J.R. Fitzpatrick announced that he’d begin his 2011 season with the Saturday’s DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona, which is the opening race for the NASCAR Nationwide Series season.
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[/media-credit]The 22-year-old, Cambridge, Ontario native will race the No. 27 Shick Hydro/Energizer Ford Mustang for Baker Curb Racing. This marks a continued partnership with Fitzpatrick and Shick Hydro as they sponsored him during the 2010 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series season and the three Nationwide Series races he ran last year for JR Motorsports. Though this marks the first time that Fitzpatrick has come together with Energizer Canada Inc.
“I can’t think of a better race to start the new season with,” Fitzpatrick commented in a press release. “Daytona boasts an atmosphere like no other and to be in a race with the opportunity to compete against guys like Dale Earnhardt Jr and Tony Stewart is fantastic. I’ve raced at Daytona before, a couple of years ago in the Truck Series, and ran well leading the most laps in that event before taking fourth.”
“I’m sure that experience and knowledge will help combined with my time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series last season. This is definitely where I want to be competing on a regular basis so I’m looking to make a strong start to the year on Saturday. I’m obviously grateful to Schick Canada and Energizer Canada for their support this week and I look forward to flying the maple leaf flag for Canadian fans!”
Fitzpatrick finished fourth a couple years ago when he ran the truck series opener at Daytona for Kevin Harvick Incorporated, and last year finished in the top 10 at both Montreal and Road Atlanta in the Nationwide Series.
“We’re really looking forward to teaming up with J.R.,” commented Baker Curb Racing’s Team President, Matt Crews. “I’ve had the opportunity to spend some time with him this off season and get to know him. His attitude and dedication to his sport is certainly very impressive and his potential is limitless!”
This past year, Fitzpatrick took on running the entire NASCAR Canadian Tire Series schedule, with his goals set on winning the championship. He was in the thick of the battle all year long, though after a bad finish at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and a broken clutch at Riverside Speedway, he ended up second, 40 points behind champion D.J. Kennington.
“It’s good,” Fitzpatrick told me. “I took all of last year off as I was racing stuff in the States. But after taking a year off, the series has definitely grown quite a bit. It does need more cars but competitive wise, it is doing very well. To finish second in the championship after taking a year off, I am pretty pleased about that.”
Fitzpatrick got started in the series when it was named CASCAR and became the youngest champion at the age of 18 in 2006.
The following year, NASCAR took over rights to the series and it has been debated as to whether that was a positive move or not for the series. Fitzpatrick said he’s seen the influence, though thinks it’ll still take time.
“It’s helped in a way,” he said. “But I think it’s going to take some time to get some more people in the series because it does cost a lot to run that deal. The series is slowly going and it’s going to take a few years for it to grow to its full potential.”
On top of running the Canadian Tire Series and the Nationwide Series when time allows, Fitzpatrick hits the local tracks and races at the grass roots level where it started.
“I support it 100 percent anyway I can,” he said of grass roots racing. “At the end of the day, that’s where we all started and guys that don’t feel like coming back, I don’t get it. I wish I had a late model as that’s where I started but super stocks are a lot of fun.”
For this year, he put a Super Stock race car together with some friends.
“Its fun,” he said of running the car. “It’s definitely a different kind of car for me. Me and my friend built this car and it’s been working fairly well. We’re starting ninth out of 45 cars so we’re pretty happy about that.”
Fitzpatrick had a successful year with that as he got his first feature Super Stock win at Flamboro Speedway during FrostFest.
Fitzpatrick got started in racing at the age of six running a Jr. Late Model.
“I got started through Jr. Late Models when I was six years old at Sauble Beach,” he said. “Then I moved on to Delaware (Speedway) and when I was 13 years old, I got a late model and then from there, I just stayed in heavy stock cars.”
Fitzpatrick then moved up to the CASCAR Super Series, where he finished second in the Rookie of the Year standings in 2004 at the age of 16.
At the age of 17, he scored his first win and got three top-fives and five top-10 finishes.
Then in 2006, he became the youngest Canadian Tire Series National Champion with a win, five podium finishes and two pole awards at the age of 18.
Over the next three years in the Canadian Tire Series, Fitzpatrick would earn a total of four wins, 10 top-fives, 14 top-10s and five pole awards.
Fitzpatrick made his first in the NASCAR Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) at the Telcel-Motorola Mexico 200 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, where he finished 33rd due to an ill-handling car.
Fitzpatrick’s last race at Daytona was when he made his first start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2009 where he finished fourth, driving the No. 7 Mammoet Chevrolet Silverado at Daytona International Speedway for TRG Motorsports.
Fitzpatrick will be on-track on Wednesday and Thursday of this week with four NASCAR Nationwide Series practice sessions scheduled before Friday hosts qualifying at 4:10pm EST. The ‘DRIVE4COPD 300’ starts on Saturday 19th February at 1:15pm EST. Race fans in Canada can watch the ‘DRIVE4COPD 300’ live on TSN2 with broadcast coverage starting at Noon EST on Saturday.
