Race cars are lined up for fans to see during the NASCAR Preview Presented by Sprint on Jan. 21, 2012, in Charlotte, N.C. - Photo Credit: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images for NASCAR

Thousands Enjoy Return Of Offseason Fan Event In Charlotte

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 21, 2012) – For one day at least, Sam Alverson of Jacksonville, Fla., could lay claim to being NASCAR’s No. 1 fan. It wasn’t just because of his devotion to the sport; it’s because he was first in line.

After a marathon 26-hour campout session, Alverson was the first of thousands of fans through the doors Saturday for the inaugural NASCAR Preview 2012 Presented by Sprint at the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Charlotte Convention Center. The fan-friendly event, part of NASCAR’s Acceleration Weekend, followed an overflow crowd for Friday evening’s NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony of Richie Evans, Dale Inman, Darrell Waltrip, Glen Wood and Cale Yarborough.

Many fans were in line the day before the event, forming a human chain that went halfway around the convention center and weathered cool, drizzly conditions. For Alverson, the reward of a 5 1/2-hour drive and extensive wait in the elements was a chance to greet his favorite driver, four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon.

When Gordon jokingly questioned his motives for spending more than a day in line to meet him, Alverson shot back, “It’s because you are the champ!”

“We have the most amazing fans,” Gordon said. “It blows you away any time you hear something like that. … All the fans that came out, some of them traveled long distances, get up early in the morning or stayed up late at night on the sidewalk. That’s pretty amazing, and that’s what makes events like this so successful.”

Gordon also entertained fans during a question and answer session with Richard Petty, unveiling a new paint scheme commemorating 20 years in the sport with longtime sponsor DuPont. More than 60 drivers were on hand to sign autographs and greet fans, with several participating in fan Q&As. Additionally, NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees new and old led fans on personal guided tours of the Hall’s exhibits.

“We’re thrilled with the turnout and the passion our fans continue to express,” said Steve Sweeney, NASCAR’s director of consumer marketing. “The NASCAR Preview 2012 Presented By Sprint offered a perfect lead-in for the Daytona 500 on Feb. 26 [on FOX, MRN Radio], and will only grow in the upcoming years.”

Winston Kelley, executive director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, said the NASCAR Preview event was a direct result of listening to fans – including Alverson – clamoring for more of the sport during the offseason and a revival of the preview held in Winston-Salem, N.C., years ago.

NASCAR President Mike Helton, left, welcomes fans to the NASCAR Preview Presented by Sprint on Jan. 21, 2012, in Charlotte, N.C - Photo Credit: NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Dale Inman receives his jacket during the 2012 NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Charlotte Convention Center on January 20, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images for NASCAR)

“It’s met or exceeded all the expectations we had, and we think this is the foundation we can just grow on,” Kelley said. “This is just the start to us, and I think we can make it even bigger and better.”

Two pieces of news came out of today’s event, as Sprint unveiled its Miss Sprint Cup lineup for 2012, and American Ethanol announced sponsorship for two highly visible race teams.

Kristen Beat, a former on-air talent for Fuel TV, joins returning Miss Sprint Cup members Kim Coon and Jaclyn Roney for the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

Additionally, American Ethanol announced that it will continue relationships with Richard Childress Racing and RAB racing for the 2012 season. Austin Dillon, the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion, will drive the No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet for six races in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, as well as one race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2012. Dillon’s No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet paint scheme was unveiled at the event. American Ethanol will also partner with Kenny Wallace and RAB Racing for the Daytona 500 on FOX, as well as five races in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

NASCAR Acceleration Weekend culminates Sunday morning with more events at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. This year’s class of inductees will see their exhibits and spires in the Hall of Fame for the first time and will unveil their engraved granite markers in the Walk of Fame Garden outside the Hall’s doors.

Source: NASCAR, Press Release

NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Darrell Waltrip receives his jacket during the 2012 NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Charlotte Convention Center on January 20, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images for NASCAR)

NASCAR HALL OF FAME INDUCTION CEREMONY

DARRELL WALTRIP

MIKE JOY:  Some of racing’s greatest successes have come from the admiration and disdain of its most polarizing figures, you know, the drivers that half the crowd wanted to see win every week and the other half wanted to see anybody but, and bridging the eras between Lee Petty and Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip won three championships, entertaining us all the while.

And from the moment when he first burst on the scene with an ex-Mario Andretti Ford to this October when his ride around the treacherous circuit at Bathurst Australia in a V-8 supercar was seen and enjoyed on YouTube around the world, he entertains us still as the lead analyst for FOX Sports and Speed.

Cale famously nicknamed him Jaws.  Boy, is that not the best racing nickname ever, and it was the most appropriate.  But tonight, we will call Darrell Waltrip a NASCAR Hall of Famer.

JEFF HAMMOND:  Brother, I’ve got your back, even when your back is against the wall.  Before we start, I want to congratulate the Evans family, Dale Inman, Mr. Wood, and of course my old buddy Cale.  Congratulations.

What each has brought to the sport of NASCAR is immeasurable, and tonight it’s only fitting that you take your rightful place in this Hall of Fame.  They really should probably call it the Hall of Heroes because all my heroes are here.  But now it’s time to honor the fifth and final member of the class of 2012.  So let me set the stage for a few newer fans here in NASCAR.

I worked for that man, Junior Johnson.  I worked with that man, Cale Yarborough.  I worked with and eventually for that man, Darrell Waltrip.  When Cale decided at the end of 1980 season to cut back to a partial schedule, why in the world did it have to be Darrell Waltrip that walked through the door of the shop?  Darrell knows this, OK:  I didn’t like him, and I didn’t want him to be our driver.  Part of it was because he was beating us on the track more frequently, but the other part was, and you’ve heard this before, he would never shut up.  He was always running his mouth.

Our sport has never seen the likes of Darrell Waltrip before, both on the track or off the track.  I mean, things got off to a rocky start in 1981, with our new driver and our new sponsor Mountain Dew.  When Darrell first came in, the first thing he wanted to do was tell us what was wrong with our race cars.  Can you believe that?  Those race cars had won three straight championships, but here he was wanting to tell us what he wanted changed.

Well, needless to say, things didn’t go over very well.  The crew didn’t like him.  He didn’t like the crew.  And it stayed that way until Junior got fed up with it, and he gave all of us, Darrell included, a lesson in economics.  Well, actually it was pretty simple math:  The bickering was to stop immediately.  Everyone would either find a way to work together or, Darrell included, everyone would find their way to the unemployment line together.

Now, folks, I don’t know about you, but that’s an attention getter, Junior Johnson style.  Well, guess what?  We started running better.  We were, shall we say, motivated.  Together we won 12 races and the championship in 1981.  In 1982 it was virtually a whole new team with me as the crew chief.  We won 12 more races and our second championship.  We won again in 1985, making up a huge point deficit and overtaking Bill Elliott.

There is a reason why Darrell was named NASCAR driver of the decade for the ’80s, and the record books don’t lie.  Think about it:  From 1977 to 1987, Darrell never finished lower than fifth in the points.  Now, as much as Darrell would absolutely love – I mean, he would love for me to talk about all the incredible statistics that he has accomplished, but there’s not simply enough time to do it.  Sorry, Darrell.  I know that really hurts.

Darrell was the bridge from old school NASCAR to the modern era of our sport.  The media loved him, very simply because, as he likes to say, there wasn’t a controversy that he couldn’t add to.  And this is part that, I can’t believe I wrote this in here, I have to admit, he was good looking, and you never met a camera or a microphone that he didn’t like.  But his rapid fire wit off the track was only exceeded by his God-given talent on the track.  You’re a pretty incredible guy.  You really are.

And he truly was NASCAR’s version of Muhammad Ali.  I think Brian France would readily admit that Darrell, with his passion and love for our sport, helped to take NASCAR to another level when it was needed.  So buddy, here we are together after all these years.  You know, for the last 11 years, we’ve been on a new team, our NASCAR on FOX team, led by our boss David Hill.  Mr. Hill, a lot like Junior Johnson, accepts nothing but the best from all of us, including Mike Joy, all of us, each and every race weekend.

One of the coolest things that happened to me was in March of 2007 when Darrell’s business manager, Van Colley, called me on his cell phone, and he said, hey, buddy, I’ve got some great news, DW and you have been nominated for an Emmy for your work on FOX.  I said, oh, man, how wonderful is this.  So here we were once again all these years later both in our second careers sharing some more success together.

I’d venture to say our sport will never see the likes of Darrell Waltrip ever again.  He truly is one to a box.  Right now it is my honor on the 20th day of January, 2012, to present you with your inductee ring to officially induct Darrell Waltrip into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

DARRELL WALTRIP:  I’ve got to straighten something out before we can get to any of this other stuff.  It wasn’t that I talked that much.  Those other guys didn’t talk at all.  So it just looked like I was talking a lot.  I had to fill in the blanks.  If there is something that needed to be explained, DW had to explain it.  So it looked like that I talked a lot, but I honestly didn’t.  I just want you to know that, for you new fans that have listened to all this stuff tonight.

But Jeff, thank you so much.  Hammond and I, we’ve had a great driver-crew chief relationship, and that’s the success in this sport, just like Dale and Richard, Hammond and I, we went through a lot of ups and downs.  We won the Daytona 500 together, with Stevie helping us a little bit along the way.  We retired from racing together.  We started our FOX journey together.  Here he is tonight, and he just whispered in my ear, “Don’t kiss me like you did Brian France.”  And I can’t get Mike Joy to come out here because he’s afraid I’m going to grab him and start yelling, is this the Hall of Fame.

I left a strong impression on both of them.  This is a red letter night.  You have to admit.  Bobby Allison said I deserved to be in the Hall of Fame.  Does anybody in here know how big that is?  That’s big.  And he swore to me that they weren’t holding a gun to him or anything, he did it right out of the goodness of his heart.  So thank you, Bobby.

Richie Evans, I want to congratulate the Richie Evans family, great job tonight.  I watched Richie win race after race after race at Martinsville, and in my world, it’s what I call a wheel man, and Richie Evans was the best wheel man I ever saw, and when he raced at Martinsville – guys, old guys particularly, is there not a race car – is there not a first race car that we ever painted that we didn’t have to go get the paint from somewhere, or mix up a whole bunch of spare cans of paint, mix them all together and see what the heck we’re going to get?  I know somewhere in Rome, New York, I saw these guys, there’s a men’s shop missing a whole bunch of orange ties.  Just like that street department is missing a whole bunch of orange paint.

Dale Inman, I tell Dale this all the time, and I’m serious, if I got into a little run-in with Richard, all Richard ever really did, he just poked me in the chest with – it looked like ET’s finger, so I knew he’d go away.  But Dale on the other hand, if I had a problem and Dale remembered I had a little problem with Richard one race at Richmond, I wasn’t looking for Richard to apologize, I was looking for Dale to apologize because Dale Inman would hurt you.

Mr. Wood, Leonard and Glen and David Pearson, my great hero friend David Pearson, when I came into this sport, not a lot of people warmed up to my style.  I couldn’t understand why; charming, nice, friendly, very conversational, but a lot of guys didn’t seem to warm up to that.  But David Pearson did, and if I had a problem, if I needed help, I could go to Leonard Wood and David Pearson.  If I had a problem with my car, Leonard was there.  If I had something I needed to know about driving, David was there, and I always appreciated that very much.

This is hard for you to believe, I know, but when Cale said he was going to cut back on his schedule in 1980, he came to me and told me before he told anyone else.  He knew that Junior liked my style – thank you, Junior.  He liked my style until he hired me, and then he thought maybe I needed to work on it a little bit.  Cale has been one of my best friends through the years.  He gave me a great tip to go drive for Junior, and how many of you guys in here have had another driver give you a nickname as great as Jaws?  I mean, that’s a buddy right there.

You know, this night, these men and the people in this room, they’re what inspire me.  They are what inspired me to be a race car driver.  They are what inspired me to – Cale said he climbed a ladder.  I feel like I climbed a lot of mountains, and the climbing was rough.  But these men in this room inspired me to be successful and to be good, and they gave me great examples of how to do that for every one of them from all the inductees from the prior hall classes, Richard, Bobby, David, thank you very much for being patient with me and helping me when I needed it.

You know, before the night started and I was talking to Stevie, and I said, boy, honey, I just hope I don’t get emotional and break down somewhere along the way and tear up, and she said, “DW, when you talk about something you’re passionate about, you’re going to get a little emotional.”  Well, I’m passionate about a lot of things.  I’m passionate about what I’ve done.  I’m passionate about my career, but I’m most passionate about my family.

My mom, sitting right up here on the front row in her wheelchair, Momma, thank you for being here tonight.  What an effort it took for her to be here.  I called mom and I said, “Mom, are you going to be okay?  It’s a long evening.  Do you think you can hang in there?”  She said, “Son, I’ve been with you all the way.  I’m not going to miss this for anything in the world.”  So Mom, thank you for being here.

I can tell you a quick story about mom.  When I started racing, we started racing go-karts.  We had a little storage room that we worked on the go-kart in.  It wasn’t even a garage.  So in order to build the engines for the go-kart, we needed a place to work on them.  So it always ended up being in the kitchen, in mom’s kitchen.  Daddy would wash the parts in the sink.  I know now why that fried chicken always tasted like gasoline, by the way.  We’d wash the parts in the sink and then we’d take the parts over to the kitchen table.  You ever see one of those yellow formica kitchen tables back in the 60s?  We chipped it one time, and that just about ended my go-kart career, messing up mom’s kitchen table.

But you know, she let me follow my passion, and she was there for me, her and dad, and they did a lot.  They went to every race.  But the other part of my family is my brothers and sisters.  Five kids, dad drove a Pepsi truck, mom worked at the IGA and we didn’t have a lot of extra cash.  So it took a lot to keep me in business.  It took a lot for me to be able to race my go-kart and pursue my dream, and my brothers and sister, Caroline who’s worked for me for 30 years, Bob Wall who helped me start the race team in 91, my sweet sister Connie.  And by the way, Michael and I, we’re the only two brothers that have ever won the Daytona 500, so I appreciated him for that.

And then it’s been the most important people in my life are right here on the front row.  This has been a big week for DW.  Not just tonight.  I mean, this is huge for my career, but in my family life, we found out that Fausto and Jessica, my oldest daughter and her husband, are expecting their first child.  So I’ll be a grandfather.  And if you ever want to see DW speechless, my Sarah, who was on a mission trip in the Philippines, as early as Wednesday, we talked to her earlier in the week, Dad, I wish I could be there, I know it’s a big night, I’m sorry I can’t make it.  When I checked into the hotel room last night and I opened the door, my Sarah was there.  She flew 25 hours to be here tonight, and she’s got to turn around Sunday and fly 25 hours back to the Philippines.  That’s sweet.  That means a lot to an old dad, trust me.

And then there’s the redhead.  If there was a Hall of Fame for drivers’ wives, Stevie would be in the first class.  We’ve been married 42 years, and like a lot of drivers and people in racing, it was tough back in the day.  I mean, it was just one week to the next.  What you won one week, you paid enough bills so you could make it to the next week.  I’ll drop this in right here, Cale:  You said about starting your own team.  Well, I started my own team, as you well know, but I was eating those black eyed peas before I was in the business very long, like you said.

But the funny thing about Stevie is when she came to the sport in 1972, I know you’re going to find this hard to believe, but there could be no women in the pits.  You could have no women in the pits, in the garage.  There just was kind of a – it was men only.

I didn’t like that, Stevie didn’t like that.  So I talked to I think the competition director was Bill Gaswin.  I said, what do I got to do.  He said, you can have car owners and crew members, and that’s it.  The next week, Stevie was the car owner and she was a crew member.

Now, to say it went smooth would be an understatement.  My very first race in the Daytona 500, we had only run short tracks all over the country, a lot of short tracks.  Hundred lappers were about as long a race as we’d ever run.  We get in the Daytona 500 and it’s not going very well.  I’m getting slower and slower, and Jake Elder was there, and Jake said what’s wrong with him, and Stevie said, “I think he’s hungry,” and Jake said, “He’s hungry?”  She said, “Yeah, he’s never driven a race this long, I’m pretty sure he’s hungry.”

So Jake kind of blew that off and went about his business, and Stevie figured she’d better run to the truck and make me a sandwich.  So she ran to the truck, got some ham and cheese, made a sandwich, ran back out to the pit, and when I came in the pit to make my green flag pit stop, guess who came over the wall.  Stevie Waltrip handed me a ham and cheese sandwich.

Now, can anybody in here top that?  Handed me a ham and cheese sandwich.  Jake and them are changing tires and I take this sandwich, and I look at her, and about that time the jack dropped and I knew I had to go, so I just threw the thing out the window, and as I drove away they said Stevie was standing there shaking her head going, I thought he liked ham and cheese.

But this is the best one yet:  So Jake Elder, who was old school like Herb and like Leonard and some of them, he kept saying, we’re never going to win a race as long as that woman is in the pit.  I said, really?  You can’t have a woman in the pit.

I said, all right, let me put it to you this way, Jake:  We get 4.2 miles to the gallon of gas.  This is a two-and-a-half-mile track, and it’s a 500-mile race.  How many miles can we go on a tank of fuel?  Go get that woman.

You know, Stevie says this all the time, not so much anymore, but she likes to say she’s been married to two men with the same name.  For you folks who are maybe new to the sport, I hope you feel the same way.  I have had two lives, and I’ve had two careers.  When I came onto the scene, I was not a nice guy.  I was an antagonist.  It just seemed to work for me.  Nobody else seemed to – I always thought that a lot of people say they take the path of least resistance.  I took the path I couldn’t resist.  You know why?  There ain’t nobody on it.  So a lot of times I was off on my own.

But through a lot of hard work, and Richard Petty, you may never remember this, but he put his arm around me one day and he wasn’t even mad at me, and he said, “Boy, keep going like you are, you’re going to have a hard time finding a sponsor.”  Does any of this sound familiar?  Antagonist, hard time to find a sponsor, a little trouble on the track?  If it doesn’t, it should.  And I took that to heart, because Richard Petty, he gave you good advice.  When he told you something, you take it to the bank.

So I worked hard on changing my image, and by golly, in 1989 and 1990 I was able to win the most popular driver of this sport, and that’s one of the biggest awards in my whole career.

A lot of people have been with me on this amazing journey.  Junior, I could have never – I wouldn’t be standing here tonight.  I was just some big-mouthed driver from Tennessee that Junior calmed me down and taught me how to win a lot of races and how to win championships.  He gave me some good advice, too, when I started my own team.  Somebody asked him about it, and he said, yeah, well, he’s finally got an owner as smart as the driver.

But one of his favorite things to do to me, he inspired me a lot, he called me Cale a lot.  When I first started driving for him, he’d come on the radio and he’d say, “Pit next time by, Cale.”  I’d say, “Dadgummit, Junior, my name ain’t Cale.”  “10-4, Cale.”  I loved driving for Junior Johnson.  He taught me a lot.  It was fun to work for him, and of course went on and did other things.  But it’s kind of interesting that I drove – I rode on that Pepsi-Cola truck with my dad selling Pepsis and Mountain Dew, and by golly we had Mountain Dew and Pepsi for a sponsor.  I always just thought that was such a cool deal, from a little boy on a Pepsi truck to them sponsoring my race car.

And I had Rick Hendrick, and Rick told me, DW, if we get the right people we’ll build the right cars, and Richard Petty was a big people person and he gave me some good advice.  He said, always remember this:  You can be multi-rich but you can’t be multi-broke.  Think about that.

He’s not here so I can tell you this.  I tell David Hill all the time, and if you don’t know David Hill, I wish we could have a meet and greet tonight and you could meet him.  This man is a genius, not because he hired me, that was just a stroke of luck, I think.  But he gave me a chance for a second career, and it’s something I’m equally as passionate about.  Working on television keeps me in the sport, and it lets me share my passion with all the great fans that we get to tune in every week on NASCAR on FOX.

I’ve got the greatest team.  I tell the guys all the time on the NASCAR on FOX team, and most of them are here tonight, and thank all of you for coming, this is the best race team I’ve ever been on.  They do the best job week in and week out, and they like me, and I think it’s contagious.  Larry, who is a passionate crew chief, Jeff, who is a passionate crew chief, I’m a passionate driver, and I think that enthusiasm and the love for this sport is contagious, and it shows every week when we go on television, so thank all my NASCAR on FOX buddies for the great job that y’all do.

I’ve got a little mafia back here, a little posse, the Nashville posse, John and Ed and Melvin and Gordon, these are people that have been my friends.  They flew over for this tonight.  Thank y’all for coming.

I’ve got to mention Floss because Floss took good care of Stevie and I and gave us a place to lay our head down a lot of nights when we didn’t have somewhere to go, so thank you, Floss.

Joe Carver, my good buddy from Nashville taught me a lot about how to do interviews and how to work with media, and thank you, Joe.

Bill France, Jr., one of my biggest honors ever was the night I got the Bill France Award of Excellence, and Bill in 2000 when he was so sick came all the way to New York sitting in his wheelchair right there to see me accept that award.  That was a huge, huge deal for me.  We started our careers together in 1972.  It was kind of known as the modern era.

They always told me, if you’re going to dream, dream as big as you possibly can because you know what, it might just come true.  And tonight, I’m living proof of that.

I do want to point out one thing real quick.  Stevie’s sister and her family are all over here, Carol and the kids.  They went to the races with us all the time.  I’m glad they’re here tonight.

I wanted to mention my grandmother who took me to races when I was a little boy, seven years old.  I got bit by the bug.  G.C. Spencer was her hero, he became my hero, and I told granny one Sunday when we were standing in victory circle with G.C. Spencer, I said, “Granny, someday I’m going to do that,” and she said, “Boy, that’s impossible.”  I took that word and I broke it down, I’m possible, I’m possible, and I took that with me everywhere I ever went.

The picture that’s up there is the 1975 race, my first win, and guess who was in victory circle with me, my granny.  My grandmother was there, Jake has got his arm around her.  Robert G. is over here, he’s on the right, that’s Dale, Jr.’s grandfather, Stevie up there, and that’s my grandmother and grandfather, my mom and dad are back there, and that was on Mother’s Day weekend in 1975, and by golly, that’s where the dream started, and here’s where it ends tonight.

’85 was a great year, ’82, man, we dominated everything in ’82 as Jeff said.  ’85, we didn’t dominate but we were able to turn the heat up on Bill a little bit and we were able to win the 1985 championship.  That year we made up 206 points after the Southern 500 to win that ’85 championship.

When Junior Johnson, when he turned up the wick, like Hammond said, when he said get it done, we all went to work and got it done, and that was the motivation that I had, one thing when I drove for Junior, I never wanted to disappoint him.  I always wanted to do the best I could.  In 1987 I went with Rick Hendrick in the tide ride and everybody said, finally a sponsor that will clean up his act, and by golly, they were right.  And on my 17th try driving car No. 17 and the purse was $1.7 million and I got 17 letters in my name and my 17 handicap is 17, so on and so on, and in my 17th try I won the Great American Race, the Daytona 500.

I started my own team, and not too sure that was a good idea, but kind of hard-headed, had to try it.  Rick Hendrick always told me if I would have stayed with him – like Cale said if he would have stayed with Junior, if I would have stayed with Rick Hendrick he said I would have won 100 races and ten championships.  Based on he’s doing and how I did, I’m inclined to agree with him.  I think he’s probably right.

It all comes down to this, folks:  I’ve had a marvelous career.  My faith is important to me.  One of my biggest accomplishments that I never get a chance to talk about is Motor Racing Outreach.  Our president is here tonight, Billy Malden.  I had a lot of things out of order, and my priorities were one of them.  I loved racing.  It’s all I cared about.  I didn’t care about anything else, and it bit me.  After a while it got me, and I finally realized that I had my priorities wrong.  It was God, family and racing, and when I got that straight, I became a much better man, and I actually ended up being NASCAR’s most popular driver.  I was blessed; I was given a second chance.

In closing I’ll say this:  It’s not about me.  It’s not about what I’ve done.  It’s not about wins, statistics or anything else.  Tonight it’s about family, thank the good Lord that they’re all here.  It’s about all my friends who came from miles away to be here, and it’s about all the fans that are back there that have supported me all through the years, and it’s about NASCAR and what they’ve been able to do with it sport, and I’m just glad I was able to be a part of it.

I’m probably running a little bit long but I’ve got to tell you this quick story.  Just one more story, I promise.  You see this ring right here?  In 1982, I won the championship, and Bill France — in ’81 I won the championship and they gave me a ring and it was a little rinky-dink ring.  I didn’t think it was very pretty and it wasn’t very big, and I thought, man, that’s really not very indicative of how hard you have to work to get this thing.  So in ’82 Bill France called me up and he said if you win the championship again this year, you can pick the ring.  So I picked this ring, and if any of the champions here have got their ring on tonight, it started in 1982.

I’ve worn it every day since I got it, but tonight I’m taking it off and I’m putting on the Hall of Fame ring because this is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.

            Thank you very much.  

Source: NASCAR, Press Release

Austin Dillon celebrates his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship with his Richard Childress Racing team at Homestead-Miami Speedway. - Photo Credit: Jerry Markland, Getty Images for NASCAR

THE MODERATOR: Let’s roll into our championship race team in the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. It’s the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, driver is Austin Dillon, our crew chief is Danny Stockman, Jr., and our owner is Richard Childress. This is Richard Childress’ second NASCAR Camping World Truck Series drivers’ championship. His first came in the inaugural season in 1995 with driver Mike Skinner. And crew chief Danny Stockman, this is your first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship.

Richard, you talked to me out in the hall. You’ve had a lot of championships, but how does this one rank.

RICHARD CHILDRESS: It’s got to be right up there at the top. It’s so special when you’re family. Our whole family is involved, and I remember the very first championship with Dale Earnhardt. I had the same feeling tonight watching Austin, my grandson. It’s just so special to have the family and know how hard all of them worked.

I was at Ohio, Toledo, when Ty won his championship a few weeks ago, and just it’s a dream come true to have both these young men win championships.

And Danny Stockman, Bass Pro, everybody did so much to help put it together, and Austin kept it together so good under the pressure. For a 21 year old guy man, to be able to hang in there and do what he did was very special.

THE MODERATOR: Speaking of which, our championship driver has joined us now. That’s Austin Dillon. He drives the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet. At 21 years, six months and 22 days, he becomes the youngest champion in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series history. Congratulations, Austin. Tell us what it’s like to win a championship in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

AUSTIN DILLON: How does it feel? Amazing, best feeling I’ve ever had in my entire life. I’m so happy for my grandfather. He’s got two champs this year. I’m worried about Ty coming back and beating me for the youngest champion ever. He’s pretty awesome. It’s going to be a wonderful week, a wonderful month. Can’t ask to go out of the Truck Series any better than this, coming out as a champion.

Danny Stockman has done a great job this year. We’re all a family over at RCR, and we fight like dogs, but we love each other the same. It’s cool that we’re out there, a championship. It was wild. The last restart was not the way I planned it. It made it interesting, but we still came out on top.

THE MODERATOR: Danny Stockman, talk about being the crew chief for this championship team.

DANNY STOCKMAN: Yeah, like Austin said, the last restart was quite gut wrenching. Just awesome to be a part of this deal with Richard and Mike and Austin and Tina and everybody that just let me have this opportunity to be a part of it. Austin Dillon being a great race car driver, up and coming race car driver, just really glad to be a part of it. Got a heck of a good race team, and just got to thank everybody back at the shop there. Really good.

Q. Austin, a little more detail on that last restart. Was it a tire issue? And I think Hornaday said when he went by you there that he saw oil or something like that. Was that communicated to you, as well?

AUSTIN DILLON: I didn’t see the oil, but I know right behind the right front fender we were knocked in. I don’t know what happened. I didn’t hit anybody on the track, but I think it happened on pit road. We got really tight once I got back there, but I think it was more the conservative side when I was three wide. We were three wide in the middle, and to force a spot right there is not worth it.

I wish we would have finished I think we had a shot to win the race. We really had a fast race car. When you get back there in that situation, your head tells you to be smart, but at the same time they’re telling you to go because you’re close there. I went as hard as I could, started entering the corner harder at the end and helped us out. But we got really tight when the fender got knocked in. I think it was close really with the fender, but the rain came at the right time, the Lord was looking after us, and it’s really cool to be where we are today.

Q. Austin, I want to say you didn’t really say anything on the radio as you were falling back there or even for the few laps after that. Did you not want to say anything? What was going through your head?

AUSTIN DILLON: There was no need to, just focus and get back on the wheel. When you get down like that, you can’t do anything but drive back to the front, and we’ve done that all year. I’ve struggled in certain spots and restarts. Actually my restarts have been really great to the end of the year. That one wasn’t a bad restart. I kind of Johnny went I didn’t anticipate as well as I needed to, and when Denny stuck me three wide, I probably could have made something out of it in the middle, could have got to the top quicker, but I didn’t know who was out there and no one said clear on the radio, so we obviously weren’t.

When you get three wide, and these trucks, the air pushes you around so much it’s hard to run three wide, and down the back stretch it was really hairy, so I just rolled out a little bit, got back in line and went to working on everybody in front of me and were able to pass quite a few of them.

Q. Can you just talk about what the last six, seven weeks have been like? You’re leading the points coming out of each of these last six or seven races. Has it been nerve wracking or has it been easier to handle than you thought?

AUSTIN DILLON: You know, watching these guys in the Cup Series talk to each other, it’s pretty wild. I listen to Tony Stewart and I listen to Carl Edwards and the different approaches they take to it. Offense is your best defense most of the time in racing, and I felt like today I probably played too much defense. It wasn’t enough offense, and my grandfather got onto me midway through the race and said, You can’t get comfortable here, you’ve got to keep racing. Went back and got on the wheel and drove up through a bunch of them and found ourselves in second.

We had a fast race car there at the end, and when we got three wide, I had to play conservative because it wasn’t worth it. It worked out for the better of everything, and leading up to this week, I’ve just been hunting and fishing, doing stuff I love to do, keep my mind off of it, hanging out with the people I always hang out with, talking to Danny, preparing ourselves the way we do for every race.

There’s no difference coming into the championship. You can’t approach things different. When you’re sitting outside the lead, you can take more chances, that’s for sure. Johnny could take more chances today than we could, Buescher the same way, they have nothing to lose. Stewart is right, he has nothing to lose for Sunday. It’s hard to play offense. You’ve got to play off, though. My best advice to Carl is to go out there and play offense, go out there he knows what he has to do. They have a different situation; they’re very close in points. There’s a benefit there.

I actually talked to Ricky Carmichael, he’s won lots of championships, and I was talking to him and he said the closest championship was probably the easiest because he knew what he had to do. 16th was what we were supposed to finish to win, and we knew that going in, and got us a top 10, so we did our job.

Q. That said, Austin, what was today like, because it wasn’t maybe a normal day because of the rain and everything. Was there a chance for nerves to get in? And with winning the championship, what’s your experience so far? Is it everything you thought it would be?

AUSTIN DILLON: Today with the rain, it did make it you had to think a little bit more, I guess. You could think about it longer. But I actually watched a Clint Eastwood movie during the middle of the day. That was pretty cool. It kept my mind off it. I laughed a few times. It was the one with the chimpanzee. “Any Which Way But Loose” is what I watched today. I watched it with my buddy Tim Dugger and my girlfriend and his girlfriend, we just hung out and watched the movie and waited on everything, and when it got down to it, started listening to my music, had our team meeting. That’s when we all get emotional is in our team meeting because we all know why we’re here, and it was really cool, we all had a big prayer session before, and I told them I was nervous going in, as nervous as they are, but we’ve got to go do our job, and we did it.

Austin Dillon soaks in the glory after becoming the youngest NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion following Friday night's race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Photo Credit: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images for NASCAR)

AUSTIN DILLON: The championship, yeah, it’s amazing. You get to spray champagne everywhere. You’re on top of the world. It’s the best feeling in the world. You stink real bad. Darrell Waltrip told me the best feeling in the world is going home stinking and having a trophy in your lap, and we were able to do that. I think now I’m more nervous about making a speech Monday, but we’ll figure that out. I’ve got some time.

Q. Going back to your celebration, are you maybe the first NASCAR champion to try planking on concrete?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, the planking is cool. It’s something new. I feel like the good thing about NASCAR, we’ve got some really good drivers coming up. I am friends with a bunch of them that are going to represent the sport well. I think NASCAR has a lot to look forward to going forward. I feel that the newer fans coming in are young, and it’s really cool for sponsors, and I love the social media network, and I’ll be out there having fun any way I can. Yeah, I think that was one of the coolest planks you can do, I guess, winning a championship and then planking.

Q. Maybe your riskiest move of the night, too?

AUSTIN DILLON: That was probably my riskiest move, yeah. But it was wet enough where I could have got a little slide, and I have Sparco suit, so it’s the best suit in the world.

Q. You didn’t think about “Tebowing,” did you?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, I kind of did. I pointed up when I was over the car. I didn’t get down on one knee, but that would have been cool to Tebow. He got it done last night, too; it was pretty impressive.

Q. What were you thinking when the rains came? Did you figure you had it at that particular time?

AUSTIN DILLON: Never thought about it. Andy Houston, my spotter, said, That’s probably going to be it, man, and I stayed in the truck and waited for the signal. It kind of drizzled, it was drizzling, and I knew they had lost the track because it was so slippery driving around under caution, and my grandfather said, Do not spin out under caution; slow down. I said, Wow, if I do this, that would be really a good way to lose the championship, rolling around under rain, so I backed her off and pulled in, and Hermie Sadler told me I won the championship, so I started celebrating and planked.

Actually, you know what, I did play some Xbox this week and tweeted my Xbox Live name and had like 50 people play Xbox Live Call of Duty with me. That was pretty fun, too. That was my RCR clan. It was good. I ended up on top like three times, but it was cool because everybody was going to tune into the championship, and they’re like mention the RCR clan in victory lane. I didn’t do it, but I got it in the media center, so I’m going to go back and play with them and talk to them about the championship. It’s cool, I interacted with fans that way.

Q. For Richard, what do you think allowed him to have the poise and everything to hold onto this lead in the points the last seven weeks, and is there anything that he’s done that you obviously have watched him race since he was little, but is there anything he’s done in the last two months that either particularly impressed you or surprised you?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: I think watching the race at Texas was the key to winning this championship. He was conservative when he had to be and he raced hard when he had to be. I think that was a big win we finished second, but it was a great run, and I think going into tonight, he I haven’t talked to him a whole lot this week because I didn’t want to add any extra pressure. He handles pressure better than a lot of people his age, he and his brother does, Ty. I couldn’t believe with the way he handled himself in the ARCA championship. They must get it from their mom because me and their dad gets a little wound up sometimes.

One other thing: Tonight with Johnny winning, that was 51 wins for ECR, and I told them at our kickoff banquet last year that they won 50 last year, so I told them you’ve got to beat it this year, so tonight made it 51. Great job for ECR.

Q. With the strength and the momentum you have after winning this championship, you’re taking the entire team with you to the Nationwide Series. What are you expecting for next season?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, we’ve built a great team going into 2012. We’ve been working a little bit leading up to this race, and Stockman has been really harping on worried about this race, not worried about next year. But we’re so excited I can’t wait. It’s going to be amazing, feel like we can do it again. Two in a row would be awesome, just keep moving up and doing our job and we’ll be there at the end.

I was able to run some really good races with the Nationwide Series this year, and I feel like we stack up well, and we’ll have similar equipment. RCR and Pop Pop always make sure we have the best, and we’ll go out there and do our job in that No. 3.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations to the No. 3 truck, Austin, Danny and Richard.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports

About Chevrolet

Founded in Detroit in 1911, Chevrolet celebrates its centennial as a global automotive brand with annual sales of about 4.25 million vehicles in more than 120 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. The Chevrolet portfolio includes iconic performance cars such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long-lasting pickups and SUVs such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers such as Spark, Cruze, Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including Cruze Eco and Volt. Cruze Eco offers 42 mpg highway while Volt offers 35 miles of electric, gasoline-free driving and an additional 344 miles of extended range. Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com .

- Chevrolet Press Release

Photo on the hood taken after Darrell’s first Sprint Cup victory at Nashville Speedway in 1975.

CORNELIUS, N.C. -

Michael’s Talladega paint scheme includes a large photo on the hood taken after Darrell’s first Sprint Cup victory at Nashville Speedway in 1975. The deck lid carries a picture of “DW” during the 1989 Daytona 500 victory lane celebration as the three-time series champion dances the “Ickey Shuffle.” Waltrip honored Darrell’s first victory with an orange and white scheme at the inaugural Kentucky Speedway race in June. Rain cancelled qualifying depriving Waltrip the chance to start the race despite posting a fast qualifying speed before NASCAR halted the session and set the field by points.

MICHAEL WALTRIP: “This is really a huge honor and something that I certainly don’t take lightly so I certainly want to thank Aaron’s. To be able to go to Talladega in a replica of a car that Darrell raced there for the first time and started his march toward the Hall of Fame, it is a special feeling. We both won at Talladega and based on how I’ve run in those races – even though I’m pretty much retired – I feel like I can win again. I’m going there with a car that has so much meaning to our family and being able to leave the pit area feeling like I can win that’s pretty cool. Some of my earliest memories of Darrell and his NASCAR career were at Talladega. I’ve been going to Talladega since the mid ‘70s. I wasn’t around for that first one, I was probably nine. Darrell was not only my childhood hero and brother but someone who helped shape me into what I am today.”

The deck lid carries a picture of “DW” during the 1989 Daytona 500 victory lane celebration as the three-time series champion dances the “Ickey Shuffle.”

NOTES

· Michael’s paint scheme features a photo on the hood taken during the May 10, 1975 victory lane celebration at Nashville Speedway. It includes 28-year-old Darrell Waltrip and wife Stevie atop the car next to two-time champion crew chief “Suitcase” Jake Elder. Wearing the Goodyear hat is legendary racer Robert Gee (grandfather to Dale Earnhardt Jr.) Next to the car are the Waltrip’s grandparents Lee and Odie Phillips. At the bottom left is 12-year-old Michael Waltrip.

· Waltrip won an emotional victory in the Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona on Feb. 18. The win came 10 years to the day of his first Sprint Cup Series victory and the tragic death of friend and then car owner Dale Earnhardt.

· Waltrip’s book “In the Blink of an Eye” spent 11 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list soaring as high as fourth. Sony Pictures plans to bring the story to the big screen soon.

· Sunday’s race is Waltrip’s 1,054th combined start in the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series. Only Waltrip, Richard Petty and Mark Martin own more than 1,000 combined starts. Only Waltrip and Martin have won in those series in four different decades.

- Michael Waltrip Racing, Press Release

Spraker Racing Enterprises Thumbnail

Roderick, a native of Lawrenceville, Georgia will once again be under the guidance of veteran car owner and crew chief Jeff Spraker. The duo recently competed in a span of three ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards where the combination proved to be potent during the months of July and August.

With the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season resuming their 2011 schedule on Labor Day, Spraker and his young protégé look to make an impact that will hopefully will leave a lasting impression.

“I’m awfully excited about having Casey race for Spraker Racing Enterprises on Monday at Greenville-Pickens,” said Spraker, a native of New York. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with him for a couple months now and believe me when I say this; he is one talented racecar driver. Even though he doesn’t have any experience at Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway, I know he’ll climb behind the wheel of our No. 37 Spraker Racing Enterprises / Randy Hill Racing Chevrolet Impala and surprise a lot of people.”

For the 18-year old Roderick, his Labor Day plans were supposed to be business as normal, working in the Spraker Racing Enterprises race shop, but when his mentor offered him the opportunity to climb behind the wheel of his racecar, it was an offer he could not refuse.

Casey Roderick

I’m used to going to a lot of new tracks with very little to no track time at all. I’ll do a lot of talking with Jeff and do some studying of the place on my own when I get there. We’ll do an elevation after practice with the plan to qualify well and race smart and see where we can find ourselves in the final rundown.”

Knowing that a stout field is on deck for the 10th race of the season, the team is adequately prepared for whatever situations may stand in their way.

“The competition is so competitive in the K&N Series right now,” offered Spraker. “I think that will be good for Casey though. He is a quick learner and is eager to please. He’ll definitely learn a lot out there. With all that being said though our main goal for the race is to finish somewhere in the top-10 and see the checkered flag.”

In April, Brandon McReynolds, son of NASCAR analyst Larry McReynolds wheeled Spraker’s No. 37 ride to a solid eighth place effort at the historic short track.

Also, Spraker Racing Enterprises will continue to field its second full-time entry on Monday with Martinsville (Va.) Speedway president Clay Campbell at the helm of the No. 08 Mountain Dew Chevrolet Impala.

The Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 140 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East at Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway is set for this Monday, September 5 with a set liftoff at 5:00 p.m. The event will be tape-delayed on SPEED airing September 15 at 6:00 p.m.

Mike Bliss, Dexter Bean, Drew Brannon, Clay Campbell, Kerry Earnhardt, Joey Gase, Ron Hornaday Jr., P.J. Jones, Alex Kennedy, Brandon McReynolds, Steve Park, David Ragan, Scott Riggs, David Reutimann, Casey Roderick, Michelle Theriault, Darrell Waltrip and Smokey Yunick are just some of the drivers that Spraker, who also has starts for himself in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series (NKNPS), NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) and NASCAR Nationwide Series has been affiliated with in one capacity or another through SRE.

For more information on Spraker Racing Enterprises (SRE) and its available programs, please visit sprakerracing.com.

Visit Randy Hill Racing online at RandyHillRacing.com.

- Spraker Racing Enterprises Press Release

Maryeve Dufault

Declared “One to Watch,” by SPEED commentator Darrell Waltrip, Dufault has extensive road racing experience and competed in the Canadian Tire Series at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2010. This year she is racing in the ARCA Racing Series Presented by Menards and looks forward to making history with her Nationwide debut next month, “This is just an awesome opportunity for me and I can’t thank the Quebec Dodge Dealers enough for making it happen,” said Dufault. “I feel like I have learned a lot this season in the ARCA car and I’m hoping that knowledge will translate to my Quebec Dodge Dealers Nationwide car at Montreal.”

With support from the Quebec Dodge Dealers, Dufault will drive a Dodge Challenger for fellow Canadian, Randy MacDonald, “After all these years living State side, it’s still important to me to be involved in helping my fellow countrymen, so I am super excited to have Maryeve join MacDonald Motorsports. I’ve been able to watch Maryeve compete in the ARCA races this year and it is clear to me, she wants to win.” MacDonald continued, “We intend to give her a fast car and a great finish at our only race in Canada. This is an important race for both of us. This is big league racing, the Nationwide Series is ultra competitive, hopefully we can open the opportunity for her to move into NASCAR with more races to come.”

A rookie in the ARCA Racing Series, Dufault and her first-year team (Tony Marks Racing) are off to a strong start. Dufault made her debut at Daytona, where she qualified in her first attempt, for her first oval race in a stock car. Dufault has already earned her first top-ten finish (Chicagoland), and in Talladega, she was third quick in practice and followed it up with a 12th place finish after racing from the back of the field (39th) due to a part malfunction. Making her mark in her rookie season, Dufault has already earned four top-15 finishes in the highly competitive 40 car ARCA field.

Practice and qualifying for the Napa Auto Parts 200 presented by Dodge at Montreal gets underway on Friday, August 19 in preparation for the 200 mile race on Saturday. The race will be shown on ESPN at 2:30 p.m. ET and at 2:00 p.m. on TSN in Canada.

For more information on Maryeve Dufault, please log onto Maryeveracing.com.

- Sierra Specialized Inc. Press Release

No. 18 Dollar General Toyota Tundra

RACE: UNOH 225

TRACK: Kentucky Speedway

PRIMARY SPONSOR: Dollar General

ASSOCIATE SPONSORS: Toyota, Flexco, M&M’s

PRIMARY CHASSIS: KBM-4

BACKUP CHASSIS: X-128

MOTORS: Triad Racing Technologies

BROADCAST: Thursday, July 7 – 8:00 p.m. ET SPEED/MRN/Sirius XM NASCAR 90

KYLE BUSCH HOPING TO INTRODUCE KENTUCKY FANS TO HIS VERSION OF THE TRIFECTA

With legendary Churchill Downs located just over an hour away, many fans attending NASCAR races at Kentucky Speedway are probably familiar with the term trifecta. Kyle Busch is hoping to introduce those fans to his version of the trifecta — the version which doesn’t include any second or third-place finishes. The 26-year old, who last August at Bristol Motor Speedway became the first driver to win races in NASCAR’s top three divisions in the same weekend, will begin his try at the Kentucky Speedway trifecta driving the No. 18 Dollar General Toyota in Thursday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series UNOH 225. The Las Vegas native, who figures to be one of the favorites in all three races this weekend, has visited victory lane at the 1.5-mile paved oval twice in his career, winning the ARCA Racing Series Channel 5 205 in 2004 and the NASCAR Nationwide Series Meijer 250 in 2005.

6-YEAR-OLD BRADLEY BUMPAS “RIDING SHOTGUN WITH KYLE BUSCH MOTORSPORTS”

6-year-old Bradley Bumpas from Elizabethtown, Ky. was recently selected as the winner of the “Riding Shotgun with Kyle Busch Motorsports” essay contest for Kentucky Speedway. Bumpas’ essay was chosen among submissions from children age 5-12 that live in areas surrounding Kentucky Speedway. The youngster’s name and picture will adorn the area above the passenger side window of Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Dollar General Toyota for Thursday’s UNOH 225.

KYLE BUSCH @ KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY

* Led a race-high 73 laps and finished fourth in the 2010 NCWTS Built Ford Tough 225 (9/3/10)

* Started second, led 43 laps and finished sixth in the 2008 NCWTS Built Ford Tough 225 (7/19/08)

* Ranks first among NCWTS drivers over the last six races at Kentucky Speedway with a Driver Rating of 119.7 and 38.7% laps led

* Ranks first among drivers entered in the UNOH 225 in career laps led (116) and fastest laps (65)

* In his first NASCAR Nationwide Series start at Kentucky Speedway, led the final three laps of the 2004 Meijer 300 en route to victory (6/19/04)

* Won the 2003 Channel 5 205 ARCA Racing Series race and led 91 of the 137 laps

KYLE BUSCH 2011 NCWTS

* Ranks first in the NCWTS in driver rating (128.3), average finish (2.4), laps led (446), miles led (465.78), percent of laps led (38.6), fastest laps run (211), average running position (5.1), fastest early in run (3.2), fastest late in run (3.4), fastest on restarts (3.8), green flag speed (2.5) and speed in traffic (3.5)

* Has won four races in seven starts and registered six top-five finishes

* Had a three-race winning streak snapped when he finished sixth in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas (Charlotte Motor Speedway, Dover International Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway)

* Has recorded top-10 finishes in each of the last 19 NCWTS races he has entered, collecting 11 wins, four runner-up finishes and an average finish of 2.1 over that span

KYLE BUSCH MOTORSPORTS NO. 18 TOYOTA TUNDRA

* Leads the 2011 NCWTS Owner Point Standings by 47 points over KHI’s No. 2

* Aiming to become the first team to win back-to-back owners’ titles since 2003 (No. 16 Steve Coulter 2002 and 2003)

* Ranks first in the NCWTS in wins (5), top 5s (8), laps led (541) and fastest laps run (268)

* Has registered 19 consecutive top-10 finishes including 11 wins and three runner-up finishes

* Only team in NCWTS to have completed all 1,134 laps this season

* In 2010 became the first team since the NCWTS originated in 1995 to win the owners’ championship in its inaugural season

KYLE BUSCH NCWTS CAREER

* Has won 30.4% of the NCWTS races he has entered and finished first or second in 48.9%

* Tied with Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip for third in All-Time Combined National Series with 97

* Tied with Mike Skinner and Jack Sprague for second in NCWTS history with 28 wins

* Tied for seventh in NCWTS history in poles (11), 11th in top 5s (54) and 15th in top 10s (72)

* One of 10 drivers in NASCAR history to lead over 20,000 laps among the top-three series

* Reached 25th win in NCWTS faster than any driver in the history of NASCAR’s top three divisions, attaining the milestone in just his 87th career series start

* Youngest driver (20 years, 18 days) in NCWTS history to win a race (Quaker Steak & Lube 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on 5/20/05)

* Has at least one NCWTS victory in each of the last seven seasons and multiple victories in each of the last five

* 119.6 career driver rating entering the 2011 season is the highest accumulated by a NCWTS driver since the stat was introduced in 2005

* Average career finish of 7.1 ranks first among active drivers with 10 or more career starts

Kyle Busch

“Any time that NASCAR has a tripleheader at the same truck, you know that I have my eyes on winning all three races. With the Sprint Cup Series racing at Kentucky for the first time, it gives me another shot at a trifecta. I’ve had some success at Kentucky in the past — I’ve won in both the ARCA and Nationwide Series. Last year the Dollar General Tundra was the dominant truck for most of the night until the race was decided by fuel strategy. I think we’ll have a good shot at getting the weekend started with a win in the truck and been one of the contenders in both the Nationwide race on Friday and the Cup race Saturday. It should be a great atmosphere, they have had great crowds for the truck and Nationwide Series races in the past and the Cup race is already a sellout. Hopefully, we can make it a memorable weekend!”

KYLE BUSCH ON RACING AT KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY

“I couldn’t expect anything but some good, hard racing. Kentucky is a fast race track. There’s a lot of sweeping corners there so you’ve really got to keep your momentum going and it’s a big momentum-type race track. There’s a lot of throttle on time there. You carry a lot of good speed, but yet the place is really wide so you’ve got room for maneuverability. You can run the bottom. It seemed like you can run the middle. I don’t know how great the top will be, but we’ll have to see once we get there and what kind of tire we’re on.”

ERIC PHILLIPS ON WHAT HAS BEEN GOING ON AT KBM SINCE LAST RACE

“Despite not racing in three weeks, it’s been pretty busy at KBM. We were able to get to the wind tunnel a couple times and worked on a few things to try and make our trucks better. We also went to The Milwaukee Mile for a two-day test with Josh Richards. Josh got to make some laps in a truck and I think it went very well. It should definitely help prepare him for his debut in the No. 15 Tundra at Kentucky and we’re looking forward to his debut in our No. 18 Tundra at Nashville.

ERIC PHILLIPS ON PRIMARY TRUCK SELECTION

“Our primary truck for this weekend will be KBM-4. It’s raced nine times and has won six races including Darlington and Nashville this year. Brian Ickler finished fourth with it at Texas. The truck came home from Texas with a little cosmetic damage, so we fixed it up and took it in the wind tunnel last week.”

- Kyle Busch Motorsports Press Release

The panel of voters pose for a portrait during the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Day held at the Charlotte Convention Center on June 14 in Charlotte, N.C. - Photo Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Members of the 55-member NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel met today in a closed session in Charlotte, N.C., to vote on the induction class of 2012. The announcement was made by NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France in the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s “Great Hall.”

The class was determined by votes cast by the Voting Panel, which included a nationwide fan vote conducted through NASCAR.COM. The accounting firm of Ernst & Young presided over the tabulation of the votes.

As was the case for the first two classes of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the results of this year’s voting were competitive. Yarborough led with 85 percent of the vote, followed by Waltrip (82%), Inman (78%), Evans (50%) and Wood (44%).

Also receiving votes were Jerry Cook, Cotton Owens, Raymond Parks and Herb Thomas.

The fans’ five picks, in alphabetical order, were Richard Childress, Benny Parsons, Fireball Roberts, Waltrip and Yarborough.

The five inductees came from a group of 25 nominees for induction into the 2012 NASCAR Hall of Fame class that included:

Buck Baker, Red Byron, Richard Childress, Jerry Cook, H. Clay Earles, Richie Evans, Tim Flock, Rick Hendrick, Jack Ingram, Bobby Isaac, Dale Inman, Fred Lorenzen, Cotton Owens, Raymond Parks, Benny Parsons, Les Richter, Fireball Roberts, T. Wayne Robertson, Herb Thomas, Curtis Turner, Darrell Waltrip, Joe Weatherly, Glen Wood, Leonard Wood and Cale Yarborough.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame opened on May 11, 2010 in Uptown Charlotte, N.C. The 150,000 square foot entertainment complex honors the history and heritage of NASCAR and the many who have contributed to the success of the sport. In its first year of operation, the NASCAR Hall of Fame entertained more than 270,000 customers, making it the second most-visited sports hall of fame in North America.

NASCAR Hall of Fame

Cale Yarborough

William Caleb Yarborough was the first driver to win three consecutive NASCAR premier series championships, from 1976-78. During his three-year dominance, Yarborough won 28 races – nine in 1976, nine in ’77 and 10 in ’78. His final championship points margin in those three years was never fewer than 195 points and was as much as 474 in 1978. Yarborough totaled 83 victories in his 31-year career, which ranks sixth all-time. His 69 poles rank fourth all-time. He also won the Daytona 500 four times (1968, ’77, ’83-84), a mark that ranks second only to Richard Petty’s seven. He was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.

Darrell Waltrip

A three-time NASCAR premier series champion (1981-82, ’85), Waltrip won all three with legendary driver/owner Junior Johnson. Waltrip is tied with Bobby Allison and Jeff Gordon for third all-time in series victories with 84. His 59 poles rank fifth all-time in NASCAR premier series history. He competed from 1972-2000, which included a 1989 Daytona 500 victory in a Rick Hendrick-owned Chevrolet. He currently is a commentator on FOX’s NASCAR broadcasts. He was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.

Dale Inman

Dale Inman, NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty’s crew chief at Petty Enterprises for nearly three decades, set records for most wins (193) and championships (eight) by a crew chief. Inman won seven of those championships with Petty (1964, ’67, ’71, ’72, ’74, ’75 and ’79), and a final one in 1984 with Terry Labonte.

Richie Evans

The recognized “king” of Modified racing, Evans captured nine NASCAR Modified titles in a 13-year span, including eight in a row from 1978-85. In the first year of the current NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour format in 1985, Evans won 12 races, including a sweep of all four events at Thompson, Conn. Evans ranked No. 1 in the 2003 voting of the NASCAR All-Time Modified Top 10 Drivers, and he was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.

Glen Wood

Glen Wood laid the foundation for the famed Wood Brothers racing team as a driver in NASCAR’s premier series. Competing on a semi-regular basis, mostly at tracks close to his southern Virginia home, Wood won four times – all at Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. Wood, of course, is best known for his collaboration with brothers Leonard and Delano in Wood Brothers Racing. The Stuart, Va.-based team, which dates to 1950 and remains active, has amassed 98 victories.

- NASCAR, Press Release

Spraker Racing Enterprises Thumbnail

The inaugural event at Bowman Gray (N.C.) Stadium was bound to produce some excitement and the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East delivered that. The 21-year old Shaw in his No. 37 Precision JLM Chevrolet Impala methodically worked his way from his 18th starting position and used patience during a race that featured yellow flag fever to solider on to an impressive fifth place finish.

“D.J. did an incredible job,” said team owner Jeff Spraker. “The race was historic because of its setting but we knew that our biggest challenge would be avoiding the carnage. Of course, the event supplied its typical beating and banging but D.J. stayed patient and hung on for his second career top-five effort.”

Ironically, Shaw also started 18th and finished fifth in his first career NKNPSE at Greenville-Pickens (S.C.) Speedway last year.

SRE’s second entry driven by Martinsville Speedway president Clay Campbell in the No. 08 Mountain Dew Chevrolet Impala also showed strength despite his outcome. After starting 26th, Campbell cautiously moved forward through the field but encountered overheating issues just before the 100-lap mark resulting in a 25th place finish.

“Clay should be proud of his effort,” continued Spraker. “The more laps he embraced, the better he became. He did a good job moving the field, just got engulfed in the carnage of short track racing. We’ll have him fixed up and ready to go this weekend at Gresham.”

Trekking to Gresham (Ga.) Motorsports Park this weekend, Spraker, a former driver himself is enthused about the potential outcome for both of his drivers.

“Gresham is such a nice facility that offers some great racing,” he said. “We recently took Clay there to test to get him accustomed to the track, so I think he’ll be just fine. D.J. is encouraged by his performance at Bowman Gray and is hungry for even strong results. I think both Spraker Racing entries have a great chance at being contenders on Saturday night!”

The Slack Auto Parts 150 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East at Gresham (Ga.) Motorsports Park is set for this Saturday, June 11 with a set liftoff at 8:30 p.m. The event will be tape-delayed on SPEED airing June 16 at 6:00 p.m.

Mike Bliss, Dexter Bean, Drew Brannon, Clay Campbell, Kerry Earnhardt, Joey Gase, Ron Hornaday Jr., P.J. Jones, Alex Kennedy, Brandon McReynolds, Steve Park, David Ragan, Scott Riggs, David Reutimann, Michelle Theriault, Darrell Waltrip and Smokey Yunick are just some of the drivers that Spraker, who also has starts for himself in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series (NKNPS), NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) and NASCAR Nationwide Series has been affiliated with in one capacity or another through SRE.

For more information on Spraker Racing Enterprises (SRE) and its available programs, please visit sprakerracing.com.

- Spraker Racing Enterprises Press Release

Clay Campbell

Campbell will drive the No. 08 Mountain Dew Chevrolet Impala as he attempts his third career NKNPSE start on Saturday, June 4. The Pepsi-brand soft drink will carry its signage for the remainder of the year with Spraker Racing Enterprises owner Jeff Spraker calling the shots as crew chief.

“We are very humbled but yet excited about this announcement,” said Spraker Racing’s Jeff Spraker. “Clay undoubtedly has a passion for racing and this opportunity for us to pair with him and Mountain Dew is huge. We’re eager to advance Clay’s program to a full-time effort and we’re hoping to find some great success on and off the track with this new program.”

The 51-year old Campbell is eagerly excited about the opportunity to pair with Spraker and his team.

“It’s truly been a dream come true to drive for Spraker Racing Enterprises this year,” said Campbell. “I feel Jeff and I have a lot in common in that we both grew up in this sport. We both have a passion and love for racing which really aligns our thought process perfectly. When I first started looking to get into the K&N Series, everyone told me to go talk to Jeff Spraker. I think that says a lot. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him and Sue (Spraker, wife). I can say this, if he tells you something, you can take it to the bank.”

When Campbell was asked how a now-full time driving role may affect his duties at the legendary Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, he offered this explanation.

“The K&N Pro Series East schedule fits nicely into my work schedule at Martinsville Speedway. Most of the races are in the summer months and our big races at Martinsville are early in the year and late in the year. I’ve been driving late model stock cars in the summer months for a long time so now I’m just taking it another step up and traveling a little more. It doesn’t interfere at all with my day job though. In fact, I hope it works to my advantage by getting Martinsville Speedway some more attention.”

Spraker agreed with Campbell’s sentiments.

“The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East schedule works well for a lot of different reasons,” Spraker said. “Not only is it a great developmental series that races on some of NASCAR’s most ideal race tracks but it’s schedule offers a lot of flexibility to allow someone like Clay to focus on some of the bigger items off on the race track. We’re going to have everything taken care from a competition side, so all he has to do when he shows up at the track is drive.”

Mountain Dew, a long-time fixture in the NASCAR community will continue its relationship with Campbell from a business standpoint at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway but now leans on a new enterprise to back his racing endeavors.

“We couldn’t be more pleased than to have Mountain Dew come on board as our sponsor. For so long that Mountain Dew logo was so iconic in this sport and to have them on our car is just phenomenal! The fine folks at Pepsi have been associated with me and Martinsville Speedway for a long time and I’m just thrilled they will now have their colors on my race car,” sounded Campbell.

With no prediction and guarantee on results on the race track both driver and team are on the same page knowing that giving 150 percent will boast a package that cannot be broken.

“The NASCAR K&N Series is very competitive right now, probably one of the most competitive divisions in all of NASCAR,” added Spraker. “This team has shown that it can run up front and we believe in Clay’s ability to drive a race car. With that being said we know that if we stick to our game plan and give all we can that results will come.”

The Army Strong 150 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East at Bowman Gray (N.C.) Stadium is set for this Saturday, June 4 with a set liftoff at 8:00 p.m. The event will be tape-delayed on SPEED airing June 9 at 6:00 p.m.

Mike Bliss, Dexter Bean, Drew Brannon, Kerry Earnhardt, Joey Gase, Ron Hornaday Jr., P.J. Jones, Alex Kennedy, Brandon McReynolds, Steve Park, David Ragan, Scott Riggs, David Reutimann, Michelle Theriault, Darrell Waltrip and Smokey Yunick are just some of the drivers that Spraker, who also has starts for himself in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series (NKNPS), NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) and NASCAR Nationwide Series has been affiliated with in one capacity or another through SRE.

For more information on Spraker Racing Enterprises (SRE) and its available programs, please visit sprakerracing.com.

- Spraker Racing Enterprises Press Release

JR Motorsports

TRACK – Charlotte Motor Speedway (1.5-mile quad-oval)

DATE – Saturday, May 28, 2011

TV / RADIO – ABC (coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. EST) / PRN (broadcast begins at 2 p.m. EST)

Aric Almirola

No. 88 Hellmann’s Chevrolet

“Charlotte is not a typical race week for us. Usually we’re running around getting things together before we catch a plane to the racetrack, but not this week. It’s fun to be close to home, and we always have a lot of sponsor appearances and autograph sessions scheduled around Charlotte. We have a good time with it all. It seems to be a race that everyone wants to attend – family, friends and sponsors. If I was a race fan there’s no way I’d miss out on coming to Charlotte during race weeks. This is the place to be. Charlotte Motor Speedway and all the race teams do a great job interacting with our fan base, and there is so much for fans to do here. The whole city almost gets a homecoming feel to it.”

Josh Wise

No. 7 VooDoo Ride Chevrolet

“I’ve driven some cool looking cars in my day, but this VooDoo Ride Chevrolet ranks right up there on the list. The big green skull on the hood looks awesome. I’m sure it will look great on the racetrack, too. We’ve got a lot of things lined up for this week surrounding race weeks. I’ll be running go karts at NASCAR Speed Park on Wednesday and we’ve got a couple autograph sessions to attend. Plus, fan day is Friday at the JRM shop and that’s a blast. Anyone who’s in town should come check it out. It will be a lot of fun for sure.”

JR MOTORSPORTS NOTEBOOK –

VOODOO RIDE CHEVROLET DEBUTS – Wise’s No. 7 Chevrolet will feature the VooDoo Ride paint scheme this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The black scheme showcases VooDoo Ride’s chilling skull logo on its hood and quarter panels. VooDoo Ride is a car care and lifestyle company co-founded by Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2007. It produces a vast array of car care products, including all surface speed detailer (named Mojo), high-gloss tire finish (Hypd), synthetic liquid polish (Silq), wheel and tire cleaner (Shoq), car wash soap (Juju), scratch remover (Hexx) and micro fiber cloths (Jakd). Visit its website at www.voodooride.com.

2011 RACE WEEK ACTIVITIES AT JRM – Beginning on Thurs., May 26, and continuing through Mon., May 30, fans are invited to JR Motorsports in Mooresville, N.C. for festivities surrounding Charlotte race week. Highlighting the action is an autograph session on Fri., May 27 from Noon to 1 p.m. ET with Aric Almirola, Josh Wise, and Kelley Earnhardt. Karsyn Elledge, L.W. Miller, and late model driver, Josh Berry will also be signing for fans. A total of 150 tickets will be distributed for the session. Click here for more information.

MEET ALMIROLA AND WISE – There will be plenty of opportunities for fans to meet JR Motorsports drivers Josh Wise and Aric Almirola this week. Fans can join Josh Wise, along with several other NNS drivers, at the NASCAR Speedpark at Concord Mills Mall in Concord, N.C. on Wed. May 25th for the “NASCAR Fan’s Choice Challenge” go kartevent from 6 – 8 p.m. ET. Wise also will be signing autographs at Nationwide Autograph Evening at Food Lion’s Speed Street in downtown Charlotte (corner of Third and Tryon Streets) on Thurs., May 26, from 8 – 9:30 p.m. ET. Aric Almirola will appear at the Unilever Display at Speed Street (on Tryon St. between 3rd and 4th Streets) on Fri., May 27 from 2 – 3 p.m. ET. Both drivers will attend an autograph signing at the JR Nation merchandise hauler in the fan concourse area at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 28, from 11:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

KELLEY EARNHARDT CAMEO IN NEW BRAD PAISLEY VIDEO – JR Motorsports general manager Kelley Earnhardt joined a host of other NASCAR personalities in appearing in CMA Entertainer of the Year Brad Paisley’s latest music video entitled “Old Alabama.” The video premiered last weekend at the NASCAR Sprint Cup All Star Race. In the video Earnhardt drives a classic Corvette while lip-syncing to Paisley’s lyrics, and even tries her skills at a burnout. “Old Alabama”, which is the second single on Paisley’s new album “This Is Country Music”, hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart this week. Aside from being named CMA Entertainer of the Year in 2011, Paisley is a three-time Grammy Award winner. Other NASCAR personalities appearing in “Old Alabama” include Jeff Gordon, Erin Crocker, Darrell Waltrip and Rick Hendrick. Watch the music video for “Old Alabama” here at VEVO.com.

WATCH THE NEW “JRM 360” VIDEO SERIES – In a continued effort to be at the forefront of web-based content through its website www.jrmracing.com, the team has added a new video series entitled “JRM 360”. It’s a light-hearted look at the inner workings and extraordinary personalities at JRM’s shop in Mooresville, N.C. A daily briefing column that gives fans the scoop on day-to-day activities at the shop is also part of the new line-up this season.

WISE IN 2011 – Wise’s 2011 statistics in seven races with the No. 7 team include two top-10s and four top-15 finishes. He led a total of 10 laps in the No. 7 Chevrolet (Nashville, Dover). Wise also holds three previous Nationwide Series start at Charlotte with a best finish of 18th. The Riverside, Calif. is ranked 10th in the driver championship standings (-129).

ALMIROLA AT CHARLOTTE – Almirola owns one top-five and two top-10s in five Nationwide Series starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He finished eighth in the No. 88 Hellmann’s Chevrolet with JRM last fall. He also has two top-10 finishes in two starts in the Camping World Truck Series.

NO. 7 SEASON STATS – The No. 7 team holds one top-five, four top-10 and seven top-15 finishes in 2011. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick and Josh Wise have shared driving duties in the No. 7 Chevrolet throughout the year, each scoring at least a top-10 finish. The team occupies 14th position in owner points.

NO. 88 SEASON STATS – The No. 88 squad owns five top-10 and nine top-15 finishes this season. Almirola is currently ranked sixth (-52) in championship points. The No. 88 team is 12th in owner points.

VISIT THE RELAUNCHED ALMIROLA WEBSITE – Are you a fan of Aric Almirola? Visit his newly relaunched website at www.aricalmirola.com and get inside access to all the cool and interesting facts about the Tampa, Fla. native. The site includes a complete biography, photo gallery, and updated race reports.

NEW JRM RACING WEBSITE – JRMracing.com is the digital home of the JR Motorsports NASCAR Nationwide Series race teams. Visit it for more information about the company, its history, and drivers, including Aric Almirola, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick and Josh Wise. Watch exclusive video content, including the “JRM 360” series and pre-race reports with drivers and crew. Plus, get the latest scoop on shop activities with the daily briefing column.

- JR Motorsports Press Release

Kyle Busch climbs out of the No.18 NOS Charged Citrus Toyota in victory lane after winning the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway - Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

Busch paid remembrance to Baker, a 10-year-old Hickory, N.C., who was found slain last year, by winning the N.C. Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday night. After Busch collected the checkered flag, he immediately walked to Zahra’s picture on the side of his truck and was “kissed by an angel.”

“I had an angel riding with me in that last run of the race with Zahra Baker,” said Busch. “We didn’t have the truck to beat tonight – Clint Bowyer did. Somehow I found some more out of it and I’m going to say that I had some help tonight. It’s weird how things work. When you believe in it, you trust in it, and you have faith in it – it will repay you. I can’t say enough about NOS Energy Drink and this Kyle Busch Motorsports team. Toyota, M&M’s, Flexco, and Dollar General. It was a great night for all of us. To come out here with a win and with a special name on the side of the truck – it means a lot to Kyle Busch Motorsports, Speedway Children’s Charities and the North Carolina community. Especially the people from Hickory – who knew and loved Zahra. It means the world to me to be able to pay remembrance to her with a win tonight.”

Friday night’s win was monumental for the 26-year-old driver. Busch, who drove into victory lane for the 97th time in NASCAR’s top three series, moved into a tie with NASCAR legends Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip for third on the all-time combined national touring series wins list. The victory was the Las Vegas native’s 28th career NCWTS Series win, moving him into a tie for second all-time with series legends Mike Skinner and Jack Sprague.

Busch, who an hour before the start of the truck race captured the pole for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, started the N.C. Education Lottery 200 from the fifth position. In the early stages of the race the defending race champion communicated to crew chief Eric Phillips that the No. 18 NOS Energy Charged Citrus Toyota was extremely loose.

On lap 53, the extremely loose became uncontrollably loose as the back end of the Las Vegas native’s Toyota snapped around coming off turn four. The rear end of the No. 18 slid up the banking, nearly collecting the outside wall then slid back down the banking and just before the nose of the truck was about to make contact with the inside retaining wall Busch got the truck back headed in the right direction to complete the miraculous save.

When pit road opened, Busch brought his No. 18 to the attention of his team for four fresh tires, a full tank of fuel and wholesale adjustments to try and tighten the truck. He was scored in the ninth position when the race restarted on lap 59.

As the race progressed, the man who had led the most laps en route to dominant victories in the last two NCWTS races seem destined to run just inside the top five. He was running in the fourth position when a three-car crash on the backstretch brought out the seventh caution of the race on lap 77. Crew Chief Eric Phillips made the decision to come for a fuel-only pit stop when pit road opened.

When the race restarted on lap 82, the No. 18 NOS Charged Citrus Tundra was scored in the fifth position. The race continued to be slowed by numerous cautions as the laps wound down. Busch tried to force his way to the front of the field at times making things three and four wide on the numerous restarts.

On lap 107 David Starr brought out a record-breaking 10th and final caution of the race after spinning off Turn Four. Although he had the dominant truck in Friday’s race, Bowyer knew that Busch was lurking in the third spot. Bowyer chose the outside lane for the final restart of the race to try and get a jump on the inside lane where the No. 18 was lurking.

Bowyer’s decision appeared to have paid off as Busch fell to the fourth position when the race restarted on lap 112. NASCAR’s winningest active driver dove to the inside of Ron Hornaday Jr. and James Buescher going into turn three with 22 laps remaining and moved into the second position.

The No. 18 NOS Charged Citrus Toyota slowly chipped away at Bowyer’s lead as the race headed into the final 10 laps. On lap 127, Busch made a big run on Bowyer off the top side of turn two. As Bowyer’s No. 2 moved up the track to try and slow Busch’s momentum, the No. 18 quickly dove to the inside making it a side-by-side challenge for the lead down the backstretch. The 26-year-old was able to complete the pass off of turn four and hold off Bowyer for the last seven laps en route to his fourth NCWTS victory in seven races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Rookie Cole Whitt finished third followed by Buescher and Hornaday Jr. Rounding out the top 10 were Johnny Sauter, Austin Dillon, Parker Kligerman, Justin Marks and Brad Sweet.

The victory was Busch’s fourth NCWTS in 2011 and fifth for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM). Dating back to 2010, KBM finished in the top 10 in 17 consecutive races; including 11 wins and three runner-up finishes. The defending owners’ champions have opened a 59-point in this year’s standings after six races.

Busch will be back behind the wheel of the No. 18 Dollar General Toyota when the NCWTS heads to Kansas Speedway for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 June 4 at 2:00 p.m. ET.

About Kyle Busch Motorsports

NASCAR superstar Kyle Busch added a second career within NASCAR in December 2009 when he announced his Kyle Busch Motorsports team would compete in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2010. KBM is a leader on and off the track in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, becoming the first team since the series originated in 1995 to capture the owners’ championship in their inaugural season. In October of 2010, the team moved into a brand new 77,000-square-foot facility in Mooresville, N.C., which boasts state-of-the-art equipment and its pending LEED certification make it unmatched among its peers. Fans can stay up-to-date with all the latest KBM news online at www.kylebuschmotorsports.com, by liking the team on facebook (www.facebook.com/KyleBuschMS) and following the team on twitter @KyleBuschMS.

- Kyle Busch Motorsports Press Release

Kyle Busch climbs out of the No.18 NOS Charged Citrus Toyota in victory lane after winning the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway - Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

TOYOTA NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS)

Post-Race Notes & Quotes

Charlotte Motor Speedway –May 20, 2011

- Tundra driver Kyle Busch crossed the finish line first in Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race
at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

- Busch led the final seven laps en route to victory lane.

- Busch picked up his 28th NCWTS victory this evening — including his 22nd win driving a Tundra. The Las Vegas-
native now has the most wins by a Tundra driver in the series, surpassing the 21 victories by Todd Bodine.
Tonight’s win was Busch’s fourth this season. He picked up first-place trophies at Phoenix, Nashville and Dover
earlier this season.

- The win was Busch’s 97th national series victory — moving him into a tie for third-place on the all-time list with
Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip.

- Timothy Peters started from the pole and led 30 laps, before retiring from the race after 62 laps. He finished 32nd.
Former Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen finished 15th in his NASCAR debut.

- Other Toyota drivers in the field were Travis Kvapil (11th), Justin Lofton (13th), Johanna Long (20th), Craig Goess
(22nd), Max Papis (25th), Todd Bodine (27th), David Starr (28th), Brendan Gaughan (30th) and Miguel Paludo
(35th).

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 NOS Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports

Finishing Position: 1st

Are you surprised to win this race?

“Not tonight. I had an angel riding with me there on that last run of the race with Zahra Baker. (A 10-year-old disabled
North Carolina girl who was found slain last year.) We didn’t have the truck to beat tonight — the 2 (Clint Bowyer) did.
Somehow I found some more out of it and I’m going to say that I had some help tonight. It’s weird how things work.
When you believe in it and you trust in it and you have faith in it — it will repay you. I can’t say enough about NOS
Energy Drink, about this team — Kyle Busch Motorsports and all the guys. From Toyota, M&M’s, Flexco and Dollar
General — this is a great night for us. To come out here with a special name on the side of the truck — it means a lot to
Kyle Busch Motorsports and all of us — Speedway Children’s Charities and the community here around North Carolina,
around Charlotte, around Hickory. It’s fun to come out here and do this kind of stuff.”

What did it mean to have Zahra Baker on the side of your truck?

“I can’t say enough about Zahra Baker and her troubling story and what all she went through as a little girl. Unfortunately,
her life was cut very, very short and we put her on the side of the truck tonight in order to give her some remembrance and some vindication maybe. I didn’t have the truck to win tonight and I think I had an angel riding with me. If you believe in that stuff, if you trust in that stuff and you have faith in it — it can come back and repay you. It means the world to me tonight.”

How did you recover from that early spin?

“We spun out and we only lost like three or four spots and then we came to pit road, got new tires and Eric (Phillips, crew
chief) made a bunch of changes. I don’t know what he did, but he made some great calls there. Got me something that
was definitely a lot better. It was drivable. We were just able to muster our way back up through there and once we got to second, I didn’t know if I could run him down. I had help and got up there and I got to him about three lengths back and I stalled out. I’m like, ‘I have to find something, I have to move around.’ Found it and got it. Thank Triad Racing Engines, Joe Gibbs Driven Racing Oil, Butler Seats and Camping World — of course the fans. It’s enjoyable to come out here and if a Cup guy is going to win it — it might as well be me.”

Did you fight handling issues with your truck?

“I don’t know if it was the handling on my truck — I think it was the handling on everybody’s truck to be honest with you.
Goodyear didn’t bring the right tire — I’ll admit that. The Cup tire is awesome — the Truck tire is horrible. I’m hoping we
have a good tire for the Nationwide Series next week — it’s the Cup tire rather than this tire. They do a great job for us, but tonight it just wasn’t it. We did have troubles and we were really, really loose all day. We saw it with my truck in
qualifying, Kimi’s (Raikkonen) truck — we just couldn’t get the truck in the race track. Once we got it tightened up there,
it seemed like I could hold my own and hold the bottom of the race track. Then I got to Clint (Bowyer) and you couldn’t
pass. The tires were just so hard that you would stall out and lose grip so you had to move around and find your own lane. Once I did that, it seemed like I could pass him.”

How much do you watch the record books?

“You kind of keep track of it a little bit, but I hear it through stats, you guys (media) maybe sometimes, some fans that
come up to me asking me about all the wins. It’s definitely — for me, my most important thing is to go to the race track.
I’m not going to the race track thinking, ‘Oh man, it’s going to be 97 tonight or I’m going to get 98 tomorrow.’ It’s more
about concentrating on getting your cars to feel good, getting your trucks to feel good and be fast and the numbers will take care of themselves from there. For me, it’s very empowering, but it feels good to be getting close to 100 — my halfway point. It may not quite be the same numbers that some of those other guys laid out there — all in the Cup Series. Maybe one day I will be able to have a lot of Cup wins as well too.”

What does it mean to tie Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip in all-time wins?

“Those are two huge names to match up with. I think Dale’s (Earnhardt) got 10 wins in Nationwide and the rest are Cup
wins, I think. That right there is just 87 Cup wins so you look at that and you think, ‘Wow.’ Then you look at (Richard)
Petty and it’s obviously it’s 200 Cup wins and you think, ‘Wow-er.’ Maybe one of these days I can get to the 200 point
and to me that is special to me.”

Do you think Kimi Raikkonen’s transition to the Nationwide Series will be easier next week?

“I don’t mean to be disrespectful to Goodyear — I’ll say this in the best way I can, but hopefully they bring the Cup tire — it will be a lot easier transition. Unfortunately, we did not have the handling the way he (Kimi Raikkonen) needed it to be today. He did a nice job from what I understand — I haven’t heard, but we might have to put a right side on it. That’s
alright — you’ll have that. Next week for the Nationwide Series race with the correct tire, it should be a better feeling car.

He should feel a little more grip and should be able to drive it a little bit harder. The engines are a little bit the same and
the cars go through the air a little bit better. Traffic will be kind of the same as what he felt tonight. Tonight was a good
learning experience and hopefully he learned enough today that will help him for next week and we’ll try to make the
transition a lot easier for him as best we can,”

ERIC PHILLIPS, crew chief, No. 18 NOS Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports

Has today been an up and down day for you and the team?

“It’s kind of been that way all day. We really struggled to get the truck that Kyle (Busch) needed. The tire kind of threw
us for a loop when we unloaded and we were just loose all day. It continued into the night. He spun there right before that first pit stop. We took a pretty good swing at it just to try to tighten it up. The guys did a good job getting everything done to it and Kyle was able to pull off the win here tonight.”

TRAVIS KVAPIL, No. 5 International Truck / Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra Camry, Randy Moss Motorsports

Finishing Position: 11th

JUSTIN LOFTON, No. 77 Lofton Cattle Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing

Finishing Position: 13th

KIMI RAIKKONEN, No. 15 Perky Jerky Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports

Finishing Position: 15th

What did you think of tonight’s race?

“The racing was fun. Too many cautions. Every time that I would feel like the car would start to run better then you would have a caution and then it would take the track a long time before the handling comes back.”

How did it feel to hit the wall?

“I hit it on the beginning and then I hit much harder and destroyed the car a little bit. The car actually run really well there before the pit stop. Once we got to pit then the tires and the tire pressures, it was better. The handling was okay, but for sure the longer runs were a good thing. Just because the car was better and better during the longer runs.”

How did the truck handle in the race?

“It was okay once I knew the car was much better than it was this morning in practice. Then it was okay just to know how it feels in traffic and stuff like that.

Were you pleased with your performance?

“You would rather be more high up, but how it felt this morning, now I was pretty pleased with how it felt in the race. For
sure, there is still a lot to learn and improve, but I think when we have another race it will be better.”

Were the restarts difficult?

“It’s just more to know what to do on the restarts and where to put the car. Sometimes you push a bit too hard and you run wide and you lose a lot of places. It is hard to get back to places. Really knowing where you want to be in the right position, but not really anything surprisingly difficult.”

Have you ever tested a NASCAR stock car?

“No I have not — I have only tested the Truck two times before today.”

RICK REN, crew chief, No. 15 Perky Jerky Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports (general manager, KBM)

What did you think of Kimi Raikkonen’s performance in the race?

“I was really pleased with his (Kimi Raikkonen) performance during the race. It took about five laps for our truck to start
coming in. He would lose quite a few positions in that first five laps. Then as soon as he got the tire temperature up — and I told him as soon as the tire temperature would come up that we would be better off and keep getting better. Actually, if we could have ran a really long green flag run at the end, our truck actually could get better the longer it went. It’s one of those things where we just kind of did some guess work looking at the notes and anticipated on what the track would do at night. I actually felt like I had to treat him like he’s a young guy who had never raced here before. A young guy can drive a tight race car, but can’t drive a loose one. I tightened her up pretty good to start the race.”

JOHANNA LONG, No. 20 Panhandle Grading Toyota Tundra, Panhandle Motorsports

Finishing Position: 20th

CRAIG GOESS JR., No. 46 Greenville Toyota Toyota Tundra, Eddie Sharp Racing

Finishing Position: 22nd

How was your race tonight?

“It was really hard to get a good feel for how the truck was handling because of all of the caution laps. It’s hard to work on the truck when you can’t feel out exactly what it’s doing. Just a really long night but I’m glad we survived and we’re
taking the truck home in one piece.”

MAX PAPIS, No. 9 GEICO Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing

Finishing Position: 25th

TODD BODINE, No. 30 Germain.com Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing

Finishing Position: 27th

DAVID STARR, No. 81 Zachry Toyota Tundra, SS Green Light Racing

Finishing Position: 28th

BRENDAN GAUGHAN, No. 62 South Point Hotel & Casino Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing

Finishing Position: 30th

What happened between you and Max Papis during the race?

“Rough night as a whole for the Germain Racing team. Todd (Bodine) looked fast and I don’t know what happened to him.
It looked like he just got loose or I don’t know if somebody hit him. We were terribly fast tonight. Our Toyota was real
quick. I think we drove ourselves to like 13th the first run and then drove ourselves to the top-10 in the second run. We were going to have a strong night. We were saving some tires — we got to lead. In the end, I think we lost a gear is what it looks like.

I knew — my instinct was that something was broke and it was still running. It was broke and I kept saying it was broke and I knew to trust my instinct, I didn’t and in the end it broke in the middle of the corner, went up and tried to just stay out of the way and I think Max (Papis) was an innocent victim there. I guess he was trying to get underneath me and somebody pushed him into me. That’s just been the luck for the Germain Racing team this year is two of the teammates have nothing to do with each other and one is going to have a good night and we bang into each other. Our Tundra, from what I understood, was real dang fast.”

TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing

Finishing Position: 32nd

What happened that took you out of the race?

“We were going for position on the 13 (Johnny Sauter) and we just kind of ran out of room. I thought the 2 (Clint Bowyer)
got into me, but he didn’t after looking back at it. It just came around on me pretty quick. I just hate it for all these guys
on this Gearwrench Toyota Tundra. It’s a shame — we were a force to be reckoned with tonight. I’ll take the blame on
that one.”

MIGUEL PALUDO, No. 7 STEMCO-Duroline Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing

Finishing Position: 35th

What happened that took you out of the race?

“I put it in third gear and I heard something. Then there was smoke. It’s a shame for us. A lot of bad luck and a lot of bad luck today. The good part is that we were running up front. Hopefully, we can head to Kansas and start over again.”

- Toyota Motorsports Press Release

Shaw, the son of former NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion Dale Shaw finished sixth last season in the championship standings piloting his No. 60 Precision JLM Chevrolet Impala courtesy of one top-five and six top-10s, but will make his first start for veteran Spraker Racing team this weekend.

Joining Shaw in his efforts this weekend are long time supporters Precision JLM, Community Pharmacy and Mulkern Excavating.

“Julio and Rita Miglioli, owners of Precision JLM are great people and we are honored to have them along with the rest of D.J.’s supporters on our race car,” stated team owner Jeff Spraker.

Veteran Motorsports crew chief George Church will join SRE and Shaw this weekend at the .075-mile paved oval.

Additionally, Spraker Racing Enterprises announce that Ryan Lynch of New Boston, Texas who made his inaugural NKNPSE debut at South Boston (Va.) Speedway and finished a very respectable 16th will drive the team’s second No. 08 Chevrolet Impala entry.

Lynch hails experience from Go-Karts, Limited Modifieds, Legends and Super Trucks with his family’s support onto the developmental series. Although listed as a rookie, Lynch undoubtedly holds a wealth of Motorsports experience with 17 plus years of experience.

“We have tested Ryan and raced him at South Boston and he has done a very good job,” added Spraker. “With time, Ryan has the potential to become one of NASCAR’s finest talents. He has a natural ability and respects his equipment and opportunities.”

With the combination of these two drivers Spraker Racing Enterprises goes into this weekend at Iowa with high hopes of collecting two top-10 finishes.

The Pork Be Inspired 175 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East / West Challenge presented by Tompkins Industries at Iowa Speedway is set for this Saturday, May 21st at 7:00 p.m.

Mike Bliss, Dexter Bean, Drew Brannon, Kerry Earnhardt, Joey Gase, Ron Hornaday Jr., P.J. Jones, Alex Kennedy, Brandon McReynolds, Steve Park, David Ragan, Scott Riggs, David Reutimann, Michelle Theriault, Darrell Waltrip and Smokey Yunick are just some of the drivers that Spraker, who also has starts for himself in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series (NKNPS), NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) and NASCAR Nationwide Series has been affiliated with in one capacity or another through SRE.

For more information on Spraker Racing Enterprises (SRE) and its available programs, please visit sprakerracing.com.

- Spraker Racing Enterprises Press Release

McReynolds, 20 made his NASCAR K&N Pro Series East debut in the No. 37 Spraker Racing Enterprises Chevrolet at the tricky GPS. However, the inexperience of the Mooresville, North Carolina native could not shake his abilities behind the wheel as McReynolds cleverly maneuvered an eighth place finish in his inaugural NKNPSE outing.

The team guided by racing veteran Jeff Spraker unloaded solid off the trailer. McReynolds and Spraker continued to adjust their Chevrolet bowtie between practice and qualifying – hoping to attract a soothing setup for the race.

In qualifying, McReynolds, nicknamed “the franchize” wheeled his No. 37 Spraker Racing Chevrolet Impala to the 15th fastest time overall, a respectable starting berth for his Greenville debut.

During the course of the 150-lap event, McReynolds, the son of former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chief and current NASCAR analyst battled a tight racecar but continued to steadily and patiently negotiate his black and grey automobile up the ladder. With the limited adjustments prone to the series, McReynolds had to masterfully save his tires for the end of the race, which ultimately changed the handling of his race car to a “looser” feeling.

Despite the change, McReynolds, the multiple UARA Series winner would counteract with his car’s condition but further battled his way past the competition to take the checkered flag in the eighth position, claiming his first top-10 in a NASCAR sanctioned series.

“I am really proud of Brandon,” said Spraker. “He showed maturity years beyond his age and proved to everyone why he is becoming a popular name in the garage. For having never competed at Greenville before in one of these heavier cars, he did spectacular. There was hardly a scratch on our car. Brandon showed patience and aggressiveness at the same time but easily was able to adjust those tactics as he saw fit on the track.”

Spraker continued, “our goal was to go to Greenville and prove that Spraker Racing has equipment that can run competitively in the top-10. Brandon did that and more. We’re talking about working together for some more races and honestly, I’m hoping it can happen, because with a little more time behind the wheel – this kid is going to prove a lot.”

Mike Bliss, Dexter Bean, Drew Brannon, Kerry Earnhardt, Joey Gase, Ron Hornaday Jr., P.J. Jones, Alex Kennedy, Brandon McReynolds, Steve Park, David Ragan, Scott Riggs, David Reutimann, Michelle Theriault, Darrell Waltrip and Smokey Yunick are just some of the drivers that Spraker, who also has starts for himself in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series (NKNPS), NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) and NASCAR Nationwide Series has been affiliated with in one capacity or another through SRE.

For more information on Spraker Racing Enterprises (SRE) and its available programs, please visit sprakerracing.com.

- Spraker Racing Enterprises Press Release