► JRM Switch To Bires Underway
Running in the NASCAR Nationwide Series is nothing new to Kelly Bires, but this weekend it will be. He’ll attempt to qualify for his new team, JR Motorsports, in the No. 5 Ragu Chevrolet.
Bires joined the organization earlier this fall, taking over the slot left by Brad Keselowski (No. 88 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet), who is moving to Penske Racing to run full time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and in the NASCAR Nationwide Series next year.
Keselowski is running in his final NASCAR Nationwide race for JRM this weekend and has the opportunity to move into second place in the standings, which would be the highest ranking for a series-only regular since reigning series champion Clint Bowyer was runner-up to 2005 champion Martin Truex Jr. Keselowski, in third, is 60 points behind second-place Carl Edwards.
Bires will be available Friday at 3:15 p.m. in the media deadline room at Homestead-Miami.
► Keller Back In Familiar Territory
Jason Keller (No. 27 USPS Ford) has secured the 10th top-10 NASCAR Nationwide Series driver standings finish of his career, ending a three-year drought. From 1999-2005, he collected seven consecutive top-10 finishes in the points standings, including two second-place results (2000, ‘02).
Currently eighth, only 29 points behind Steve Wallace (No. 66 USFidelis Chevrolet), Keller, 39, has finished in the top 15 in six of the last eight races, including two top 10s. His eight top-10 finishes in 2009 have doubled his 2008 total and are the most he has registered since 2004. His next top-10 finish will be the 175th of his career, second-best in series history. Keller, the series’ all-time leader in starts, will make his 492nd on Saturday, leaving him eight shy of becoming the first driver in series history to register 500 starts.
► Toyota Searching For First HMS Win
In addition to Joe Nemechek’s three victories, Jeff Burton (No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet) is the only other driver to register multiple wins at HMS with two. His last win came in 2007, which clinched the owner championship for Richard Childress Racing.
Burton’s win — from the 30th starting position, the deepest in the field by any winner at HMS — added to Chevrolet’s total of seven, making the manufacturer the track winner in series competition.
Ford, on the heels of Carl Edwards’ victory last year, has won two of the last three races at the 1.5-mile track but over the last four events, three of the four series manufacturers have registered at least one win (all but Toyota), making Homestead-Miami one of eight active series tracks at which the manufacturer has yet to win.
Toyota clinched its second consecutive Bill France Performance Cup title last month following the race at Memphis Motorsports Park.
► Banner Year Comes To A Close
Key numbers for the NASCAR Nationwide Series as the 2009 season ends:
►12 different race winners
►19 different Coors Light Pole winners
►50 drivers led at least one lap
►50 drivers have scored at least one top-10 finish this year
►Average Margin of Victory of 1.083 seconds
►17 races with an MOV under 1 second
►Average of 6 leaders per race
►Average of 11 lead changes per race
►Average of 17 green-flag passes for the lead all along the track (most since inception of Loop Data in 2005)
►Average of 1,491 green-flag passes per race
►39% of the cars finished on the lead lap
►71% of the cars were running at the finish
► Up Next: Daytona, 2010
The next time the NASCAR Nationwide Series is on track will be Februrary 2010 at Daytona International Speedway to kick off the 28th season of series competition — and the 28th season-opening race at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
The Camping World 300 opens the 2010 campaign on Saturday, Feb. 13 — a season that will feature the points-racing debut of the NASCAR Nationwide Series new car at Daytona five months later, on July 2.
Tony Stewart, last year’s winner, has won four of the last five season-openers. Kevin Harvick, a two-time series champion and the car owner for Stewart in two of those victories, broke Stewart’s streak with a win in 2007.
Fast Facts
Next Race: Ford 300
The Place: Homestead-Miami Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
The Date: Saturday, Nov. 21
The Time: 4:30 p.m. ET
The Distance: 300 miles / 200 laps
2008 Winner: Carl Edwards
2008 Polesitter: Joey Logano
Event Schedule (all times ET): Friday – Practice, 1:10-3 p.m., Final Practice 6:40-7:20 p.m.; Saturday – Qualifying, 11:35 a.m.
2009 Standings
Driver Points
1 Kyle Busch 5,487
2 Carl Edwards 5,297
3 Brad Keselowski 5,237
4 Jason Leffler 4,431
5 Mike Bliss 3,960
6 Justin Allgaier 3,946
7 Steve Wallace 3,860
8 Jason Keller 3,831
9 Brendan Gaughan 3,784
10 Michael Annett 3,498
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