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[/media-credit]CONCORD, N.C. (May 23, 2012) – Victory Lane can be an elusive destination for many teams and sponsors, but Fastenal has an advantage Sunday night in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway by sponsoring all three of Roush Fenway Racing’s Sprint Cup entries. RFR has an impressive record at Charlotte, winning the 600-mile race four times and totaling 20 victories there in NASCAR competition.
“Everyone on the Fastenal ‘blue team’ has been looking forward to this race all season long,” said Fastenal president and CEO Will Oberton. “When we started out as a sponsor in the truck series six years ago, we never would have dreamed that we’d see the Fastenal name on three of the premier Cup Series cars in a single race.”
The Fastenal “NASCAR Unites” paint schemes will be carried on the No. 16 of Greg Biffle, the No. 17 of Matt Kenseth and of course the No. 99 of Carl Edwards. The three drivers have a combined total of two wins, 15 top-five and 27 top-10 finishes at Charlotte.
Kenseth leads the way, statistically speaking, at CMS with two wins, seven top-five and 13 top-10 finishes. He won the Coca-Cola 600 in 2000 and won the 500-mile race there last October.
“Track conditions can change a lot during the 600 since it can start out hot and sunny which makes the track slick, and that can entirely change by the end of the race,” Kenseth said. “It’s always challenging but I really like running that entire 600 miles and continually working on strategy and your car’s set-up. Even though it’s our longest race of the season, I’ve always really enjoyed the 600 miles and just the challenge it presents to teams. All three of our Cup cars have Fastenal on board, so hopefully we can once again get a string of top-five finishes for them, similar to last year’s Nationwide race at Charlotte.”
Biffle leads the way in the current Sprint Cup point standings. He has earned three top-five and six top-10 finishes at Charlotte, his best finish of second came in the 2008 Coca-Cola 600.
“The Coca-Cola 600 is the longest race of the season and we are back to points racing this weekend so it’s important to finish well,” Biffle said. “We’ve been running well at Charlotte so I think we’ll definitely have a good run in our No. 16 Fastenal Ford this weekend. Our car was a little off at the All-Star race, and obviously we didn’t get much time to work on it, but we’ll get more opportunities this weekend. The 600 is a long, drawn out, strategy-driven race and we’ll have to make it all the way to the end.”
Edwards is the flagship Fastenal driver and has accumulated five top-five and eight top-10 finishes at the 1.5-mile track. Three of his top-five finishes have come in the 600.
“I’m looking forward to the Coca-Cola 600,” Edwards said. “We had a fast Ford Fusion at the All-Star race and a night race at Charlotte Motor Speedway is always fun. It’s a long race and it’s full of energy from the fans. The track changes a lot, but Bob (Osborne) is good at making the changes needed to keep up with the track. The Roush Fenway cars are fast and it’s a big night for Fastenal. All three of our Sprint Cup cars are running a special Fastenal paint scheme to salute our military for Memorial Day. Fastenal will be there in force and hopefully we can get our first victory there.”
About Roush Fenway Racing
Roush Fenway Racing is the winningest team in NASCAR history, fielding multiple teams in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series with championship drivers Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Trevor Bayne. Celebrating 25 winning years in 2012, Roush Fenway is the leader in NASCAR marketing solutions, pioneering its exclusive Roush Fenway OnTrack sponsorship measurement services, motorsport’s first team-focused TV show and its award-winning social marketing channel RickyvsTrevor.com. Visit www.RoushFenway.com, circle on Google+ at +Roush Fenway Racing, become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/roushfenway and follow on Twitter at @roushfenway. For sponsorship inquiries call John Bauersfeld at 704.720.4621.
