Athenian Motorsports is pleased to announce veteran NASCAR crew chief; Mike Ford has joined the team as the crew chief for the No. 25 Zaxby’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Toyota Camry with driver John Wes Townley.
Mike Ford has more than 20 years in NASCAR and has worked as a NASCAR Sprint Cup crew chief since 2000. From 2001-2003 Ford served as crew chief for Bill Elliott at Evernham Motorsports and won four races, including the 2002 Brickyard 400.
Ford led Dale Jarrett to a victory in the 2004 Bud Shootout at Daytona International Speedway. In 2006, he joined Joe Gibbs Racing for a six year pairing with Denny Hamlin. As the crew chief of the No. 11 car Ford won 17 races and had championship finishes of 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 8th, 9th, and 12th, never missing a Chase.
In 2012, Ford moved to Richard Petty Motorsports to be the crew chief for Aric Almirola and Marcos Ambrose. In late 2012, he moved to BK Racing as the Director of Competition where he remained until joining Athenian Motorsports.
Ford will now lead the No. 25 Athenian Motorsports team as crew chief for the remainder of 2014 with driver John Wes Townley beginning at Kansas Speedway, October 3, 2014.
“It’s a good opportunity. You know, in this environment you don’t see too many teams trying to grow,” Mike Ford said. “So when you have one that is trying to grow and move forward, that is always exciting. We have our challenges in front of us, having to put a group of guys together in the short term, in the middle of the season, is always a challenge but I feel like we’ve gotten some really good talent on the Zaxby’s Nationwide (Series) team. I’m really encouraged with that. I think that with the races that were put together by Mike Beam and his guys- there’s definitely a platform there to start with and improve. We are looking to take what has already been started and elevate it to the next level. It might take a couple of weeks to see where we need to work and improve but I’m encouraged with it and excited for the challenge.”
“We are very excited to have Mike Ford on board,” Mike Hamlin said, Vice President, Athenian Motorsports, LLC. “He brings a lot of experience and knowledge. We are looking forward to his help in building a competitive Nationwide Series program at Athenian Motorsports. We anticipate his presence will assist in the growth of the company for 2015 and beyond.”
Townley has one previous NASCAR Nationwide Series, three Camping World Truck Series and three ARCA Racing series starts on the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway. Townley posted his best finish of third-place in the ARCA series in 2013 and his best NCWTS finish of 11th-place in May of 2014.
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