Cup pole and the first of the year for Ford Performance, while the number 2 deuce, Brad Keselowski from Team Penske achieved his first Cup win of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway.