(By Greg Engle)
Posted: Wednesday,November 18th, 2009
JR Motorsports announced Tuesday that Kelly Bires will make his team debut driving the No. 5 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nationwide Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 21 with primary sponsorship from Ragú.
“We wanted to get Kelly in one of our cars before the season was out,” said team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. “Ragú has been with us since the beginning of the year, and I appreciate them stepping up their involvement and helping us put this deal together. It’s important that Kelly hit the ground running at Daytona next year, and this certainly helps.”
Kelly Bires
In September, JR Motorsports announced it had signed Bires to race for the team in 2010-11. Bires has 67 career starts in the Nationwide Series with three top-five and 11 top-10 finishes. In his first full year in the Nationwide Series, he finished 13th in the point standings.
“This is going to be a great opportunity,” said Bires, whose best finish at Homestead was a ninth-place showing in 2008. “I’m thrilled. I was really hoping to race a JRM Chevrolet before the year was out. Thanks to our partners at Ragú, we’ve made it a reality. I think this will go a long way in our preparation for 2010.”
Bires joins Earnhardt Jr., Ron Fellows, Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Scott Wimmer and Richard Boswell as drivers to pilot the No. 5 in 2009. With the addition of Homestead to the No. 5 team’s schedule, it brings the team’s total races to 23 this season.
In preparation for the race weekend, Tony Eury Jr. has been announced as the crew chief for the No. 5 Chevrolet.
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