NASCAR honors sport’s longest-running team at 75 years with special tribute ft. Ryan Blaney

NASCAR took to its official social media account to celebrate Wood Brothers Racing's 75 years in the sport with a tribute video featuring Ryan Blaney. The sport's governing body, from their official X account, shared a video on the micro-blogging site featuring multiple WBR drivers, including Blaney.

Wood Brothers Racing was formed back in 1950 by Ray Lee, Clay, Delano, Glen, and Leonard Wood. Following that, the team's ownership went to their children, and now it is owned by their grandchildren, specifically that of Glen Wood.

The current owners are Len Wood, Eddie Wood, Kim Hall, Jon Wood, Jordan Hicks, and Keven Wood. Over the years, WBR secured 101 Cup Series wins, and 120 Cup Series pole positions in 1768 Cup Series races. In 2025, they reached 75 years in NASCAR or Diamond Jubilee.

To celebrate the occasion, NASCAR released a 1:30-second video that showcased the glorious moments in Wood Brothers Racing. Uploading the video which featured Ryan Blaney as well, NASCAR wrote in the caption:

"One family. Four generations. 75 years strong. @woodbrothers21 is far from finished."

Here's the post by NASCAR on Wood Brothers Racing on X:

Blaney made his full-time Cup Series debut for Wood Brothers Racing in 2016. Prior to this, he already raced with WBR, but under a part-time obligation. The current Team Penske driver drove the #21 entry for three seasons till 2017, and this was the time when WBR was in a technical alliance with Team Penske.

Blaney moved to Roger Penske's team, Team Penske in 2018. In addition to Blaney, the video by NASCAR also focused on the days of Bill Elliott, Ken Schrader, Ricky Rudd, Michael Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Kyle Petty, and many more.

Currently, Wood Brothers Racing operates with a single charter and has Josh Berry in the #21 Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry. Berry recently won the Cup Series race at Las Vegas and handed WBR their 101st win in the sport.

---

When Ryan Blaney left Wood Brothers Racing for Team Penske: "Huge opportunity for me and my career"

At the end of the 2017 Cup Series season, Ryan Blaney signed to race for Team Penske in 2018. Terming his move away from Wood Brothers Racing, he called the Team Penske move a "huge opportunity" for him. Here's what he said in detail: (via The Daytona Beach News Journal)

Ryan Blaney (21) Wood Brothers Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion during the Bojangles Southern 500 on September 3, 2017, at Darlington Raceway - Source: Getty

“This is a huge opportunity for me and my career,” Blaney said, who was then projected as one of NASCAR’s future superstars. “Hopefully, we can go out there and win races and compete for championships year after year.”

As Blaney moved to Team Penske, WBR brought in Paul Menard as a replacement. On the other hand, Blaney saw some impressive success at Roger Penske's team, winning the championship in 2023 and finishing runners-up in 2024.