Tuesday

Brad Keselowski, No. 88 Lipton Chevrolet Richmond Preview

PREVIEW – Brad Keselowski (No. 88 Lipton Chevrolet)

EVENT – Virginia 529 College Savings 250 (250 laps/ 187.5 miles)

TRACK – Richmond International Raceway (0.75-Mile D-shaped Oval)

DATE – Friday, September 11, 2009

TV/ RADIO BROADCAST INFO – ESPN2 (coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. EST) / MRN (broadcast begins at 7:15 p.m. EST)

SEASON STATS – Brad Keselowski remains third in the championship standings, 292 points behind leader Kyle Busch, but only 71 behind second place Carl Edwards. In 26 races, Keselowski and the No. 88 team have three wins, 15 top-fives, 20 top-10s and two pole awards. His average starting position is 13.4 and average finish is 7.6.

KESELOWSKI AT RICHMOND – Keselowski will make his fifth NASCAR Nationwide Series start for JR Motorsports at Richmond International Raceway this weekend. His best finish at the 0.75-mile track came in this season’s spring race where he finished fourth.

SHORT TRACK ACE – Keselowski has shown his prowess on the series’ short tracks this season. Since the last race at Richmond in May, Keselowski has scored one win, four top-fives and has an average finish of 3.0 on tracks less than one mile in length. In addition to RIR, these tracks include O’Reilly Raceway Park, Iowa Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway.

SPOTLIGHT ON LIPTON – This weekend will mark the only race in 2009 that Keselowski will carry the Lipton seal on the hood of the No. 88 Chevy, but it’s the second time this season that Lipton has sponsored a JR Motorsports car. Lipton was the primary sponsor of the No. 5 Chevy driven by Mark Martin at the Lipton Tea 250 at Richmond in May.

WELCOME BACK WIMMER – Scott Wimmer will return as a teammate for Keselowski this weekend, driving the No. 5 JR Motorsports Chevy. In races with Wimmer as a teammate, Keselowski has scored one win (Iowa), three top-five finishes and has an average finish of 4.7.

CHASSIS NO. 528 – The No. 88 Lipton team will run Chassis No. 528 this weekend. This car was last run at O’Reilly Raceway Park in July where Keselowski started seventh and finished fourth. This car was also raced at Richmond in May.

“DALE JR’S GREAT GIVEAWAY” – The latest JR Motorsports online contest, “Dale Jr.’s Great Giveaway,” is, now in its fifth week. Fans can register at www.DaleJrsGreatGiveaway.com to win one of 60 prize packages. Prizes will continue to be distributed each week until the contest ends on Sept. 18th. Prizes include gift certificates, product packages, autographed merchandise, personal driver meet-n-greets, and race-weekend giveaways which were donated by 12 of JR Motorsports’ sponsor partners. For complete rules, regulations, and a list of all 60 prizes please visit www.DaleJrsGreatGiveaway.com

EDUCATION FOR ELI: With the effort and support of the entire NASCAR community, a college fund has been set up for Eli Ross, the 2-year-old grandson of late motorsports journalist David Poole, who passed away on April 28. Anyone interested in contributing to the “Education for Eli” fund can do so by sending donations to the following address:

Eli Samuel Ross
Bank of Stanly
Attn: Misty Nordan
P.O. Box 539
Oakboro, NC 28129
(Please make checks payable to “Eli Ross Account” at Bank of Stanly.)

For more information, please call the Bank of Stanly at 704.485.3435.

DEGREE V12 CHALLENGE – NASCAR fans still have a chance to team up with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad Keselowski in the Degree V12 Challenge. Players compete against each other for a chance to win a variety of great prizes including tailgate entertainment systems, gaming packages, cash, and more! Visit www.DegreeRacing.com to register for the Degree V12 Challenge and begin racing to win. (No purchase necessary. Must be 18 to enter. Void where prohibited. Ends 12/27/09. Visit www.DegreeRacing.com for complete rules.)

KESELOWSKI (on returning to Richmond) – “It’s the final weekend for us of the summer stretch and what a great way to finish it at Richmond under the lights. Richmond is a place I have had some struggles, but we had a pretty good run here in the spring and I’m ready to back that up this weekend. From what I remember, there was a lot of beating and banging in our first race and I don’t expect anything different this time. We want to give these fans a good show and I think they’ll get that with the close, side-by-side racing under the lights that they have come to expect.”

KESELOWSKI (on the points battle) – “Including this weekend, we have nine races to go in the season which, is plenty of time to make up points. Up until last weekend at Atlanta, we were gaining on the leader and we’re still continuing to gain on second place. Just like last season, one race can make a huge difference in the point standings. Just look at my fall race in California last year. That finish kind of took us out of the thick of things in a hurry. Alan Kulwicki was running for a championship in 1992 and wrecked out at Dover with six races to go which put him about 280 points out. He still came back and won the title that year which goes to show you that anything is possible.”

- JR Motorsports Press Release