J.R. Fitzpatrick Fast in the Mammoet/TRG Motorsports Chevy Silverado at Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia (March 6, 2009) - John Ryan (J.R.) Fitzpatrick is running fast in the No. 7 Mammoet/TRG Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado at Atlanta Motor Speedway in preparation for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series American Commercial Lines 200 to be run tomorrow, Saturday, March 7.
Fitzpatrick, a Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate, has been consistently in the top 11 in both practice sessions.
"We unloaded and were fast right off of the truck," Fitzpatrick said. "We were seventh in our first few laps of running. The truck is really good in race trim, I am very happy with it. In qualifying trim we are a little on the free side, but we know what we have to do. I am excited. This place is really fun and really fast. We have awesome tire wear, so I am ready for a good race."
J.R.'s feelings mirror those from the season's first race at Daytona when he went on to lead 17 laps and place fourth.
"At Daytona we unloaded and were fast right away. We then started tuning on some things and just went back to where we started, which is what we have done here. Butch (Hylton, crew chief) and the guys have just tweaked on it slightly from the original set-up. In race trim we haven't shown all we have. In practice I had Kevin Harvick behind me and I was able to pull some lengths on him. When you can do that you know you have a really fast truck."
Kevin Buckler, TRG Motorsports team principal, together with the crew, have Fitzpatrick on the right path for this weekend.
"We ran in the top 10 here last year, finishing sixth," Buckler said. "We brought that same setup and it has translated well to this weekend. J.R. just jumped in the first time out and held it to the mat. That is the way we have to approach these fast tracks and that shows he has the talent to run with the top guys in this series. That also gives the team the right baseline to work from to make the truck better. We are looking forward to another strong performance from J.R. tomorrow."
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series American Commercial Lines 200 will be televised live on the SPEED Channel Saturday, March 7 starting at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Mammoet (pronounced Mamoot) is a specialist in customer-driven and tailor-made heavy lifting and transport solutions at any onshore or offshore location. The company's core activities are turnkey lifting and transport operations, factory-to-foundation heavy lifting and multimodal transport projects, maintenance lifting services and plant stops, day-to-day rental of mobile cranes, salvage and wreck removal of ships and offshore installations, and trade in new and used equipment worldwide. Additional information can be found at
www.mammoet.com.
TRG Motorsports is based in Mooresville, North Carolina. Currently the team fields a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series entry as well as a Camping World Truck Series effort and an ARCA RE/MAX Series team. The Racer's Group was founded in 1993 and has been competing at the top level of sports car racing. TRG's Porsche sports car program is run out of the company's headquarters in Petaluma, California. The team has the most wins of any team in the Grand-Am Rolex Series with 26, including the 2005 and 2006 Rolex Series GT championship trophy to go along with wins in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona (three) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
For more information contact please contact Kyle Chura at (248) 821-0468 or chura@aol.com. Detailed team info can be viewed at
www.trgmotorsports.com or
www.theracersgroup.com.
Photo caption: No. 7 Mammoet/TRG Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado
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