Front Row Motorsports will form a technical partnership with Team Penske and become a Ford Tier 1 program this season.
Front Row Motorsports announced on Thursday that it has further strengthened and extended its partnership with Ford Performance as it celebrates its 20th anniversary as a NASCAR organization.
Under the new multi-year contract, Front Row Motorsports will join the Ford Tier 1 program. FRM and Team Penske will now work together on engineering, aerodynamics, race setup, strategy, pit crew development, and other projects as part of a new technical alliance.
“I am proud to wear the blue oval and be associated with an iconic American brand in Ford,” team owner Bob Jenkins said. “Our relationship with Ford has continued to build over the past decade.
“We’re now showing our success over the past several seasons in the Cup and Truck Series, and that is something that I’m very proud of.”
The announcement follows Wednesday night’s qualifying at Daytona International Speedway, where FRM driver Michael McDowell claimed a front row starting position for Sunday’s Daytona 500.
Ford has been a part of Front Row Motorsports since 2004, and the team has won four Cup Series titles while in partnership with Ford. Similarly, Ford’s Craftsman Truck Series projects, which launched in 2020, have yielded eight triumphs. In 2022, Zane Smith won the series championship driving a Front Row Motorsports Ford F-150.
Todd Gilliland and Michael McDowell are the organization’s full-time Cup Series racers. Front Row Motorsports’ rookie driver, Layne Riggs, will be operating the truck.
Furthermore, FRM will continue to be a channel for the OEM’s future development drivers and collaborate with Ford to develop Layne Riggs in the Truck Series. This season, Riggs, the son of former Cup driver Scott Riggs, will drive FRM’s No. 38 Truck full-time.
