Nationwide Series

It' was of the saddest days in NASCAR history. May 12, 2000. It was one of those things that you, as a NASCAR fan, will remember where you were when it happened.  It was the day Adam Petty died.

I personally, was 11 years old when my mom came into the room and told me Kyle Petty's son just died. Adam? Really? Why?

I immediately turned on ESPN and watched the saddest thing ever. 19-year old Adam Petty was killed at New Hampshire, just hours before, and I, for the first time in my life, realized what death meant.

Adam Kyler Petty could have been a star. In his first ARCA ReMax Series start, Adam Petty won in 1998 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He was only 17 years old. In 1999, Adam ran his first full season in the then NASCAR Busch Series. He did fairly well, however, he failed to qualify for three races. But, he had four top tens in 29 starts.

The following season in 2000, Adam Petty made history. On April 2, 2000 Petty qualified for the 2000 DirectTv 500, becoming the first four generation driver in Motorsports history. Petty was running around the 25th spot, when on lap 215, his engine expired, derailing him to a 40th place finish.

I'll never forget the interview Petty did with TNN, and Dick Berggren said we were looking forward to see what he could do in his career. Unfortunately, we never did.

On May 12, Adam Petty was testing for the NASCAR Busch Series race at New Hampshire when his throttle got stuck and he struck the outside wall. Petty would not survive the accident, stunning the NASCAR world.

Adam's father Kyle would finish out the year in the No. 45 car in the Busch Series. And would driver the No. 45 car for the rest of his career.

As sad as the accident and the death were, NASCAR benefited from Adam's life when his death really led to some safer barrier research. Perhaps the best thing that came from Adam's death is the Victory Junction Gang.

Five months after Adam's death, the Petty's teamed up with Paul Newman and created The Victory Junction Gang Camp, a dream of Adam's. It's a camp where chronically ill children can have fun for absoultly free. In 2004, Kyle and Patti Petty announced the opening of the camp.

Today it's NASCAR's proudest charity and it's now the offically charity of NASCAR.

May Adam's legacy live on forever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEUd_WCtzZ8&feature=related

He's not that bad of a driver...but how bad does he want to drive for Rick Hendrick?

When 50 year old Mark Martin announced last June that he wanted to come back and make "one last run" at the now Sprint Cup Championship, it was expected that 25 year old Brad Keselowski, who drives for Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the Nationwide Series, would take over the following year.

Afterall, his star couldn't be much brighter than it is right now.

His run toward a Nationwide championship is also looking strong. Despite struggles during Friday nights Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington Raceway, Keselowski sits fifth in points, has four top fives, and five top 10s for the season. He also hasn't failed to complete a race this year, and has completely 97 percent of the laps thus far.

And did I mention that in just his fifth ever Cup Series start, the young man from Rochester Hills, Michigan took team owner James Finch to his first victory in the Cup Series?

Starting shotgun on the field thanks to engine problems during practice, Keselowski survived the wreck-fest that was the Aaron's 499. The only lap he lead was the right one: the last one.

However, things are now looking dim for Keselowski's future. He was scheduled to driver part time next year in the No. 5 Kellogg's/Carquest Chevrolet. With Martin recently announcing that he would indeed be running full time in 2010, it begs the question: What's going to happen to Brad Keselowski?

While drivers like Joey Logano, Reed Sorenson, and David Ragan debuted in the Cup Series at 18, 20, and 22 respectively, would holding Keselowski back in the Nationwide Series be a good idea for Hendrick?

Several current Cup drivers have contracts that are up at the end of the year, and what owner wouldn't want to add Keselowski to their roster? With sponsors looking for younger, fresher talent, adding the JR Motorsports driver would be a very good business move.

As the season rolls on and Silly Season gets underway, it will be interesting to see what happens with Brad Keselowski. It could very well be nothing; he could stay in the Nationwide Series another year, moving to Cup in 2011.

Or, could he leave a chance to drive for Hendrick Motorsports to grab a Cup ride sooner than planned?

It all depends on how bad Keselowski wants to drive for 'The Boss'.

Thanks to Racing Reference and Jayski for the stats and information used in this article.

With the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series having another off weekend.

Brian Scott will be busy driving the No. 10 General Dollar Camry, for Braun Racing, under the lights in Friday nights Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington Raceway.

It's his fourth start in the Nationwide Series this season and also Scott's first race at Darlington.

Just like with Richmond, he has tested at the speedway with his Camping World Truck Series team.

Scott and the No. 16 Albertson's team, had a great test session last December at the track and he ran really fast with his Tundra.

"It's definitely a challenging race track with both ends of the track being so different," said Scott.

"Finding a good balance is key."

"You have to accept fact that your car is not going to be perfect on either end of the track so you just have to figure where you can make up the most time to beat your competitors."

Scott should qualify well, which will make his job easier at  the track and not having to work his way to the front.

His crew chief Stewart Cooper should be a big help for him, since he has a lot of experience at Darlington.

Scott should run top 15 or better, stay on the lead lap, more importantly stay out of trouble and with a good handling car late in the race will be vying for a top 10 finish.

Last week at Richmond, Scott looked really good ran top 15 all night. Then in the closing laps while battling for 10th place, he got caught up in a late wreck not of his doing and finished a disappointing 32rd.

Once a gain his No. 10 General Dollar Camry will be chassis No. BR033, also dubbed "Golden Child" and it has visited victory lane year in May with Kyle Busch.

After Richmond his Braun team had to work hard in the shop getting the car ready to race this week.

I'm excited by what I've of Scott in these four races with Braun Racing and he's ready for the next step to Sprint Cup.

I hope it leads to a full-time Nationwide Series ride in 2010 and preferably not a shared ride with a Cup driver.

A note of interest on the entry list for Friday's Nationwide Series race at Darlington surfaced earlier this week. SK Motorsports announced that Patrick Carpentier, a Rookie of the Year contender in the Sprint Cup Series ranks in 2008, replaces the team's regular driver, David Green, in a one-off deal.

A shakeup in the cockpit is not surprising for the No. 07 team. Through the season's first nine races, Green has scored only one top 15 finish.

But this is Darlington, meaning the Nationwide Series is tackling NASCAR's most difficult oval on Friday.

SK Motorsports' decision to yank the 1994 NASCAR Busch Series champion and a veteran driver in Green for Carpentier, who has made only one Darlington start in his two-year stock car career and who hasn't raced in NASCAR all season is perplexing at best.

The decision doesn't appear to be sponsor-driven. As of Thursday night, no announcement regarding a partner for the unsponsored No. 07 team has been issued.

That leaves performance on the track as the deciding factor. There, Carpentier doesn't come close to stacking up to Green.

Carpentier made his only Darlington start last season at the Cup level. He was fast in the early going, but after heavy contact with the wall and lengthy pit work for repairs, the former open-wheeler was mired in traffic until his engine expired.

The 40th place finish was far from sterling.

As for Green, while his resume at Darlington suggests that the Lady in Black is not one of his best tracks, it offers far more hope than an inexperienced stock car driver with one race under his belt.

Green has made 24 starts in his Nationwide Series career at Darlington, with five top-10 finishes to his credit.

More importantly, Green's career average finish at the track is in the top 20, and he has scored four lead lap finishes in his last five starts.

Green likely would not have contended for the win on Friday, but he more than likely would have finished.

And that's all the No. 07 team needs on the treacherous egg-shaped circuit this weekend.

Though they sit in the top 25 in the owner points, the No. 07 team has less than a 100 point cushion over 31st, the owner's point cutoff between racing into the field and being locked in to the race.

If you go by the numbers where Carpentier and Green finish on average, that's a 60-point swing this weekend alone (43 points for 40th, 103 for 20th).

Plus, as team owner Armando Fitz should know after last year, driver by committee is not conducive to improving a team's performance on the track.

Last year, Fitz's No. 22 car scored four top-15 finishes in the season's first six races with Mike Bliss behind the wheel.

After Bliss left and Fitz allowed his car's seat to become a revolving door, his team posted four more top 15s—in the season's final 29 races.

With SK Motorsports being a new operation, it is hard to fathom why the team would throw the consistency of having a past champion in their car who's been there all year away to give a driver still in the infancy of a stock car career the keys.

This isn't meant to be a knock on Carpentier. He got the short end of the stick considering his efforts at Gillett-Evernham Motorsports last year.

But it's likely going to be SK Motorsports getting the short end of this deal.

By capturing the checkered flag on his 24th birthday Saturday, Kyle Busch put his 15th career Cup win in the books, tying him for 45th on the all-time Cup win list (rank:30). 

Moreover, that win was his 50th overall in NASCAR's top-three series, tying him with Greg Biffle for third amongst driver wins since the beginning of the Truck Series in 1995. The two drivers ahead of them—Jeff Gordon with 82 and Mark Martin with 60.

Much has been made about these numbers since the win. Primary among them, of course, is being the youngest driver ever to have accumulated 15 Cup wins, 50 overall wins, etc. And that doesn't count all the other records he has set along the way.

Since then, Busch has said his goal is to win 200 races across NASCAR's top three series, a goal he repeated during an interview on Tuesday's "NASCAR Now." 

He made it clear that it's just a goal and not necessarily an expectation, and that he knew it would take quite a few more years (18 by his quick calculations) to get there given his average so far.

Busch and others have been careful to make it clear that if he were to do so it would not necessarily be comparable to Richard Petty's record of 200 Cup wins—a point of much contention between "old-school" and "new-school" fans.  

Some, including Darryl Waltrip in his latest FoxSports.com column, believe that Busch is not only more talented, but that what he has accomplished—and what he hopes to accomplish—is more impressive than any of those who have come before him.

And DW is not the only one. Articles and opinion pieces abound around the net asking the question about whether or not counting wins outside of the Cup series should mean anything at all and if they do, what they should mean in comparison to wins accumulated by past drivers.

Most of the contention there comes up when discussing the "relative value" of a Nationwide or Truck series win today compared to at least some of the Cup wins racked up by others thirty or forty years ago.

Some argue that only Cup wins count and given that, no one will ever top "The King"—especially as the season contains so many fewer races today than it did back when Petty was winning races at a rate of up to 27 per year.

Others argue that the level of competition of many of those races pales in comparison to the level of competition today—especially given the parity amongst teams and manufacturers today across all three series.

Couple that increased level of competition with the versatility necessary to be able to run and win in three very different types of cars against drivers of all skill levels—often in the same weekend—and you have a strong argument that the difficulty of getting such wins today is at least on par with many of the "less competitive" wins of forty years ago.

And there I agree to a large extent. Without at least a few championships, Busch will stand little to no chance of ever being considered one of the greatest of all time. 

But for the sake of argument (and as a long-time hardcore fan of both Busch brothers), I'm going to set aside that portion of the discussion as I believe that he will win at least a couple championships during his Cup career. 

He may end up winning only one, he may win ten; only time will tell. But few seem to doubt that he will win at least one at some point.

Again, leaving that aside, how does one compare Busch's accomplishments to those of the greats of the past and the present, including Johnson, Gordon, Earnhardt, Waltrip, Yarborough, Pearson, Petty and many others?

Or to steal a bit from Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report and adapt it for my own nefarious purposes, "Kyle Busch, great driver or greatest driver ever?"

In my opinion, this question will never fully be answered satisfactorily for everyone as it is, by its very nature, unanswerable.

In essence this issue is very similar to the problem never resolved from last year—trying to compare Jimmie Johnson's third championship in a row with Cale Yarborough's.

Different eras, different circumstances, and different levels of competition make comparisons difficult at best, impossible at worst.

Not only that, but it is still a little early to even try answer these questions. Busch is only 24 and has already established himself as easily one of the greats of his time (and/or one of the greatest under 25), but who knows what the future may bring?

Although I didn't see every one of Richard Petty's victories (or nearly any other driver's for that matter), I have watched Busch since the "re-beginning" of his NASCAR career after he turned 18.

And although it took a few years working with some really good people at Hendrick Motorsports along with a strong "reality check" when he was let go at the end of 2007, Busch showed incredible potential then and since then has done little but flesh out that potential at Joe Gibbs Racing and Billy Balew Motorsports.

All in all, however, I personally have to agree with those who say that comparisons can be made, but how accurate they may be depends upon your point of view.

And in that respect, I have to agree with those who know and have known the greats; those that have raced or worked with the best of the best; and those who have researched and reported on it all.

Although it is very easy to find someone in the garage or the media center who doesn't like something about Busch, it is very difficult if not downright impossible to find one of them who questions his talent, his drive, his accomplishments, and his potential. 

I have heard and read drivers, crew chiefs, former drivers, former crew chiefs, owners and commentators alike speak in glowing terms about how good Busch really is and how much they love to watch him in whatever race he might be in. 

True, most agree that he has his issues, but being able to drive a car is not one of them.

I tend to agree with people like three-time Cup champion Darryl Waltrip. In what most consider to be his "love affair with Kyle Busch," he outright states his belief that Kyle is the best there's even been, at least so far.

"I appreciate talent: I saw Dale Earnhardt when he was at his best; I saw Richard Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison and Jeff Gordon all when they were at their best. I raced against them when they were at their best, so trust me when I say I know talent."

"I have to tell you, though: None of them were as good as Kyle."

Following last Saturday's action-packed Aaron's 312 at Talladega Superspeedway, the NASCAR Nationwide Series tour heads to Richmond International Raceway for some short-track action under the lights, Friday night style.

Stock car racing purists will look forward to the Lipton Tea 250, the series' annual May classic that has produced some intense racing action in recent memory. There will certainly not be a shortage for excitment and parity despite the usual high attendance of Sprint Cup drivers competing in the event.

Here's a look at some of the storylines heading into Richmond:

If you're first, you won't last...

An interesting tidbit to watch for with Friday night's race is that the driver who has led the most laps in the past six events run at Richmond has failed to capture the victory.

Only Kevin Harvick, who led 154 laps in the 2006 running of the Emerson Radio 250, and Kyle Busch, who led for 227 laps en route to his win in the '07 fall race, have gone on to capture victories while leading the most laps.

Chevrolet, Ford, Toytoa, who?

Chevrolet has won 13 of the past 18 races won at Richmond, thanks mostly to Kevin Harvick's three-peat from his wins in the fall '05 event and a season sweep in 2006.

However, looking at the race winners of the 2009 season, it seems to be a wide open season as to who will carry their manufacturer to supremacy in the Nationwide Series.

Unlike the Sprint Cup ranks, where Chevrolet clearly holds the advantage over their Blue Oval and Ram racers, the Nationwide Series has been a season of parity for the fleding automobile industry.

The Chevy gang has two wins so far through eight races, with Tony Stewart capturing the season opener at Daytona and Kevin Harvick's triumph at Bristol.

Ford has a trio of wins courtesy of Greg Biffle, who has a pair of aces at Las Vegas and Phoenix, while David Ragan captured that much elusive first victory last Saturday afternoon in a crash-marred race at Talladega.

Kyle Busch and Joey Logano have carried the Toyota banner into the winner's circle three times this year, with Shrub taking wins at Fontana and Fort Worth and Logano at Nashville.

Shut out of victory lane this year has been the Dodge contigency, which has been fledging in the Nationwide Series for some time. Other than some moments under the Gillette Evernham banner, Dodge's best team has dissolved into the sunset.

The Contenders

Choosing a winner for Friday night's race is pretty difficult, considering that four of the top 10 drivers in the points standings are top Cup drivers.

The remaining top 10 drivers are proven Nationwide drivers who either won in the past or have driven solidly this season.

Going out on a limb, it'd be foolish to not pick Kyle Busch for the win at Richmond. A previous winner in 2007 and a solid short track racer, look for Shrub to keep his streak of at least one victory per month in the top three NASCAR ranks alive with a triumph in the Lipton Tea 250.

Carl Edwards, who probably is sick and tired of being asked about his Talladega last lap accident, has two races to get his harrowing high speed flight crash out of his system with a pair of events at Richmond.

A two-time winner at RIR, Edwards, driver of the No. 60 Scotts Ford Fusion, may play spoiler to Busch.

You certainly can't forget about Kevin Harvick either, who looks to give the Chevrolet crew some reason to smile if he urges his No. 33 Rheem team with a big "W" for his self-eponymous racing organization.

Brad Keselowski has to feel like Jamie McMurray following his amazing last lap victory at Talladega last Sunday.

I mention McMurray's name because of the confidence and poise that the Joplin, Missouri native showed following his debut win in the Cup ranks at Lowe's in Oct. of 2002, winning multiple times in the Nationwide races in the closing portions of that season.

Hopefully, Keselowski can avoid the McMurray Curse of sorts by showing some of that poise and confidence in the Nationwide ranks, where he has become a venerable frontrunner of sorts for Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s No. 88 team sponsored by GoDaddy.com and Delphi.

And oh by the way...

In the better late than never news department for Nationwide Series racing fans who enjoy the sleek, aerodynamic bodies which were virutal counterparts of the Sprint Cup cars prior to the advent of the COT, it looks like the next generation cars for this series will not arrive on the track until at least 2011.

Perhaps taking note of the atrocities and struggles of their Sprint Cup cousins, the Nationwide Series will look to the next two years to refine, retune and hone their version of the COT and perhaps "hype" up the cars into a muscle car-emphasized series.

The Nationwide Series could certainly use an identity brand overhaul, and their COT approach to muscle cars could greatly redefine the image and perception of one of the most excitingmotorsports series in America.

Fast Notes...

For those keeping tabs on the Rookie of the Year standings, 2008 ARCA champ Justin Allgaier leads the "Class of 2009" with 83 points, followed by Brandon Gaughan with 79, Scott Lagasse, Jr. with 77, Michael McDowell with 74 and Michael Annett with 63 in what has so far proven to be a close race for freshman honors.

And as mentioned previous before, there is a close manufacturer's battle in the Nationwide ranks.

Ford currently leads the battle of automobile supremacy with 51 points with a second place stalemate between Chevrolet and Toyota, which both have 50 points to their credit.

Being as it is a Friday night race like in Phoenix, the schedule of events is perhaps one of the most unique of the season:

The Race: Lipton Ice Tea 250
The Place: Richmond International Raceway
The Date: May 1, 2009
The Time: 7:30 PM, EDT
The Distance: 250 laps/187.5 miles
TV: ESPN2 (Prerace at 7 PM, EDT)
Radio: Sirius NASCAR Radio/MRN
2008 Race Winner: Denny Hamlin
2008 Pole Sitter: Kasey Kahne

Event Schedule (All Times EDT): Friday - Final Practice: 9:00-11:45 AM; Qualifying: 4:10 PM

Driver Standings

1) Kyle Busch        - 1219
2) Carl Edwards     - 1157
3) David Ragan      - 1139
4) Jason Leffler     - 1082
5) Joey Logano     - 1063
6) Brad Keselowski - 1041
7) Jason Keller        - 925
8) Scott Lagasse, Jr. -886
9) Justin Allgaier      - 885
10) Michael McDowell -879

Up Next: Darlington Raceway

Following Richmond on the Nationwide Series racing docket will be the trials and tribulations of Darlington Raceway's only race of the season with the Diamond Hill Plywood 200, which will be on Friday night on ESPN2 at 7:30 PM EDT.

Tony Stewart, who formerly drove for Joe Gibbs Racing's Toyota camp, captured last year's race at the Lady in Black, urging the No. 20 Old Spice Toyota to the victory circle over Clint Bowyer by a margin of 0.814 seconds.

Kevin Harvick will be back in the driver seat of the No. 33 Rheem Tankless Hot Water Heaven Chevrolet for Friday nights Lipton Tea 250 at Richmond International Raceway.

He'll be looking for his fifth win at RIR and also KHI's fifth win in the Nationwide Series.

In his 16 previous starts at the track, Happy's compiled four wins, 10 top-five, 12 top-10 finishes, and led 595 laps.

He has an average starting position of 8.6 and a average finishing position of 7.6. At RIR, he's completed 99.9 percent of the laps he's attempted, that's 4005 out of 4011 laps.

KHI has been on a tear of late, with it's No. 33 team, and now sit in first in the Nationwide Owner's Point Standings.

They've done it with Happy, Tony Stewart, Kelly Bires, and Ryan Newman driving the No. 33 Chevy and riding a string of five straight top five finishes.

No doubt KHI will unload a stout car for the boss, should qualify well even record his first pole win at the track and be vying for the win in the late stages of the race.

Last year, he led 98 laps looked like he was on his way for the win, but settled for second after getting passed late in the race by Denny Hamlin.

He likes night races, you gotta have good brakes and that during the race the groove moves around. Another factor is getting your car to work through the center of the turns and how well you come off the corner with your car.

Happy will be driving chassis No. 041, it's been to victory lane at Bristol earlier this season and it's a special car to the Harvick's. As it's the car, he drove to his first Nationwide win in his own equipment.

"We got our first win this season, came close to a few more wins and now we're looking to score another win this weekend at Richmond in the Rheem Tankless Hot Water Heaven Chevrolet. We're bring the car that we won Bristol with and hopefully at the end of the day, we can get it back in victory lane for KHI and Rheem."

Also at RIR, KHI has teamed up with both Rheem Manufacturing and the Veterans of Foreign Wars to co-host a hospitality event Friday night with help from both Longhorn smokeless tobacco and Nationwide Insurance.

To entertain not only clientele from Rheem, but also 100 wounded soldiers recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and they'll also be attending the race.

Numerous drivers will be making appearances at the event, a dozen Nationwide drivers, including Eric McClure, Brad Keselowski, Scott Wimmer, Cale Gale, Jason Keller, Stephen Leicht, Scott Lagasse Jr., three-time Truck Series Champion Ron Hornaday (said pre-race to the restart of the Kansas truck race on Monday, that he'd be at RIR on Friday night), Cup's Ryan Newman, and maybe Tony Stewart also, co-owner Delana Harvick, and RCR Owner Richard Childress.

This is great to see, Kevin and Delana Harvick teaming up with Rheem,the VFW, along with Longhorn brand and Nationwide Insurance lending help and honoring our wound soldiers.

Let me start by saying I have eliminated all drivers who run a full Sprint Cup schedule from my Nationwide races and points system to form the REAL Nationwide Results.

Friday night in Phenoix, Arizona, saw points leader Jason Leffler bring the No. 38 Great Clips Chevy to the winner's cirlcle.

Rounding out the top five are:

2. Brad Keslowski

3. Brenden Gaughan

4. Justin Alligaeir

5. Mike Bliss

I determined the points system each week using the current Nationwide system, removing all Cup guys, and moving the Nationwide drivers up in to those spots.

Also, I removed any bonus points from the drivers, even if they did lead a lap. There's just no way to tell who or how many laps they would have lead without the Cup guys being there.

Nationwide Points Standings

1. Jason Leffler

2. Brad Keselowski—84

3. Brenden Gaughan—121

4. Justin Alligaer—144

5. Steven Wallace—157

6. Jason Keller—181

7. Mike Bliss—186

8. Micheal McDowell—202

9. Scott Laggasse Jr.—224

10. Kenny Wallace—259

11. Michael Annett—267

12. Tony Raines—338

13. David Green—362

14. Eric McClure—362

15. Branden Whitt—377

16. Jon Wes Townley—379

17. Danny O' Quinn—414

18. Morgan Shepard—418

                                                Mathmatically Eliminated

19. Kenny Hendricks

20. Scott Wimmer

21. D.J. Kennington

22. Brian Keselowski

23. Burney Lamar

24. Casey Atwood

25. Robert Richardson III

26. Ken Butler III

27. Terry Cook

28. Dennis Setzer

29. Kelly Bires

30. Kertus Davis

31. Kevin Hamlin

32. Andy Poinstein

33. Mark Green

34. Brian Scott

35. Shelby Howard

36. Stanton Barrett

37. Johnny Chapman

38. Mark Green

39. Scott Gaylord

40.J.C Stout

41. Stephen Licht

42. Mike Wallace

43. Trevor Bayne

44. Payton Sellers

45. Mike Harmon

46. Marc Davis

47. John Boreman III

48. Donnie Nuenberger

49. Austin Dillion

50. Tim Andrews

51. Justin Ashburn

52. Benny Gordon

53. J. Clements

54. Derrick Cope

55. Steve Grissom—1080

This concludes the REAL Nationwide Points. Let me know what you think. This took a lot of time, so I hope you like it.

Following a terrific fourth-place finish driving Kevin Harvick Incorporated's No. 33 in the Nashville 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race April 11 at Nashville Superspeedway, Kelly Bires is now anticipating his next shot behind the wheel this Friday at Talladega Superspeedway.

Win-Tron Racing officials announced the signing of Bires as the driver of the No. 32 Wolfpack Rentals Toyota Camry in Friday's ARCA RE/MAX 250 at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.

Based in Lakeville, Minnesota, Win-Tron Racing welcomes Bires as their third driver on the ARCA RE/MAX tour in 2009.

Bires will drive the same car that James Buescher drove to a popular win at Daytona International Speedway during February's Speedweeks.

Bires, 24, isn't shy about stating his expectations heading into Friday's 94-lap, 250-mile affair.

"We're going there to win," Bires said on Monday afternoon. "The Win-Tron team is proven with fast equipment. It's a great group of guys, and this is a great opportunity for me to work with everyone at Win-Tron Racing."

After the outstanding run earlier this month in the Nashville Nationwide Series event, Bires is ecstatic to be going back to one of his favorite tracks this weekend.

"I love racing at Talladega. It's one of my best tracks, even though this will be only my third time racing there. We finished fourth there in the ARCA race in 2006, and we were running in the top five last year when that huge accident happened and we got caught up in it."

Left without a full-time ride in 2009, the Mauston, Wisconsin, native Bires admits he's taking it one race at a time for now with hopes of proving he's capable and ready for a full-time ride in ARCA or one of the three top NASCAR touring series.

"Right now, I'm focused on this weekend. After this race, I'll start working to put together another deal and focus on that race. This is an exciting deal for me because I'm from Wisconsin, and the Win-Tron team is based in Minnesota. So in a way it's like driving for the hometown team. I'm looking forward to doing the best I can and I hope that means giving this team another win," Bires added.

Win-Tron Racing co-owner and team manager Nate Thiesse echoes Bires' excitement regarding this weekend's race.

"We're excited to have a caliber driver like Kelly Bires onboard for Talladega," said Thiesse. "Kelly has proven he can do an exceptional job in the ARCA RE/MAX Series and there is little hesitation in our mind that he won't keep that same pace this weekend."

Friday will mark Bires' third career start in the ARCA RE/MAX Series. He finished eighth in 2004 at Lowe's Motor Speedway and finished fourth at Talladega in 2006.

Win-Tron Racing is currently tied for third in ARCA RE/MAX points.

This article also featured on here. 

Austin Dillon will be making his return to the NASCAR Nationwide Series, driving the No. 2 in the Bashas' Supermarket 200 at Phoenix International Raceway on Friday night.

It's Dillon's first start in the series, since last October when he finished fourth at Memphis Motorsports Park.

He also made his debut in the series in September of 2008 at Richmond.

Dillon ran in Thursday nights NASCAR Camping World West Series, wehre he finished 15th in the Jimmie Johnson Foundation 150 and drove a Ford. 

He will be running a partial schedule for his grandfather's organization this season.

His No. 2 Chevrolet will have a special message on it: RCR Thanks Chevrolet. The message is a tribute to the 40-year partnership between General Motors and Richard Childress.

"I have a new team around me and we have been able to work well with one another through a few testing sessions and in the shop," said Dillon.

"With it our first race in the Nationwide Series this year, we're looking to have some fun, and hopefully, have a nice solid run."

Dillon will be paired with crew chief Richard Lavalette. They're still learning about each other, but they are gelling and communicating well to each other.

Dillon's looking forward to having Lavalette call all the shots at Phoenix.

Lavalette knows he's working with a great Kid loaded with both talent and potential.

It's definitely going to be exciting to see this Kid back racing in the Nationwide Series and should have a decent run in the top 20.

Source: scenedaily.com