This just received from IndyCar…
CONCORD, NC
For Immediate Release
Michael Andretti, former owner of Andretti
Global, in conjunction with Jay Frye, former NTT IndyCar Series President and
Gavin Ward, former Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team Principal, will partner to race
fulltime in the 2026 NASCAR Cup series
The team to be known as Phoenix Racing, will
also run a limited schedule this summer, beginning with the inaugural Mexico
City NASCAR race. Followed by Chicago’s Street race, Sonoma, Indianapolis,
Watkins glen and Daytona.
Andretti will serve as Chairman of Phoenix
Racing, which has received permission from James Finch to use it’s namesake, who
previously operated Phoenix Racing between 1990 and 2013 with multiple drivers
such as2004 NASCAR Cup champion Curt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Scott Pruett, Ron
Fellows, A.J. Allmendinger, Jacques Villeneuve, Mike Wallace, Geoffry Bodine and
others.
As the team wished to run with Finch’s
traditional No. 51, but that number is currently utilized by Cody Ware of Rick
Ware Racing. And thus the team’s single car entry will sport the No. 44, also
synonymous with Phoenix Racing, which Brad Keselowski won the team’s lone
NASCAR race at Talladega’s Super Speedway’s 2009 Aaron’s 499 Sprint cup event.
The team will include all of Phoenix Racing’s
past Sprint Cup history as part of it’s newly created heritage.
Jay Frye, well known in IndyCar circles, has a
wealth of former NASCAR and World of Outlaws experience. Dating back to the
early 1990’s as then Valvoline’s motorsports sponsorship director , working
with Roush Racing and driver Mark Martin. Along with establishing Valvoline’s
relationship with NASCAR’s preeminent team Hendrick Motorsports.
Frye was instrumental in setting up the MB2
Motorsports NASCAR Cup team in 1997 when the Mars Corporation was seeking to
start a new NASCAR race team with Rick Hendrick. As MB2 saw Ernie Irvan score
three pole positions the following season, including that year’s Brickyard 400.
MB2 Motorsports expanded to a two car operation
in 2000, with driver Johnny Benson Jr. winning the team’s first NASCAR race at
Rockingham in 2002. MB2 Motorsports sold the majority of it’s ownership to Bobby
Ginn in 2006, with Frye retaining an 20% ownership stake. Renamed as Ginn
Racing, the team then merged with Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2007.
Frye then went to work for Red Bull Racing’s
NASCAR operation, helping drivers A.J. Allmendinger and Bryan Vickers improve
dramatically. As Frye was named Executive of the Year by both ESPN and the
Kansas city Star in 2008 after Vickers finished 19th overall.
Vickers would score the team’s first of two
wins at Michigan International Speedway the following year, while Kasey Kahne
would claim the second and final Red bull Racing NASCAR victory at Phoenix
International Raceway in 2011, before Red Bull shuttered it’s NASCAR operation.
For 2012, Frye joined Hendrick Motorsports as an Executive for Business
development.
In November, 2013, Frye became the Chief
revenue Officer of Hulman Motorsports, overseeing both it’s IndyCar and
Indianapolis Motor Speedway operations. Frye then next served as President of
IndyCar Competition before being named the President of the NTT IndyCar Series
in 2018, before leaving the organization after ten years in February, 2025.
We felt that Jay Frye with His wealth of NASCAR
expertise and vast network of both IndyCar and NASCAR participants, along with
seeing the introduction of technical innovations such as the Aeroscreen and
hybrid Energy Recovery System, (ERS) make Him the perfect fit to serve as team
principal.
Gavin Ward, new to NASCAR, will serve as the
team’s Technical Director, reporting directly to Frye. As Ward who studied
Automotive Engineering at Oxford Brookes University, held various roles with
Red bull Racing in formula 1.
Ward worked with the likes of David Coulthard,
Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo during His Red Bull tenure
as a Race Engineer and Aerodynamicist before moving onto Indy Cars.
In 2018, Ward joined Team Penske as Josef
Newgarden’s race engineer, amassing 13 wins along with winning the 2019 NTT
IndyCar Series Championship before moving to Arrow McLaren where He served as
the team’s Director of Trackside Engineering initially in 2022.
Ward then rose to become Arrow McLaren’s Team
Principal before departing at the end of 2024, and is known for His “People
first” mentality and plans to build another strong racing organization with
Phoenix Racing.
Andretti is planning to run former Spire
Motorsports driver Cory Lajoe at the team’s two Oval races at Indianapolis
Motor Speedway and Daytona International Speedway later this summer. As Lajoe
has a wealth of experience on Super Speedways. And will make His racing debut
for Phoenix Racing at the Brickyard 400.
Andretti claims the team is looking at a
possible Open Exemption Provisional )OEP entry for World Class International
drivers for next year’s Daytona 500, with the driver to be named later.
Although Andretti did mention the possibility of the likes of Valtteri Bottas,
Sergio Perez, or even Helio Castroneves whom Andretti knows well from His
IndyCar days.
Phoenix Racing will campaign a single Ford
Mustang out of the former Money Team premises in Mooresville, North Carolina, in
a technical alliance with Gene Haas’s Haas Factory Team entry, utilizing former
Stewart Haas Racing Ford Mustang chassis.
Andretti plans to become a two car operation
next season. As Andretti is confident that at least one NASCAR Charter can be
acquired for the 2026 season, but wouldn’t comment further. Saying more
information would be provided later this year.
While also noting that the team had a further two exciting drivers in the pipeline for its 2025 road courses and street circuit NASCAR events, who would also be named shortly, along with their various sponsors. Noting how fans would be very excited over their Mexico City driver.
