By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief
The Wood Brothers have fielded entries in the NASCAR’s top series since 1950 and after a decade of competing part-time, the oldest team in the garage will compete for all 36 races in 2016 Ryan Blaney behind the wheel.
The last time Wood Brothers Racing fielded a full-time entry was 2006.
“We are beyond excited to make this announcement about going back to full time competition,” said Eddie Wood, team co-owner, at a press conference at Homestead-Miami Speedway during Ford Championship Weekend. “It has been something we’ve worked toward since 2009 when we started running limited schedules.
“I have to thank Ford’s Dave Pericak and Raj Nair, Edsel Ford, our technical alliance partners Team Penske and Roush Yates Engines, as well as everyone at Motorcraft, for working with us to make this day possible,” Wood continued. “It’ll be fun to see just how good Ryan Blaney, Jeremy Bullins and our team can be over a full season.
“Lastly,” he added, “it’ll be great not to have to worry about rain anymore on qualifying day.”
Blaney, the 21-year-old son of longtime NASCAR veteran Dave Blaney, has piloted the famed No. 21 for 15 races during the 2015 season, capturing a pair of top 10’s with a career-best of fourth at Talladega coming in just his fourth start of the year.
The second-generation racer has found success in NASCAR’s undercard tours, reaching Victory Lane four times in both the Camping World Truck Series and XFINITY Series.
“This is every driver’s dream come true,” Blaney said, “Getting a chance to run for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. I’m really looking forward to running a full schedule with this historic Wood Brothers team and hopefully get them their 99th and 100th wins sooner rather than later.”
Image: Robert Laberge/NASCAR via Getty Images
