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Kelly Bires has driven his Clorox Ford Fusion to eighth fastest in final practice for the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina today.

Bires was quick to point out today’s progress as a sign of a great team effort from his JTG Racing crew, as the team worked together to improve the pace of the #47 Clorox Ford Fusion over the course of the day.

Bires suffered from a tight race car in the first two practice sessions and was also hampered by brake problems, but some hard work and smart thinking from the Clorox crew, led by crew chief Scott Zipadelli, saw Bires claim eighth fastest in final practice at the 1.366-mile egg-shaped speedway.

Bires is making his Darlington Raceway debut this weekend, the same weekend that the Darlington debuts a new racing surface after repaving work in the offseason.

Brad Keselowski was fastest in first practice, with Denny Hamlin topping the remaining two practice sessions at the track ‘Too Tough To Tame’.

Qualifying and the 147-lap Diamond Hill Plywood 200 will be held tomorrow.

Kelly Bires - #47 Clorox Ford Fusion

“We had some issues with the car in first practice and we lost some time,” said Bires.

“Then we were really tight in second practice, so we thought about it and made some changes to the car between second and third practice.

“It paid off, because the car was a lot better in final practice. We were a little loose at one end of the track and a little tight at the other end. I guess that’s what you get with a track where both ends of the track have different corners.

“It’s great that we could improve the car so much over the course of the day and be fast in the practice session that was held at the same time of day as tomorrow’s race.

“The track is fast and quite treacherous, so it will be interesting to see how the race pans out.

“I’m proud of the our guys today because we did a lot of work to the Clorox car and got it better. Now we press on to see what we can do for everyone at Clorox, GLAD, Air Force, Ford and all of our great sponsors.”