CHINA GROVE, N.C. (May 17, 2011) – After a two-race absence, Robert Richardson, Jr. is ready to return to his No. 23 North Texas Pipe Dodge of R3 Motorsports for Sunday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway.
Like all the other drivers, this will be his second NNS start at the Newton, Iowa facility. A noteworthy item about this race is that it is on Sunday, which means the NNS will have the NASCAR spotlight on them for that afternoon.
This is brought forth because the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers will be competing in the All-Star races on Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This enables for more “true” NNS drivers to compete amongst themselves for points and positions.
Richardson is ready to get back behind the wheel and earn another good finish for the team, just like he did the last time out at Richmond International Raceway.
Fast Facts: This will Robert Richardson, Jr’s 10th NNS start of the year and 79th of his NNS career. His best marks of 2011 have been a 26th-place start at Talladega Superspeedway and finish of 20th, which occurred the last time he was in the No. 23 North Texas Pipe Dodge at Richmond International Raceway three races ago.
Track Facts: It’s pretty much a level playing field for almost everyone as this will be only the second visit of the NNS to Iowa Speedway. In last year’s race, Richardson finished 23rd for R3 Motorsports.
Car Facts: Walter Giles and team are taking chassis No. 54 to Iowa. This will be the third time out for this Dodge with the first coming at Phoenix, finished 24th, and second one at Richmond, where they finished 20th.
Making Points: The No. 23 Dodge of R3 Motorsports is currently tied for 29th in the Owner’s Points trailing 28th by one marker and 27th by nine points.
Tune in for the Win: There will be two practices on Friday afternoon, then one on Saturday morning with qualifying taking place later at 4:30 p.m. (ET). Race action begins at 2 p.m. on ABC-TV for all 250 laps of action on Sunday, with radio action on MRN Radio and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90.
Robert Richardson, Jr. Quotes: “I’m really looking forward to getting back in the car this weekend. We had a good run and learned a few things at Richmond that really helped us in the second half of the race. Walter made some good notes that we are going to use this weekend at Iowa to be even stronger when the green flag flies.
“Having only one race under our belts at Iowa is both good, and bad. It’s good because almost everyone else has had only one race here keeping us on an even ground. But, it’s also bad because you don’t have a lot of notes or experience to go off of for the weekend. We have three good practices to figure everything out, so that’s a good thing.
“I like Iowa Speedway because its fast, has the graduated banking, you can run a few different grooves and it’s just a fun track. The people and fans that come out for this race are great, so we’re going to do our best to put on a good show for them.”
