Bittersweet Ford Championship Weekend for Roush Yates Engines’ Title Hopes
Mooresville, NC (November 21, 2011) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took a healthy 41-point lead into Homestead-Miami Speedway for Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series finale, and proved to the racing world that he is the next great driving talent likely to earn NASCAR’s highest awards and recognition as he scored his first NASCAR Nationwide Series Championship. Roush Yates’ Ford FR9 engines powered Stenhouse throughout 2011 that saw him hold the points lead for a near majority of the season (17 weeks), including the final 14. Stenhouse Jr, who earned the championship in just his second season in the Nationwide Series, also scored two victories in 2011, both coming at the Iowa Speedway.
Nearly as impressive was the fact that Roush Yates’ new partnership with JE Pistons had the JE’s pumping life and optimal horsepower through Roush Yates’ Ford FR9 Nationwide Series engines, allowing JE and its parent company, PMI, cause for celebration come Saturday evening. Since late July and through the Homestead-Miami Nationwide Series closer, Roush Yates’ Nationwide engines also were internally protected by Valvoline NextGen racing oil, marking this the first known NASCAR championship, at this level, that used a 50 percent recycled motor oil.
“We have been very pleased with the Ford FR9’s performance and reliability in all Ford Nationwide Series entries this season,” said Doug Yates, CEO of Roush Yates. “We were able to come to Homestead with a comfortable points lead with Ricky, we had won 13 Nationwide Series races with five different drivers, and a championship on Saturday would give us momentum in bringing Ford one more hopefully on Sunday. The season was just incredible and I am so proud of the way Ricky drove our engines to the title.”
Roush Yates’ last Nationwide Series championship was 2007 when Carl Edwards earned the crown.
Edwards, however, was unable to defend his mere three-point Sprint Cup Series lead over Tony Stewart in Sunday’s Ford 400 finale.
In what may go down as one of the most exciting sporting events of all time, Edwards and Stewart swapped leads and toyed with strategies as the two battled through 267 laps on Sunday. In the end, Stewart’s only hope to capture the title was to win the race – even if Edwards finished a close second. That scenario played out, and Stewart found victory lane. Stewart’s three-point bonus for the win erased Edwards’ three-point lead and saw the season points tally end in a tie (Edwards’ bonus point for leading the most laps was effectively negated by Stewart finishing one position ahead of Edwards). Unfortunately for Edwards, a tiebreaker went to Stewart by virtue of having amassed five wins in the final 10 events – to Edwards’ one.
Learn more about Roush Yates Engines at www.roushyates.com.
About Roush Yates
Roush Yates, of Mooresville, N.C., designs, engineers and crafts high performance racing engines with the power to perform and the horsepower and durability you’d expect from legendary NASCAR pioneers Jack Roush and Robert Yates. The partnership of power and precision has come from merging the knowledge and experience of two legendary engine builders, both with a passion for winning today and powering up for tomorrow. In 2009 Doug Yates purchased his father’s half of Roush Yates Engines to become a co-owner in the company.
As CEO, Doug Yates leads a staff of 180 engineers and technicians who design, assemble, test, and service racing engines at two separate state-of-the-art facilities in Mooresville, North Carolina. Here, the best minds and latest technology are hard at work producing over 1,000 racing engines each year for teams in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, ARCA, Grand-Am, FIA GT3, Dirt Late Model, Sprint cars, and NHRA Pro Stock. At Roush Yates Engines, the mission is Power Performance, which is achieved through innovation, design, precision engineering, and skillful craftsmanship. Building the best engines in racing today, providing service that’s second to none, and honoring a commitment to research and development are the heart of Roush Yates Engines.
In June 2011, Roush Yates’ Performance Products division expanded to a new 50,000 sq. ft. retail center in Mooresville to better serve the entire performance industry with mass-produced new parts, customized new parts, and used parts; racer consumables as well as chassis dynamometer testing services.
