Timken worked closely with the engineering teams at Joe Gibbs Racing to develop products that improved the car's powertrain throughput, resulting in more horsepower to the wheels. Products like specialty steels from the company's Latrobe, Pa., operations and Timken RacePac, an integrated hub and bearing assembly specially designed for NASCAR teams, demonstrate an ongoing commitment to high-performance products for motorsports.
"Quite simply, partners like Timken give us a winning edge," said Stewart, shortly after his victory was sealed with a 15th-place finish at the Ford 400. "Timken and its innovative products and technical capabilities allow us to put a very competitive car out there week in and week out."
"We congratulate Tony and the team on a terrific year," said Thomas O. Dwyer, Timken vice president - off-highway. "We're proud to be associated with a professional and successful racing organization like Joe Gibbs Racing. Their focus on quality and innovation, core values at The Timken Company, creates a strong synergy between our organizations in developing friction management solutions. It's that winning relationship that we all hope carries over to the racetrack, and this year it did. Our motorsports relationships also benefit customers off the track as we're able to take innovations into our mainstream businesses."
Providing innovative products and engineering assistance in motorsports is part of Timken's heritage. The company's long history in racing traces back nearly 100 years, when 80,000 fans watched Ray Haroun drive a Marmon Wasp to victory in the first Indianapolis 500. Timken bearings were standard equipment on the Marmon.
