NASCAR Cup Series

Wood Brothers Racing to return to full-time Sprint Cup competition in 2016

Published Nov. 20, 2015 1:40 p.m. ET

Jared Turner

Wood Brothers Racing, the oldest continuously operating team in NASCAR, hasn’t competed on a full-time basis in the Sprint Cup Series since 2008.

With Ryan Blaney behind the wheel of the team’s iconic No. 21 Ford for a second season, the team founded by NASCAR Hall of Famer Glen Wood and managed today by sons Len and Eddie is returning to a full 36-race schedule in 2016.

Appropriately, the Wood Brothers and executives from Ford Motor Company revealed the big news on Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway during Ford Championship Weekend at the South Florida track.

“In 2008 we stood here ... and talked about how our performance was not where we wanted it to be and the suggestion was made to go to a limited schedule and get our performance back and then try to get back full time," Len Wood said. "We have done that as hard as we could the whole time."

Blaney has driven a 16-race schedule for the Wood Brothers this season. Since scaling back its schedule in 2009 following the downturn of the U.S. economy, the fabled organization that originated in Stuart, Virginia in 1950 has generally fielded its lone car in about a dozen races annually.

“This is a day everyone has looked forward to,” said Edsel B. Ford II, board member, Ford Motor Company. “The Wood Brothers represent everything that is great about this sport -- tradition, family, loyalty, competition. When we asked them to regroup and consider going part-time in 2009, it was always with an eye on getting back to this day. And we are thrilled it is finally here.”

"It's a good deal," Petty told FOXSports.com on Friday at Homestead. "The Wood Brothers have been here since 1950 and they've been in and out and up and down. ... This gives them a chance to get back in the limelight and bring their history forward with what they've done with the 21 car."

Just prior to the 2015 season, the Wood Brothers announced a new technical alliance with the powerhouse Team Penske organization that fields the Fords of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski.

The Wood Brothers, winners of 98 races in NASCAR’s top series with some of the sport’s greatest drivers of all time, last went to Victory Lane at the 2011 Daytona 500 with then 20-year-old driver Trevor Bayne.

“This is every driver’s dream come true, getting a chance to run for the NASCAR Sprint Cup,” said Blaney, a 21-year-old second-generation driver who is the son of former Cup driver and World of Outlaws champion Dave Blaney. “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.”