TALLADEGA, AL – Talladega Superspeedway today announced the Honorary Starter and the Grand Marshal for the fred’s 250 Powered by Coca-Cola NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race on Saturday, Oct. 24.
Craig Barnes, Executive Vice President of Supply Chain, Logistics and Loss Prevention for fred’s pharmacy, which combines the best elements of a pharmacy, discount store, and convenient mass merchant store, will serve as the Grand Marshal and give the command for the most famous words in motorsports – “Driver’s, Start Your Engines”. Serving as the Honorary Starter for the fred’s 250 Powered by Coca-Cola to wave the green flag to start of Saturday’s race will be Erskine Casey, Vice President of Merchandising for fred’s.
Barnes, an eight year Naval Reserve Veteran, has been with the fred’s team since July 2014 and has 30 years of extensive retail leadership experience in merchandising, sourcing and supply chain. Casey, from Collierville, TN, is responsible for the consumable areas in Merchandising for fred’s and has been with the company for three and a half years.
The fred’s 250 Powered by Coca-Cola will feature a hot and contested battle for the season-long NCWTS title with just five races remaining. Young gun Erik Jones leads the standings by just four points over veteran Matt Crafton, with defending fred’s 250 Powered by Coca-Cola pole winner Tyler Reddick 16 behind.
In addition to the fred’s 250 Powered by Coca-Cola, Saturday’s schedule includes Foodland/Food Giant qualifying for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) CampingWorld.com 500, as well as qualifying for the NCWTS fred’s 250 Powered by Coca-Cola. The day concludes in the evening with Talladega Superspeedway’s traditional infield concert featuring award-winning Mercury Nashville recording artist Easton Corbin.
The action doesn’t stop on Saturday, however. Sunday, Oct. 25, the CampingWorld.com 500 NSCS race gets the green flag at 1:30 p.m. CDT. The race will be the sixth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and the final race in the Contender Round, where the field of eligible drivers will be trimmed from 12 to eight at the checkered flag.
About Talladega Superspeedway
Talladega Superspeedway is NASCAR’s Most Competitive Track (record 88 lead changes in 188 laps), most banked (33 degrees), and longest (2.66 miles), as well as the most fun and fan-friendly, offering up hundreds of acres of free camping, amazing kids ticket prices and special offers for military members and college students. The historic venue, built in 1969, is NASCAR’s “Party Capital” thanks to the track’s infamous infield, which features the traditional Saturday Night concert and the world renowned Talladega Blvd, home of the “Big One on the Blvd” party. It is the site of the most comfortable seats in motorsports, large video viewing boards (a new initiative planned for future implementation at all ISC tracks) lining the frontstretch and endless activities for fans throughout its event weekends. Log on to www.talladegasuperspeedway.
About fred’s
fred’s operates 661 discount general merchandise stores and three specialty pharmacy-only locations in 15 states in the southeastern United States. Included in the store count are 19 franchised locations. Also, there are 383 full service pharmacy departments located within the discount stores. For more information, visit fred’s website at www.fredsinc.com and for more information about fred’s pharmacy, visit www.fredsmeds.com
