CONCORD, N.C. (June 23, 2021) – Jeff Gordon, the four-time NASCAR champion, television broadcaster and NASCAR Hall of Fame member, has been named vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, which will make him the second-ranking team official to chairman and majority owner Rick Hendrick.

As vice chairman and co-owner, Gordon will maintain a daily presence at Hendrick Motorsports with a focus on the organization’s competition and marketing groups. The Vallejo, California, native will report to Hendrick and work alongside president Marshall Carlson and general manager Jeff Andrews. In addition, he will join Hendrick on NASCAR’s team owner council and assume Hendrick Motorsports’ seat on the sanctioning body’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee.

Gordon, 49, will formally assume the strategic executive management role on Jan. 1, 2022.

“I cannot put into words what Hendrick Motorsports means to me,” Gordon said. “In many ways, it’s my home and the people here are my family. I’ve never lost my passion for the organization, for our sport, and for the sheer challenge of racing and winning at the highest level. Being part of the competition is where I’m happiest and feel I can make the biggest contribution to the continued, long-term success of the team. Rick and I have a shared vision, which is based on the values he’s instilled, the culture he’s built and our desire to be the very best in all categories, on and off the track.”

In October 1999, Gordon became an equity owner of Hendrick Motorsports. He remains Hendrick’s only partner in the 13-time NASCAR Cup Series championship-winning organization, for which Gordon won 93 races and four titles as a driver from 1992 until his retirement from full-time racing in 2015.

“Jeff and I have talked about this for many years, and I feel it’s a natural evolution for him and our company,” said Hendrick, 71, who is also chairman and CEO of Hendrick Automotive Group. “I’ve always been impressed with his business instincts. On some level, he’s been involved in every major decision we’ve made over the last two decades, and his influence has continued to grow since he stopped driving. He understands our culture, our values, and the importance we place on our people and our partnerships.

“I love racing and competing, and Jeff is the only person I know who hates to lose as much as I do. I feel great physically and have no plans to go anywhere anytime soon, which is exactly why it’s the right time. In the years to come, I couldn’t be more energized about working arm-in-arm with him and cementing the future of Hendrick Motorsports together.”

Gordon joined FOX Sports as an analyst in 2016 and has been a mainstay of its NASCAR Cup Series race telecasts and other programming. He will continue to work as a FOX broadcaster through the end of the 2021 calendar year.

“I cannot thank the entire FOX Sports family enough for the incredible opportunity I’ve had over the past six seasons,” Gordon said. “I’ve come to truly appreciate the responsibility of bringing the sport to our fans and the tremendous work that goes into our broadcasts each and every week. I’m certainly going to miss it, but I will forever be grateful to FOX for the experience and for the trust they’ve placed in me. It’s been a privilege to work with such a talented group of people.”

ABOUT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS:
Founded by Rick Hendrick in 1984, Hendrick Motorsports is the winningest team in NASCAR Cup Series history. At the sport’s premier level, the organization holds the all-time records in every major statistical category, including championships (13), points-paying race victories (271) and laps led (more than 72,000). It has earned at least one race win in a record 37 different seasons, including an active streak of 36 in a row (1986-2021). The team fields four full-time Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE entries in the NASCAR Cup Series with drivers Alex Bowman, William Byron, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson. Headquartered on more than 100 acres in Concord, North Carolina, Hendrick Motorsports employs approximately 600 people. For more information, please visit HendrickMotorsports.com or interact on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Having a fast Mustang in Music City, Matt DiBenedetto and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team are headed to the Tricky Triangle feeling a little optimistic.

Pocono Raceway, the three-turn, 2.5-mile track, is hosting a double-header for the Cup Series with the Pocono Organics CBD 325 on Saturday and the Explore The Pocono Mountains 350 on Sunday.

DiBenedetto, who finished 13th and sixth in the two Pocono races last year, said he believes he and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team are capable of backing up – or even bettering – their performances of a year ago.

“We had a fast car at Pocono last year, so hopefully that same speed carries over,” he said, adding that speed isn’t the only factor to be considered this weekend. “Track position is everything with the high-downforce package.”

Track position could be a challenge, at least initially for the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team. DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Mustang are set to start Saturday’s opener from 21st place. The line-up was set based on recent results, and DiBenedetto wound up 24th in the most recent race, at Nashville Superspeedway.

DiBenedetto also said the chemistry between him and his new crew chief is beginning to build.

“I’ve really enjoying working with Jonathan Hassler,” he said. “Although we had electrical issues last weekend, we had a good car and great communication, so we are looking forward to these upcoming races.”

Saturday’s 130-lap, 325-mile race is set to start just after 3 p.m. and will have Stage breaks at Laps 25 and 77. Sunday’s 350-mile finale will see the green flag just after 3:30 with Stage breaks at Laps 30 and 85.

NBCSN will carry the telecast of both races.

About Motorcraft:

Motorcraft offers a complete line of replacement parts that are recommended by Ford Motor Company. From routine maintenance to underhood repairs, Motorcraft parts offer value with high quality and the right fit at competitive prices. Motorcraft parts are available nationwide at Ford and Lincoln Dealers, independent distributors and automotive parts retailers, and are backed by the Service Parts Limited Warranty of Ford Motor Company. For more information, visit www.motorcraft.com.

About Omnicraft:

Omnicraft is part of the Ford lineup of parts brands: Ford Parts, Motorcraft and Omnicraft. Omnicraft is the exclusive non-Ford/Lincoln parts brand of premium aftermarket parts. With over a century of parts heritage to build upon, Omnicraft provides excellent quality and fit and is a preferred choice of professional automotive technicians. To find out more about Omnicraft, visit www.omnicraftautoparts.com or contact your local Ford or Lincoln Dealership.

About Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center

Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center offers extraordinary service for routine vehicle maintenance including tire repair and replacement with a Low Tire Price Guarantee and a full menu of automotive services including oil and filter, brakes, alignments, batteries, and shocks and struts on all vehicle makes and models. Service is performed by certified technicians at more than 1,000 locations worldwide while you wait, and no appointment is necessary. For more information about Quick Lane, please visit www.quicklane.com.

About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is a global company based in Dearborn, Michigan. The company designs, manufactures, markets and services a full line of Ford cars, trucks, SUVs, electrified vehicles and Lincoln luxury vehicles, provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company and is pursuing leadership positions in electrification, autonomous vehicles and mobility solutions. Ford employs approximately 200,000 people worldwide. For more information regarding Ford, its products and Ford Motor Credit Company, please visit www.corporate.ford.com.

Wood Brothers Racing

Wood Brothers Racing was formed in 1950 in Stuart, Va., by Hall of Famer Glen Wood. Wood Brothers Racing is the oldest active team and one of the winningest teams in NASCAR history. Since its founding, the team won 99 races (including at least one race in every decade for the last seven decades) and 120 poles in NASCAR’s top-tier series. Fielding only Ford products for its entire history, the Wood Brothers own the longest association of any motorsports team with a single manufacturer. Glen’s brother, Leonard, is known for inventing the modern pit stop. The team currently runs the Ford Mustang driven by Matt DiBenedetto in the famous No. 21 racer.

COLE CUSTER
Pocono Doubleheader Advance
No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing
Event Overview

● Event: NASCAR Cup Series Doubleheader at Pocono (Rounds 18 and 19 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3 p.m. EDT on Saturday, June 26, and 3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 27
● Location: Pocono (Pa.) Raceway
● Layout: 2.5-mile triangle
● Race 1 Laps/Miles: (130 laps/325 miles)
● Race 1 Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 25 laps / Stage 2: 52 laps / Final Stage: 53 laps
● Race 2 Laps/Miles: (140 laps/350 miles)
● Race 2 Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 30 laps / Stage 2: 55 laps / Final Stage: 55 laps
● TV/Radio: NBCSN / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Cole Custer has not one, but two shots at continuing the success he’s enjoyed during his career at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway when he and his No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) head to the Pocono Mountains for a Saturday-Sunday NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader.

● The 23-year-old from Ladera Ranch, California, will make career Cup Series starts 57 and 58 at the 2.5-mile triangular racetrack where he’s scored a victory and two pole positions in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and another victory in the ARCA Menards Series. In last year’s inaugural Pocono doubleheader weekend, Custer brought home finishes of 16th on Saturday and 17th on Sunday, in what were his second and third career Pocono outings in the Cup Series.

● Custer made three Xfinity Series starts in the No. 00 SHR Ford from 2017 through 2019, never starting worse than third, never finishing worse than seventh, and leading a total of 95 laps in the three events. He qualified third and finished seventh in 2017, then qualified on the pole in both the 2018 and 2019 races, finishing fifth in 2018 and scoring the victory by .228 of a second over Tyler Reddick in 2019 after leading a race-high 58 laps.

● In his lone NASCAR Camping World Truck Series outing at Pocono, Custer drove the No. 00 JR Motorsports entry to a fifth-place finish in the 2016 race.

● Custer piloted the No. 00 JR Motorsports entry in both ARCA Menards Series events in 2015, leaving the June race after just 18 laps with a broken axle, but then returning with a vengeance in the August race, which he started fifth and won by a 4.991-second margin over Grant Enfinger after leading 18 laps.

● After soldiering to a 31st-place finish last Sunday in the inaugural Cup Series race at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway, where his crew spent more than 40 laps repairing a broken right-rear brake rotor, Custer is 27th in the Cup Series standings, 116 points behind the 16th and final playoff position.

● Returning to Custer’s No. 41 Ford Mustang for SHR is team co-owner Gene Haas’ newest holding, Haas Tooling, which was launched as a way for CNC machinists to purchase high-quality cutting tools at great prices. Haas cutting tools are sold exclusively online at HaasTooling.com and shipped directly to end users. HaasTooling.com products became available nationally last July, and the cutting tools available for purchase at HaasTooling.com have proven to be even more important during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as CNC machines have become vital to producing personal protective equipment. Haas Automation, founded by Haas in 1983, is America’s leading builder of CNC machine tools. The company manufactures a complete line of vertical and horizontal machining centers, turning centers and rotary tables and indexers. All Haas products are constructed in the company’s 1.1-million-square-foot manufacturing facility in Oxnard, California, and distributed through a worldwide network of Haas Factory Outlets.

● As announced during the annual Coca-Cola 600 weekend Memorial Day weekend, Custer and the team encourage fans to join Wow Wow Classic Waffles in support of Feeding America®, the largest hunger relief organization in the United States with a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs. Fans are encouraged to text HUNGER to 50555 to make a $5 donation to Feeding America®, by visiting the Feeding America® donation page on Facebook, or the donation page via the Feeding America® website. Each $1 donated helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America® on behalf of local member food banks.

Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Last year’s Pocono doubleheader weekend was a groundbreaker for the Cup Series, and there were two more added to the schedule at Michigan and Dover. How does a doubleheader change the complexion of the weekend?

“It’s definitely different because you’re trying to make two plans for the same race weekend with how the track’s going to change from one day to the next, what you’re going to change with the car, and then you’re trying to adapt as much as you can right after the first race. It’s a lot of just trying to make sure you’re sticking with your notes and making good decisions from one day to the next.”

Does it make the weekend any more or less stressful?

“I think it’s made it a little more relaxed going into this kind of weekend where, before, it was going to be a lot of unknowns where we’d never raced two days in a row like this without much practice and everything like that. But raced multiple times a week last year and it’s not a huge curveball for us, anymore. It just feels like another week. It’s definitely going to be a little bit tough, a little bit different, preparing the cars for two days in a row, and getting yourself ready for that. At the same time, we’ve gotten used to doing races without any practice and I think we all know how to get into a good rhythm for it.”

How does the top-20 inversion for Sunday’s race affect strategy during the Saturday race?

“That’s going to be a nice position to be in if you’re fighting over that. You’re not going to try and finish 20th, but I think if you’re in that position where you’re 21st, you’re going to fight pretty hard to get that spot, so we might see some drama.”

What were your first impressions of Pocono, being one of the most unique layouts on the schedule?

“It was tough. It was tricky. The straightaways are so long, it gives you a lot of time to think about how you’re going to mess up the next corner (laughs). It’s a tough place to get around because all the corners are different. I think everybody loves it because it’s a challenge. With three different, really difficult corners, it’s one of those styles of tracks you haven’t seen a bunch before. It’s a triangle and you don’t ever race at other tracks shaped like that. There’s nothing like it.”

Front Row Motorsports Comes to Pocono for Doubleheader Weekend

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) travels to the Pocono (Pa.) Raceway this weekend for a NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader weekend and for the next round of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series race begins at 12:00 p.m ET on FS1.

Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series race begins at 3:00 p.m. ET on NBCSN and Sunday’s Cup race starts at 3:30 p.m. ET, also on NBCSN.

Todd Gilliland and his No. 38 Frontline Enterprises Ford F-150 will start from the pole for Saturday’s 60-lap race at the Pocono (Pa.) Raceway. Gilliland comes into the event sitting fifth in points and coming off his fifth top-five finish of the season last weekend in Nashville.

“I felt at the beginning of the season, with some of the changes we made around our team, that we were going to be capable of winning and racing up front,” said Gilliland. “Right now, it’s coming together and we’ve had fast trucks and good races. We just want to keep that momentum up this weekend at Pocono.”

Gilliland has finished seventh, seventh and fourth in his three previous NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts at Pocono.

“I like the track,” continued Gilliland. “It’s unique, fun to drive and fast. It fits my driving style and I’ve always had fun racing there. Starting up front will help us for sure and hopefully we can have another good run.”

Anthony Alfredo will be making his first NASCAR Cup Series starts at the Pocono (Pa.) Raceway this weekend with Death Wish Coffee on the No. 38 Ford Mustang for both Saturday and Sunday. Alfredo has one previous start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at the track.

“Well, I was wrecked on the first lap during that Truck race,” said Alfredo. “So, I’ve seen the track and have practice laps, but I didn’t get a chance to really race. That’s why I’m looking forward to this weekend. I can really learn a lot on Saturday, and instead of waiting months to come back, we race the next day. That’s great for me. I can finally get a bunch of race experience and apply it quickly.”

Alfredo will start 24th on Saturday. NASCAR will invert the top-20 finishers from Saturday to determine the starting lineup for Sunday.

Michael McDowell will race the Horizon Hobby/ARRMA Ford Mustang on Saturday and Sunday to begin the newest partnership at FRM. Horizon Hobby is the global leader in RC products and accessories while the ARRMA brand features the biggest, fastest, and most durable radio controlled cars and trucks in the industry. McDowell and his family had fun with the cars this week.

“It was cool this week,” said McDowell. “We took my family to the shop and ARRMA hooked us up with some Kraton’s for my kids and they let me have a Felony. They were fast and my kids had a great time. That’s what cool about this partnership. We’re having fun as a family and anyone can do it. I loved seeing my children smiling, laughing and have a good time. That’s pretty special.”

McDowell finished eighth last year in the first race at Pocono.

“We had a great car at Pocono last year,” concluded McDowell. “We feel that our car this weekend will be just as fast and we really want to get into the top-10 again.”
ABOUT FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization in the NASCAR Cup and Camping World Truck Series and the 2021 Daytona 500 champions. The team was founded in 2004 and is owned by successful entrepreneur, Bob Jenkins. FRM fields the No. 34 and the No. 38 NASCAR Cup Series teams along with the No. 38 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team– from its Mooresville, N.C. headquarters. Visit teamfrm.com and follow FRM on social media: Twitter at @Team_FRM, Instagram at @team_frm and Facebook at facebook.com/FrontRowMotorsports.