J.R. Fitzpatrick Qualifies 14th for Camping World Daytona Opener
Daytona Beach, Florida (February 12, 2009) - John Ryan (J.R.) Fitzpatrick qualified his No. 7 Mammoet Chevrolet Silverado in 14th for tomorrow's running of the season opening NASCAR Camping World Truck Series NextEra Energy Resources 250.
Running under the lights Fitzpatrick, from Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, used just one of his two laps to post a time of 51.568 and a speed of 175 mph which will have him start from the seventh row. TRG Motorsports crew chief, Butch Hylton, called off the second run due to increasing engine temperature.
"It doesn't really have the speed we were looking for in qualifying, but it drives so nice," Fitzpatrick said. "There is some give and take on whether to go for it in qualifying or just stick to the race program, we chose to stick to the race program. I am excited we qualified 14th and we will take that. Qualifying here doesn't really matter so we will pick ourselves up in the race."
"I think we might have had a tenth or so in the truck if we ran the second lap. We were a little bit on the hot side with the motor so there is no use jeopardizing the truck when you were just trying to gain a couple more spots. We probably would have had to gain two-tenths to move up a spot. All in all the truck is real good. There are some guys in front of us who were doing a lot of single truck runs and they will probably fall back tomorrow. We will take advantage of that in the race."
Kevin Buckler, TRG Motorsports, team owner likes what he is seeing from J.R. so far at Daytona.
"J.R. has grown up over the off season," Buckler said. "I see more maturity in him behind the wheel and out of the truck as well. We have a really good truck under him and we are looking to have a great run tomorrow night."
The season opening NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race will be run under the lights on Friday, February 13 and televised live on the SPEED Channel starting at 8 p.m.
TRG Motorsports is based in Mooresville, North Carolina where they run a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team as well as an ARCA RE/MAX Series effort. 2008 marked the first full season of competition for TRG in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series where they recorded one win, one top-five and ten top tens overall. The team's sister company, The Racer's Group, was founded in 1993 has been competing at the top level of motor racing ever since. TRG 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 at the Rolex 24 at Daytona 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.
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