CHINA GROVE, N.C. (November 16, 2010) – R3 Motorsports is going to end the season like they started with Robert Richardson, Jr. in the No. 23 North Texas Pipe Chevrolet at Homestead-Miami Speedway for Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
This will be Richardson’s first start at the 1.5-mile oval in South Florida since 2007. Locked into the top-30 in Owner’s Points for the start of the 2011 season allows R3 Motorsports the opportunity to concentrate on one thing – go race. And, have fun doing it, too.
Speaking of, team owner Robert Richardson, Sr. has brought the shop guys down to join the road crew for some Florida sunshine. After the racing action on Saturday, the team is heading out deep-sea fishing to try their luck and lures in the blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean first thing Sunday morning.
Fast Facts: This will be Richardson’s 69th NASCAR Nationwide Series race of his career. Through that span, the 28-year old native of McKinney, Texas has achieved six top-20 finishes with his career best finish of 15th coming at ORP in July of this year. This will be start No. 23 for him in the No. 23 this year, as well. This season, he’s achieved two of his top-20 finishes and completed 94.4 percent (3,901 of 4,131) of the laps contested.
Track Facts: Richardson will be making his second start at HMS, with the first taking place in 2007. In that event, an engine problem knocked him out of competition 139 laps into the 200-lap race. Having finished 20 of the 22 races this season, Richardson is looking to go the distance in the NNS finale for a good finish.
Car Facts: Steve Plattenberger and team will roll chassis No. 43 off the R3 hauler in South Florida this weekend. This car was last raced at Atlanta Motor Speedway with Robert Richardson, Jr. finishing 33rd after electrical problems sent him to the garage for nine laps. Before that, Alex Kennedy raced it at the first Gateway event where he finished 28th after getting a flat tire just eight laps into the race.
Did you know: The winningest driver at Homestead is the one and only “Front Row” Joe Nemechek? He’s been to Victory Lane three times (’97, ’99 & ’01) compared to Jeff Burton’s two trips to the Winner’s Circle in ’98 and ’07. In the latter event, Burton did set the mark for slowest qualifier (30th) to go on to victory.
Robert Richardson, Jr. Quotes
Thoughts for the weekend in Homestead: “Well, it’s been awhile since I raced there, so the first practice is going to be real important for myself and the team. We’ll use that time to get our car dialed in to see how it handles through the turns. The second practice will be closer to the time we’re going to be racing on Saturday, so that will helps us with track conditions and how the car reacts once the sun goes down.
“I’m looking forward to logging some laps there and closing out this season on a good note. And, we’re going to treat the guys to a fishing trip Sunday morning. After all the hours, travel and hard work they’ve put in this year, they deserve to have a little fun in the sun. We did it last year and everyone had a good time. I think we even caught some fish.”
