DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA (February 20, 2011) – – Boasting an eye-catching paint scheme promoting the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) on the No. 23 Dodge Challenger R/T, Robert Richardson Jr. had high hopes for Saturday’s DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona (Fla.) International.

Steadily improving their No. 23 Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Dodge Challenger R/T throughout the practice sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, McKinney, Texas native Richardson Jr., knew that despite posting the 38th fastest qualifying effort on Friday afternoon, his R3 Motorsports prepared Dodge had the capabilities of being a contender in the 30th Nationwide Series event held at the “World Center of Racing”.

When the green flag waived on the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) season-opener, Robertson Jr., brilliantly gained 10 positions in the first lap. With guidance from his spotter, former NASCAR driver David Keith, the Sam Bass-designed Dodge Challenger R/T continued to march through the field and by lap five, Richardson Jr. had cleverly navigated his automobile into the seventh position.

Richardson Jr. would remain tucked in with the lead-pack, flirting between the top-10 and top-15 before the first caution flag waived on lap 15.

Under the yellow flag, crew chief Walter Giles keyed the radio and advised his driver to come to pit road for four tires and fuel. A solid stop by the R3 bunch would send the former Southern Methodist University quarterback back into competition.

Returning to racing, Richardson Jr. would remain comfortably inside the top-25 but the field had strung into several groups including the non-popular two car caboose. Despite remaining tucked in with a group of race cars, the leaders, which all consisted of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) veterans, would overtake Richardson’s bunch on lap 52, taking the No. 23 Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Dodge Challenger R/T from the lead circuit.

A few laps later, the caution flag would waive which offered the opportunity for Giles to make a strategy call. While the leaders came to pit road, the R3 Motorsports vehicle remained on the 2.5-mile superspeedway thus finding themselves back on the lead lap through NASCAR’s “waive around” policy.

Hoping for a caution shortly after the restart, Richardson Jr. began his climb back towards the front but Giles had no choice to bring his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie to pit road under green flag conditions on lap 68 for fuel only.

The stop would cost Richardson Jr., his lead lap status again. Vowing though not to give up, the former ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards driver slowly inched up the leader board despite losing another two laps under green because of the leader’s unbelievably fast and torrid pace.

Richardson Jr. would retrieve one of his laps lost when the leaders made green flag pit stops approximately 30 laps from the checkered flag. The yellow flag slowed the field once again on lap 101 with Giles opting to bring his former NASCAR Southeast Touring Division pilot to pit road for the final time for four tires and fuel.

Although the team realized that they may have been out of contention for the win, they were reprieved on the fact they still could obtain a respectable finish.

Shortly after the green flag waived, several cars ahead of No. 23 Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Dodge Challenger R/T made contact and spun directly in the path of Richardson Jr. The 26-year old locked the brakes, but was unable to escape the chaos unscathed on lap 105.

The former late-model ace brought his damaged machine to pit road to be examined by his R3 team. Upon further inspection it was determined that the radiator had been busted. With the number of laps remaining in the 200 mile event, the team would be unable to repair their automobile, thus forcing an unplanned exit in the contest and settle for a frustrating 32nd place finish.

“This was tough to swallow,” said Richardson Jr., who made his 70th career Nationwide start at Daytona. “We proved within the very first few laps of the race that we had a car capable of winning the race. We dropped back and were just biding our time and then our day seemed to come unraveled. It’s a shame because we had an awesome Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Dodge Challenger R/T. I’m sorry we could not deliver them a better finish, but we’ll make it up to them next weekend at Phoenix.”

He added, “I want to thank the R3 team for giving me a great race car, one of the best I’ve ever had at Daytona. The race was interesting to say the least. You had to be literally hooked up and latched with another car to even have an impact. We found a couple good partners out there, just couldn’t avoid the mess ahead of us. We’ll get this hot rod fixed and unleash her again at Talladega.”

The R3 Motorsports welcomed a special guest on Saturday. With the team’s announcement of WCS earlier in the week, Sebastian Teunissen, Executive Director of Global Corporate Leadership arrived Saturday morning to partake in his first stock car event to support Richardson Jr. and his family-owned team.

Teunissen, a resident of Bronx, New York sat atop the pit box with Giles and R3 Motorsports car owner Robert Richardson Sr.

On Sunday, February 20th, Richardson Jr. will make his second consecutive start in the Super Bowl of NASCAR, the Daytona 500. In an entry fielded by Front Row Motorsports (FRM), Richardson Jr. will start his No. 37 Texas North Pipe Ford Fusion a career best 28th in his sixth career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start.

Round two of 34 on the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule steers the sanctioning body West to Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway for the running of the Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 on Saturday, February 26. The green flag will waive shortly after 5:30 p.m. Eastern with live covered provided by ESPN2, MRN and XM-Sirius Satellite Radio (Channel 128).

For further information and to join WCS’s mission, please logon to their website at WCS.org. http://www.wcs.org/

Additional input on Robert Richardson Jr. is available online by clicking over to RobertRichardson.net.

About WCS:

Founded in 1895, the Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. They do so through science, global conservation, education and the management of the world’s largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo. Together these activities change attitudes toward nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in harmony. WCS is committed to its platform, because it is essential to the integrity of life on Earth.

LATE RACE INCIDENT SPOILS SOLID RUN FOR JASON WHITE AT DAYTONA

Daytona Beach, FL (2-18-2011) – After a solid run in the top-5 for most of Friday night’s NextEra Energy Resources 250, Jason White and the No. 23 GunBroker.com Chevrolet got caught up in a late-race incident, relegating the rookie team to a 30th place finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway.

White, in his fourth year in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, qualified the No. 23 GunBroker.com Chevrolet twelfth in Thursday evening’s time trials. The Richmond, VA native took only one lap around Daytona’s 2.5-mile superspeedway notching a fast lap of 51.191 seconds (175.812 mph), placing the rookie team on the outside of the sixth row for the start of the 100-lap shootout Friday night.

The 36-truck field took the green flag just past 7:30 p.m. ET in front of an estimated crowd of 57,000. Driver, Jason White and crew chief Chad Kendrick had a solid plan in place to move to the front of the pack when the green flag fell, which is exactly what they did. By lap 4, the orange and black GunBroker.com Chevy had found its way to the bottom of the track running single file in the 5th position.

White maintained his position inside the top-5 over the next 34 laps which included a green flag pit stop on lap 30 for a minor chassis adjustment and fuel. When the first caution flag was waved at lap 39 for an accident in turn two, Kendrick made the call to leave the No. 23 machine out on the track. When the race resumed on lap 42, White was scored in the fourth position.

Restarting on the top of the race track, White struggled over the next five laps to get his GunBroker.com Chevy to the bottom of the track and was shuffled all the way back to the 16th position. When the second caution flag of the evening fell on lap 55 for debris, Chad Kendrick used the opportunity to bring the GunBroker.com machine down pit road for fuel and four Goodyear tires. White would resume the race in the 28th position.

With 43 laps to go, White made a charge to the front, and was scored 15th just three laps later. The field was slowed once again at lap 67 for accident in turn one. Kendrick made the call to bring the No. 23 machine down pit road for the final stop of the evening to top off with fuel, and White would maintain his position on the race track when the field went back to green on lap 69.

Just seven laps later, the No. 5 machine of Travis Kvapil cut a left front tire while making his way into Turn-1, causing a 14 truck pile-up and ultimately ending the night for Jason White and the Joe Denette Motorsports team.

Michael Waltrip went on to win his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race followed by Elliott Sadler in second, while Clay Rogers rounded out the top-3.

“Obviously, this isn’t the finish we were looking for at Daytona,” said White. “We had such a great GunBroker.com Chevy here and ran up front most of the night. We got back in the pack following a pit stop and when the wreck happened we got piled up and had nowhere to go. That is just the way it happens sometimes at Daytona though. The team and I will put this behind us and we look forward to Phoenix.”

Up next for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is the second stop of the season at Phoenix International Raceway. The Lucas Oil 150 will take the green flag Friday night, February 25 at 8:00 p.m. ET. Race coverage will be televised on SPEED and also broadcasted live on MRN Radio at 7:45 p.m. ET.

For more information on Joe Denette Motorsports please visit: www.JoeDenetteMotorsports.com

For more information on Jason White and GunBroker.com please visit: www.GunBrokerRacing.com

Follow Joe Denette Motorsports on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/TeamJDM23

Follow Jason White on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/JasonWhite23

Follow GunBroker.com on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/GunBroker

MAKE Motorsports Creates Noise at Daytona

Bell Left with 31st Place Finish After Tangle in the Draft

Daytona Beach, Fla. (February 19, 2011)- Family-owned NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team MAKE Motorsports made the trip to Daytona International Speedway for the first time in its existence to attempt to qualify for the Next-Era Energy Resources 250. Keeping the nose clean and in contention for nearly three-quarters of the NextEra Energy Resources 250, the first “big one” of the night unfortunately ended Bell’s night and his team’s hopes of a solid finish prematurely.

From the first laps on the track on Wednesday to a nerve wrenching qualifying session on Thursday night, driver TJ Bell maintained high hopes for the No. 50 Pinnacle Rubber Mulch/Liberty Tire Recycling Chevy. Running well in the draft through both NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice sessions, Crew Chief Tom Buzze and TJ put their heads together to find the right setup for single truck speed before qualifying on Thursday night.

Lacking owner’s points from 2010, Bell would have to beat 10 of the 19 trucks who were not locked into the field. Laying down a lap of 51.549 seconds, Bell placed his Silverado 22nd to make the NextEra Energy Resources 250 based on time and speed.

Kicking off the 250-mile race, Bell contently rode within the top 15 trucks to test the waters and find a good dancing partner for the first 20 laps. Buzze called Bell down pit road for two tires and a full tank of fuel on lap 31, just seven laps before the first yellow flag of the night on lap 38 for a single truck accident. Bell expressed to his team the truck was handling well, but he needed someone to push him in order to get a good run. Finding a couple solid drafting partners, Bell raced his way into the top five and maintained position in the lead pack for the next 30 laps.

Beginning around lap 70, the Reno, Nevada-native began to get caught up in traffic and was shuffled back from the front pack. Bell was searching for the line that would help him get back to the front when the No. 5 of Travis Kvapil blew a tire on lap 75, causing a chain reaction. The Pinnacle Rubber Mulch Silverado became a victim and was hooked into the wall by the trucks directly in front of it, suffering significant damage that would ultimately end the night for Bell and MAKE Motorsports.

“It’s really unfortunate that it had to end the way it did because the Pinnacle Rubber Mulch truck was running really well. If we had someone pushing us we were really fast and the truck was handling really well no matter what situation I put it in,” Bell commented following the incident. “I can’t say enough about this team of guys that put this truck together, and for all of our sponsors like Liberty Tire Recycling, Pro Gold Engine Treatment and VP Parts Warehouse. We raced our way to the front and everyone knew that MAKE Motorsports was there, regardless of the finishing position we brought home.”

Crew Chief Buzze was pleased with the team’s performance and ability to make the best of their run at Daytona as well.

“TJ did a great job keeping the truck in the lead pack for the majority of the race and we were just logging laps until the finish. It’s unfortunate we were caught up in the mess, but it’s typical Daytona. I’m proud of the team for pulling everything together and we’re going to work hard until the next one.”

For more information and updates on MAKE Motorsports, visit MAKEMotorsports.com http://makemotorsports.com/ and our Facebook Fan Page, and follow us on Twitter @MAKEMotorsports.

ABOUT LIBERTY TIRE RECYCLING:

Liberty Tire Recycling is the premier provider of tire recycling services in North America. By recycling more than 110 million tires annually, Liberty Tire reclaims about 1.5 billion pounds of rubber for innovative, eco-friendly products. The recycled rubber produced by Liberty Tire is used as crumb rubber and industrial feedstock for molded products; as tire-derived fuel for industrial kilns, mills and power plants; and as rubber mulch for landscaping and playgrounds. The company maintains a nationwide network of processing plants, and comprehensive door-to-door collection services. Liberty Tire Recycling is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA. For more information, please visit www.libertytire.com http://www.libertytire.com/ .

ABOUT MAKE MOTORSPORTS: Founded in 2010 by Mark Beaver and Tracy Lowe, diverse motorsports owners with 50 years combined in racing, MAKE Motorsports made a natural progression into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. In previous endeavors, Mark Beaver has owned NHRA, IHRA, Super Late Model Dirt Series, Legends, SCCA Trans Am and SCCA World Challenge teams. One of the only female team owners in racing, Tracy Lowe has owned and competed in Dirt Late Models and SCCA before taking on the NCWTS ranks. Believing only in the best quality prepared vehicles, experienced crew and sound business practices, MAKE Motorsports is the first NCWTS team to be operated out of historic Shelby, NC in 15 years. For more information, visit http://www.makemotorsports.com/ www.MAKEMotorsports.com, Find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/MAKEMotorsports www.Twitter.com/MAKEMotorsports.

Stewart captures fourth straight DRIVE4COPD 300

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Tony Stewart made a late charge with the aid of outside pole-sitter Landon Cassill to steal the win from the tandem of Clint Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt Jr. by .007 seconds in Saturday’s 53rd annual DRIVE4COPD 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at historic Daytona International Speedway.

Stewart, who led five times for 13 laps, has dominated the season-opening NASCAR Nationwide Series event – winning four straight and six of the last seven. He is now just one shy of Dale Earnhardt’s record seven wins and is tied with Bobby Allison for the second-most wins all-time at the “World Center of Racing” with 16. The late Dale Earnhardt tops the list with 34.

“This is momentum and a great way to lead into tomorrow,” said Stewart, who was 11th with six laps to go. “There’s nothing better than going back to the motorhome tonight knowing you just won the race and have a shot of doing it tomorrow.”

Stewart’s surge at the finish line gave the No. 4 Kevin Harvick, Inc. Chevrolet the closest series finish at DIS and the third-closest finish in series history.

“Tony just used me when he needed to and that’s awesome,” said Cassill, who is the series’ points leader but doesn’t have a ride in next week’s race. “He taught me something. We swapped with two (laps) to go and he knew where to take the car and I don’t know if I could have done that like he did. I’m just happy to be pushing him through it and maybe next time I’ll be the one leading him through.

Bowyer finished second with Cassill, Earnhardt Jr., and Reed Sorenson rounding out the top five, respectively.

Defending series champion Brad Keselowski kept his No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge near the front for most of the race until he was caught up in an incident on lap 106, breaking his record 102-straight races without a DNF.

Eight drivers swapped the lead a race-record tying 35 times and 12 drivers of the 43-car field completed all 120 laps around the 2.5-mile tri-oval. Danica Patrick led a lap in the No. 7 Chevrolet, making her the first woman to lead a NASCAR-sanctioned event at Daytona International Speedway.

A limited number of tickets for the 53rd annual Daytona 500 are available online at www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com http://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/ or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP.

Fans can stay connected with Daytona International Speedway on Twitter (www.twitter.com/disupdates) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/DaytonaInternationalSpeedway).

Kyle Busch (seventh) was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Daytona International Speedway.

Camry driver Michael Waltrip also earned a top-10 finish with a ninth-place result in the 120-lap event.

Joey Logano (12th), Joe Nemechek (15th), Todd Bodine (18th), Steve Wallace (20th), Kenny Wallace (28th), Brian Scott (34th) and Michael Annett (39th) were also in the 300-mile race around the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 7th What happened at the end of the race with Joey Logano? “It was just unfortunate with Joey (Logano) there. We had two great race cars all day. We worked together the whole time. All we wanted to do was bring it home in one piece and unfortunately we didn’t make it — just circumstances. I saw the 4 (Tony Stewart) coming up in my mirror really, really quick so I tried to block the middle and come down just a little bit. Obviously that off-centered me from Joey’s rear bumper and turned him sideways — completely my fault. Unintentional, but just trying to make it to where the 4 didn’t have room to shoot up through the middle of us there and make us all three-wide all pushing each other. I hate it for those guys and Joey and everybody on the GameStop team. Our Z-Line Camry was good and worked well with them all day. Just unfortunate at the end there.”

Did you have fun drafting with Joey Logano in the race? “Yeah, we did a great job today. All day we worked really, really well together. It was just due to circumstances. Joey wanted to run the top and try to stay separate from those guys, but I wanted to block the middle so (Tony) Stewart couldn’t come up there. We just weren’t on the same page at that moment in time and obviously we got a little disengaged there. Overall though, we worked really well on the radio and things were great. We did it in practice today on the Cup side. We’ll see how it plays out tomorrow and should be fine.”

What were you able to learn today for tomorrow’s race? “That communication over the radio is a big deal I think. Having guys that you can click over and talk to — that’s going to be really, really key. That was good and just being able to talk and have that dialogue back and forth on what we could do, what we could strategize on and all that.”

Were you optimistic when you were back with Clint Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the last restart? “I felt pretty optimistic about it. I just wanted to block the middle so that would have made the 4 (Tony Stewart) and the 1 (Landon Cassill) pick a lane — who are you going to push? Are you going to push the outside or are you going to push the inside? They probably would have pushed the inside being as though they were Chevrolets too. That was my whole goal was to make it a race between us four and once the 4 kind of showed his nose there in the middle I tried to block it.”

Will there be an added risk now of getting off-center in the closing laps and spinning the car in front of you? “I thought the 4 (Tony Stewart) was going to come up and push me and just try to get our row past, but then when he tried going through the middle — that’s obviously when I tried to block the middle. It got Joey (Logano) and I off-center and cost him to wreck. Luckily it wasn’t a big pile. I say Joey did a good job over-correcting. Normally you don’t say that you want to over-correct, but instead of spinning out in front of all of us and collecting all five or whatever there was left behind there — he did a nice job getting it out of the way.”

Do you feel better prepared for tomorrow following this race? “Nope. It’s all circumstances. It just comes down to where you are at the end of the race and try to make the most of it. Tony Stewart must be the luckiest guy around Daytona every February — besides Sunday. He uses it all up on Saturday — that’s his deal. I’m trying to save a little bit of mine for tomorrow.”

MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 99 Pastrana-Waltrip Racing Toyota Camry, Pastrana-Waltrip Racing Finishing Position: 9th How was your race? “It was disappointing. I should’ve helped Trevor (Bayne) at the end. I just screwed up. I should’ve let him get in line and I didn’t and then I didn’t have anybody to play with. Then Kasey (Kahne) got there, but it was too late. It was just typical — yesterday was perfect and it felt awesome and today everything just seemed to keep going wrong. We had a shot, but I just made a mistake. I should’ve pushed the 16 (Trevor Bayne).”

MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 99 Pastrana-Waltrip Racing Toyota Camry, Pastrana-Waltrip Racing (cont) Do you expect the same type of racing in tomorrow’s Daytona 500? “Certainly. Today, I think, is a whole lot of what you’ll see tomorrow and so it just gets really crazy — 500 miles and you’ve got to be running at the end. We’ll just try and figure it all out and hopefully have a good outcome at the end of the day.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 12th What happened at the end of the race? “Kyle (Busch) and I were just pushing each other trying to win the race and I can’t even tell you what happened because it happened so quick. We were just pushing each other hard and just talking to Kyle. He was trying to block the center group coming up and I think he just moved a little bit too quick and it just sent me going. I almost had a save and then it came back and slapped the wall so that was the end of that.”

Did you think you and Kyle (Busch) had a chance to win the race? “Of course we had something for them. Kyle (Busch) and I were working with each other and we drove each other up there and we worked good as teammates all day. It’s not his fault. It’s just a product of this racing we’ve got. It sucks because you can’t do nothing about it. There’s nothing else we can do to make us stop doing it and unfortunately it’s just ridiculously stupid at the end of the day, and we were wrecking each other so that’s the hard part.”

Do you expect the same type of racing in tomorrow’s Daytona 500? “Oh yeah, the same thing. The good thing is we did a good job as teammates working with each other and learning how to do this better. We did a good job with it all day. Our Toyota’s can’t push as long as the Chevy’s and Ford’s can so we had to switch a whole lot of times compared to everybody else. I don’t know what to do about a finish like that. That’s going to be part of our racing here at Daytona and at Talladega.”

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 D.A.B. Constructors, Inc. Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Finishing Position: 15th

TODD BODINE, No. 15 Tire Kingdom-Valvoline Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Finishing Position: 18th

STEVE WALLACE, No. 66 5-Hour Energy Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing Finishing Position: 20th

KENNY WALLACE, No. 09 UNOH Toyota Camry, RAB Racing with Brack Maggard Finishing Position: 28th

BRIAN SCOTT, No. 11 Shore Lodge Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 34th What happened to take you out of the race? “I don’t know — we could’ve been the cause of it. I had the 31 of Justin Allgaier pushing me. He just had me out of control so I tried to radio my spotter to tell him to back off. We came out of (turn) 1 and the 60 (Carl Edwards) came down and things started happened. I know a wreck started, but I kind of got loose and then saved it and had it going straight and was just trying to miss everything and I didn’t see the 12 (Sam Hornish Jr.) coming through the grass back on the race track and ended up centering him. It’s just really unfortunate. These guys obviously put a lot of work in over the offseason on our Shore Lodge Toyota and it’s not the way that anybody wants to start off the season. Right now, we’ll just salvage whatever we can. These guys are going to get us back out there and we’ll get finished.”

MICHAEL ANNETT, No. 62 Pilot Travel Centers/Flying J Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing Finishing Position: 39th