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[/media-credit]EVENT: History 300 (200 laps / 300 miles)
TRACK: Charlotte Motor Speedway
LENGTH: 1.5-mile quad-oval
TV: ABC (Coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. EST)
RADIO: PRN (2 p.m. EST)
Cole Whitt
“Our 88 team has made some strong gains over the past few races and hopefully we can carry that into this weekend. We have Ingersoll Rand on the car this week and we want to get a good run. They’re headquartered right up the road in Davidson (N.C.), so they’re going to have a lot of guests at the race and I think we can perform well for them.
“Charlotte is a fun racetrack and it’s sure to create a lot of competitive racing. I’m looking forward to it. I feel pretty confident about the weekend with the way we’ve been running. We need to bring a good setup and be prepared for how hot and humid it’s going to be. The final practice is going to be cru-cial in making sure we get our car really close to how we need it in the race.” Danica Patrick
“We’ve had a lot happen in these first 10 races of the season. We’ve had times where we’ve been good, and things just didn’t fall in our favor. But I think there has also been some great stuff that has happened. Un-fortunately, all the great stuff hasn’t materialized to great results in the race. Sometimes it’s just a good qualifying effort or being really good in practice, and doing things that I wasn’t doing before. You know, last week my first run in our practice was my fastest. That is nice to know. It means I’m getting more comfortable with the car and feeling the limits more and able to get up to speed a lot quicker. I think overall things have been on a good swing lately. I’m hoping we can do the same at Charlotte this weekend.” Notes
2012 RACE WEEK FESTIVITIES SET TO BEGIN AT JRM – Beginning on Thurs., May 24, and continuing through Mon., May 28, fans are invited to the JRM facility in Mooresville, N.C. for festivities surrounding Charlotte race week. Highlighting the action is an autograph session on Friday, May 25 from 3 to 4 p.m. with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, Cole Whitt and Kelley Earnhardt Miller. Kerry Earnhardt, Karsyn Elledge, L.W. Miller, and late model driver, Josh Berry will also be included in the session. Click here for more information and the complete schedule.
HOME TRACK STATS – JR Motorsports has earned two top-five and eight top-10s racing in front of its hometown crowd at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Brad Keselowski earned the team’s best finish at the 1.5-mile oval with a third-place effort in the spring of 2008. Team JRM earned two top-five and three top-10 finishes between its three entries in that event. Team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished fourth in the No. 83 Chevrolet and Jimmie Johnson, piloting the No. 5 Chevrolet, ended the race in 10th.
WHITT CONTINUES TOP-10 STREAK – Whitt extended his consecutive top-10 streak to three after his seventh-place finish at Iowa Speedway last weekend. Dating back to Talladega Superspeedway, the 88 team has an average finish of 7.0. Whitt has also accumulated the second-most points (113) of any Nationwide Series regular over that three-race span, trailing only points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in points earned. The rookie has notched a top-10 finish in five of his 10 starts this season.
INGERSOLL RAND PARTNERSHIP – JR Motorsports welcomes Ingersoll Rand as primary sponsor of Whitt’s No. 88 Chevrolet this weekend. Ingersoll Rand has been featured on the No. 88 as an associate partner, but this weekend marks its first primary paint scheme with the team. JRM’s garage and pit crews use powerful pneumatic tools from Ingersoll Rand to improve the performance abilities of its cars throughout the season, including the famed Ingersoll Rand ThunderGun. The company has been supplying pit crews with efficient pit tools since 1959. A global company that employs more than 50,000, Ingersoll Rand has its North American headquarters in Davidson, N.C. For more information, visit ingersollrand.com.
PATRICK TO PULL 900 MILES WORTH OF DOUBLE DUTY – Patrick will gear up for an extensive racing this weekend, as she’ll compete in both the 300-mile Nationwide Series race on Saturday afternoon and the 600-mile Sprint Cup race on Sunday evening. If Patrick completes every lap in both events, she will total 600 laps and 900 miles in only two days of competition. That is roughly the equivalent of driving from Charlotte Motor Speedway to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a journey that includes travel through eight states.
WHITT AND PATRICK’S MEDIA AVAILABILITY – Whitt will have media availability at 12:20 p.m. EST on Thursday, May 24 at the No. 88 hauler in the Nationwide Series garage. Patrick will be available to media members at 12:45 p.m. EST on Thursday, May 24 in the Charlotte Motor Speedway media center.
WIN DALE JR.’S RIDE ROUND TWO – For the second consecutive year, The Dale Jr. Foundation will be raffling off Dale Jr.’s ride. This time around it’s an inferno-orange colored 2011 Chevrolet Camaro. Raffle tickets are only $25 each and only 8,888 will be sold. The winner will be invited to JR Motorsports, where Dale Jr. will hand over the keys to their brand new car. The contest will run through Oct. 1, 2012 with all proceeds benefitting The Dale Jr. Foundation. For complete details about the car, a list of second and third-place prizes, and to purchase tickets visit www.windalejrsride.com.
