Three of NASCAR’s young aspiring stars will have a chance to develop and hone their craft as part of Roush Fenway Racing’s new development NASCAR XFINITY Series team set to run the full schedule in 2018.
The entry is the result of a partnership between Roush Fenway, Ford Performance and Team Penske.
Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric, two former drivers of Brad Keselowski Racing’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series program will join Midwest racing ace Ty Majeski behind RFR’s No. 60 Ford Mustang next season.
The trio will compete for an owner’s championship next season under the guidance of Mike Kelley.
Roush Fenway Racing most recently won the XFINITY Series championship in 2015 with driver Chris Buescher. Kelley led Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to a pair of XFINITY Series championship titles in 2011 and 2012.
“Driver development has always been part of our DNA at Roush Fenway and Jack Roush has always taken pride in providing opportunities for up and coming drivers,” said Roush Fenway president Steve Newmark. “All three of these drivers have exhibited a great deal of potential on and off the track and it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch as they hone their skills together and grow into the next generation of champions in our sport.”
Majeski joined RFR this season in a limited schedule and scored his career best XFINITY Series finish this past Saturday afternoon with a 10th place finish at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway.
The likable driver is regarded as one of the most majestic up-and-coming drivers from the Midwest. He recently won his fourth consecutive ARCA Midwest Tour Championship with six wins in 12 events. In Late Model races overall this season, he scored 20 wins and 29 top-three finishes in 32 events.
Briscoe announced earlier this year as part of the Ford Performance driver development program heads to RFR on the heels of his first career Truck Series victories at Homestead-Miami Speedway in this past Friday’s Ford EcoBoost 200.
The Mitchell, Ind. native joined BKR this season after dominating the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards in 2016 en route to the series’ championship in his first full season of competition. The 23-year-old mastered four poles, one win, 10 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes before landing sixth overall in the championship standings after being bumped from Playoff contention at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in October.
Championship 4 Truck Series contender Cindric racked up eight top-five and a win at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in his rookie season at BKR. The 19-year-old finished third in the championship standings after a fifth-place driver.
The eclectic race car driver also has experience in ARCA, Global Rallycross, IMSA and the NASCAR K&N Pro Series.
The No. 60 team will run alongside Ryan Reed, driver of the No. 16 Ford Mustang who returns to the Concord, N.C.-organization for a fifth full-time season.
Further details on the program, including driver schedules and sponsorship will be announced later.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
