Matt Kenseth Unveils Escape Pace Vehicle For Kentucky NASCAR Weekend

Ford Motor Company rolled out its latest NASCAR pace vehicle today – the all-new 2013 Ford Escape – which will make its pace vehicle debut during the NASCAR Sprint Cup race weekend at nearby Kentucky Speedway June 28-30.

The Escape pace car was unveiled at the Louisville Assembly Plant by two-time Daytona 500 champ and Ford NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth, who was on hand to drive the vehicle for the first time as part of a media program outside the plant where the new vehicle is built.

The new Escape will pace all three events — Thursday’s (June 28) NASCAR Camping World Truck series UNOH 225 event, Friday’s (June 29) NASCAR Nationwide series Feed the Children 300 race and Saturday’s (June 30) NASCAR Sprint Cup series Quaker State 400 race in prime time.

“I am glad I got to be part of this ceremony today,” said Kenseth. “Not only did I get a chance to drive the all-new Escape for the first time, but I had a chance to tour the new plant and meet some of the workers who built the vehicle, which was really neat.”

“They are proud of the new Escape, as they should be. It’s a really sharp vehicle that will look great leading the field at Kentucky.”

The Escape pace vehicle recently rolled off the assembly line at the newly-transformed Louisville Assembly Plant. It’s just a short, one-hour trek to Kentucky Speedway where one of America’s best-selling vehicles will lead the field to the green flag in NASCAR.

“We’re delighted to highlight another exciting new vehicle to the huge and passionate NASCAR fan base,” said Jamie Allison, director, Ford Racing. “The all-new Escape is the perfect match for Kentucky Speedway because it is built in Louisville.

“The new Escape offers a blend of exciting styling and the performance attributes to handle the pace car duties that weekend,” said Allison. “And we are sure there will be a lot of proud Ford workers in the grandstands who helped build the pace vehicle.”
Ford and its Cincinnati Region Area Ford Dealers are one of the original sponsor partners of the Kentucky Speedway, a relationship that began during the construction of the track in 1999. Ford has been the only “official automotive vehicle” partner of Kentucky Speedway since the first race at the track in 2000.
This marks the latest in a line of exciting pace car debuts for Ford. In addition to being the first manufacturer to use an all-electric pace vehicle with the 2012 Focus Electric which paced April’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Richmond, Ford was also the first to use a hybrid to start a NASCAR event when the Fusion Hybrid served as pace car for the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2008.

Ford also was the first manufacturer to unveil its 2013 race car model, when it showed off the ’13 Fusion to media in January of this year.

Ford Racing PR