John Wes Townley just got himself a new crew chief with quite the resume.
It was announced on Monday (Sept. 29) that veteran Mike Ford will take over the crew chief duties at Athenian Motorsports atop the pit box of Townley’s No. 25 Zaxby’s Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
The partnership will begin with the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway this weekend.
Ford, a 20-year veteran of the sport, has been a staple in the garage area on both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide, starting as a crew chief in 2000 and working for Cup champions like Bill Elliott and Dale Jarrett. Ford has also worked with such Sprint Cup drivers as Denny Hamlin at Joe Gibbs Racing and, more recently, Aric Almirola and Marcos Ambrose at Richard Petty Motorsports.
He also served as the director of competition for BK Racing in the Sprint Cup Series.
Ford will replace Mike Beam in charge of the No. 25 team.
“It’s a good opportunity. You know, in this environment you don’t see too many teams trying to grow,” Ford said in a team statement. “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 team.”
Townley, who is a Camping World Truck Series regular and has ran 13 Nationwide events this season, has said that he and Athenian Motorsports will be fielding the No. 25 machine full-time in the Nationwide Series in 2015. His best finish thus far this season is a 13th at Talladega at the Aaron’s 312 back in May.
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Greg has been with Frontstretch since 2014. A life-long NASCAR follower armed with an extensive sport and digital marketing background, Greg assists the marketing team and helps to manage relationships with some of the website's sponsors. From time to time his work appears on Frontstretch, focusing on the business side of racing and how financial partnerships are affecting the sport. He and his family reside in southern Connecticut.
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Wow, good luck Mike.