Bires Scores Debut Top Five In Nashville
Kelly Bires has earned his first top five NASCAR finish with fifth place in the Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee today.
Bires qualified the #47 Clorox Ford Fusion in fifth position and ran his strongest race yet in NASCAR Nationwide Series competition, running at the front and leading a lap.
At one stage Bires dropped down to the bottom of the top 10, but he climbed his way back up the order with one of the strongest cars on track to ultimately finish in the same position he started.
Bires showed car speed as strong as the leaders all day, exhibiting the progress of JTG Racing’s engineering this season.
Bires, who has 25 Nationwide Series starts to his name, eclipsed his previous best finish of seventh place with today’s top five.
The 23-year-old jumps to eighth in the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series standings with today’s great result, making the Wisconsin native the fourth-best Nationwide only driver in the points after 6 races.
Scott Wimmer won today’s Pepsi ahead of series leader Clint Bowyer and defending series champion Carl Edwards.
Bires and the JTG Racing team will enjoy a rare weekend off next weekend, before the NASCAR Nationwide Series gets back underway on April 5 with the O’Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway.
WHAT HE HAD TO SAY …
Kelly Bires – #47 Clorox Ford Fusion
“It's our first top-five finish,” said Bires.
“The guys did a great job preparing this car and getting it here. It's been fast ever since we got on the track. I think we probably were a top two car here today but we just a bad day on pit road it cost us a lot of spots on the race track.
“Overall, we're getting better. That's what we came here to do, finish in the top-10 but we got a top-five out of it. We look to improve next week."
“The car was in position to be fast. It was probably the best we were going to get it there at the end. We’ll take the top-five and move on. I've got to thank all our sponsors, Clorox, US Air Force, Glad and everyone else that helps us out here.
“I'm not sure, to tell you the truth. They never said it was an issue. We must have been alright, I think we were just within a few laps.”
Scott Zipadelli – Crew Chief, #47 Clorox Ford Fusion
“We're very pleased. The car was strong right off the truck and we tinkered with it and got it better. We ran a lot of laps in practice.
“Kelly did a great job. We lost a little bit in the pits and struggled there. I think we could have been a couple spots stronger than we were.
“I'm pretty pleased with the progress in our program. I think we're on the right track and we'll keep working hard.
“From the time we pitted, we were going to be three laps to the end. I’m guessing we maybe had two laps of fuel left at the end.”
RESULTS: Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway
Race 6 of 35 in the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series
1. #29 Scott Wimmer 225 laps
2. #2 Clint Bowyer
3. #60 Carl Edwards
4. #88 Brad Keselowski
5. #47 Kelly Bires
6. #64 David Stremme
7. #32 Denny Hamlin
8. #33 Cale Gale
9. #99 David Reutimann 224 laps
10. #25 Bobby Hamilton Jr
23. #59 Marcos Ambrose 222 laps
RESULTS: Qualifying
1. #20 Kyle Busch 29.310
2. #22 Mike Bliss 29.576
3. #66 Steve Wallace 29.596
4. #60 Carl Edwards 29.609
5. #47 Kelly Bires 29.620
6. #21 Stephen Leicht 29.623
7. #2 Clint Bowyer 29.628
8. #88 Brad Keselowski 29.663
9. #16 Colin Braun 29.670
10. #27 Brad Coleman 29.727
2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series Standings – After Race 6 of 35
1. Clint Bowyer 877
2. Carl Edwards 866
3. David Reutimann 806
4. David Ragan 771
5. Mike Bliss 757
6. Brad Keselowski 756
7. Kevin Harvick 751
8. Kelly Bires 708
9. Mike Wallace 706
10. Jason Leffler 703
2008 NNS Prizemoney after 6 races:
Kelly Bires: US$198,468
ABOUT NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY
Location: Lebanon, Tennessee
Track Length: 1.333 miles (2.145km)
Race Distance: 225 laps – 300 miles (482.8km)
Degree of Banking in Turns: 14 degrees
Degree of Banking in Front Straight: 9 degrees
Degree of Banking in Back Straight: 6 degrees
NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES RECORD BOOK
Defending Nationwide Race Champion: Carl Edwards
Defending Nationwide Polesitter: David Stremme
Kelly Bires 2007 Race Finish: 15th
Kelly Bires 2007 Qualifying: 20th
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