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Profile and History - Mike Ford
Car: Number 11, Toyota CamrySeries: NASCAR Sprint Cup Primary Sponsorship: FedEx
Mike Ford returns to the helm of FedEx Racing as the crew chief of the #11 FedEx Toyota Camry driven by Denny Hamlin in 2008, looking to build on the successes of 2006 and 2007 and bring a NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship to the team he helped resuscitate in 2005. The 2007 season proved the #11 FedEx Racing team is capable of running up front each and every week. Challenging for the lead in points for most of the season, only a combination of bad luck and missed opportunities kept the team from enjoying even greater success. After qualifying for the 2007 Chase, however, the team couldn’t duplicate their head-turning performance in the 2006 Chase and Hamlin would finish the season in 12th place. Despite the disappointing end to an otherwise great season, Ford was named the DirecTV Crew Chief of the Year for the second consecutive season. Ford also collected the Wypall Wipers Crew Chief of the Year Award. Ford enjoyed a career-best year in charge of the #11 team in 2006 and nearly led the team to a NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship while scoring two wins, three poles and a third-place finish in the points standings. As Hamlin collected awards for his outstanding season, the rookie driver was never short on praise for Ford who provides a constant, calming influence on driver and team, while proving to be an expert race manager. Ford joined Joe Gibbs Racing in June of 2005 and led the #11 team for the final 23 races of the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup season. In that time, Ford worked with the team to record the program’s best run of results, including four top-ten finishes in the last 11 races and a Bud Pole Award at Phoenix on Nov. 13. Ford almost immediately clicked with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Busch Series driver Denny Hamlin as he made his first start in the Nextel Cup Series and secured the seat in the #11 FedEx Chevrolet for 2006. Prior to joining Joe Gibbs Racing in 2005, Ford served as crew chief for the #88 Robert Yates Racing team and driver Dale Jarrett. Ford rejoined the program he had led to the championship in 1999 with the goal of breathing much needed life into a team that had yet to find sustained success. Ford proved he was up to the challenge as he coached Jarrett to four top-three finishes at some of NASCAR’s most prestigious races. Ford joined Evernham Motorsports in 2000 as crew chief of Bill Elliott’s team, taking Elliott back to victory lane and vaulting him into the top-10 in driver points by the end of the 2003 season. Ford brings 15 years of racing experience to the FedEx team on top of formal professional training from AMI, a technical school in Charlotte, NC. During his first spell with Robert Yates Racing from the end of 1995 to 1999, Ford was instrumental in the #88 team’s success, resulting in 18 wins, 80 top-five finishes, 95 top-10 finishes and the 1999 NASCAR Championship. |