Race: O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge
NASCAR Nationwide Series: 31 of 33
Track: Texas Motor Speedway
Track Length: 1.5 miles
John Blankenship will make his second NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) start with Tommy Baldwin Racing (TBR) this weekend. The West Virginia native will pilot the No. 44 COAL/Save Our Country Chevrolet in his Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) debut.
TBR AT TEXAS – This weekend will mark TBR’s first NNS start at TMS. TBR made six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at the Fort Worth track. David Reutimann tallied the team’s best start of 31st and finish of 26th in the spring event this season. This weekend will be the team’s fifth 1.5-mile NNS start this season. Ryan Blaney scored the team’s best start of 14th and finish of 15th at Kentucky Speedway.
BLANKENSHIP’S TEXAS DEBUT – Blankenship will make his TMS NNS debut this weekend. The dirt racer has made one NNS and five ARCA starts. He also made one NASCAR K&N Pro Series East start at Columbus Motor Speedway. In his NNS debut at Iowa Speedway, Blankenship started 26th and finished 23rd. He scored a sixth-place finish in the ARCA race at Michigan International Speedway this season.
CHASSIS NO. 504 – The TBR NNS team will bring chassis No. 504 to TMS this weekend. The chassis was purchased from Richard Childress Racing during the offseason. Blanekship tested the chassis at Nashville Speedway last month.
KEEPING UP WITH TBR – Keep up with TBR by following twitter.com/TBR_Racing and facebook.com/TBR.HBR.
John Blankenship Quotes: ON MAKING HIS NATIONWIDE DEBUT AT TEXAS – “I’m excited to get back behind the wheel of a Nationwide car. We tested at Nashville a few weeks ago and feel more comfortable in a Nationwide car. Texas will be my first 1.5-mile track race, so I am looking forward to learning such a high-speed track.”
About Tommy Baldwin Racing: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Crew Chief Tommy Baldwin formed Tommy Baldwin Racing (TBR) in 2009. Baldwin utilized a declining economy to open a NSCS team with a stringent budget. The team worked to build to full-time competition, and by the 2011 season, the team’s third season, TBR competed in every race and locked the No. 36 Chevrolet in the top-35 in NSCS Owner Points. Dave Blaney drove the No. 36 Chevrolet to TBR’s highest finish of third in the October 2011 event at Talladega Superspeedway. TBR also fielded a second car for select races in the past two seasons with multiple drivers.
Based in Mooresville, N.C., TBR will compete in the NSCS in 2012 with NASCAR veterans David Reutimann and Dave Blaney. The team will also compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series with Ryan Blaney, Bobby Santos and Ryan Truex.
For more information on Tommy Baldwin Racing, visit tommybaldwinracing.com or follow us on Facebook, facebook.com/TBR.HBR, and Twitter, twitter.com/TBR_Racing.
