Kerry and Reed sit down and talk about his Nationwide Series schedule for this year, his Cup experience, the value of pit crews, his crew chief, Green-White-Checkered “wreck-fests”, paybacks, and Texas.

Richard Petty Motorsports And Kasey Kahne To Part Ways In 2011
04.13.2010

Concord, N.C. (April 13, 2010) – Richard Petty Motorsports announced today that driver Kasey Kahne has informed the team he will not renew his contract at the conclusion of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Kahne, driver the No. 9 Budweiser Ford Fusion, has been with RPM since entering NASCAR’s premier series in 2004.

“Kasey is a very talented driver and I have enjoyed watching him race. We all wish him nothing but the best and hope he succeeds in anything he chooses to do,” said team owner Richard Petty.
“Drivers like Kasey Kahne are the very reason we got into this sport. Kasey has helped us get to where we are today,” George Gillett, owner of Richard Petty Motorsports said. “We wish him well in his future however we have the rest of this season to race together and we’re looking forward to a successful remainder of the year.”

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NASCAR.com is reporting that Kasey is headed for Hendrick Motorsports #5 car for 2012 with internet rumors saying he’ll drive for Stewart-Haas Racing next year as they are Hendrick related, and he and Tony are good friends.

Kerry caught up with A.J. Allmendinger at Phoenix before his first career pole run and chatted about the following.   The new spoiler on the Cup cars, Green-White-Checkered finishes, driving for The King Richard Petty, what kinda “tech guy” is he, and his thoughts on Texas coming up this weekend.

JR Motorsports Enacts Driver Change for No. 88 Team
Jamie McMurray to drive No. 88 Chevrolet in select races

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (April 13, 2010) – JR Motorsports will undergo a driver change to its No. 88 NASCAR Nationwide Series team effective this weekend when the series races at Texas Motor Speedway, general manager and co-owner Kelley Earnhardt announced today.

The organization has released 25-year-old Kelly Bires from his contractual driving duties of the No. 88 Chevrolet. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular Jamie McMurray, driver of the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/McDonalds Chevrolet for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, has agreed to a deal that puts him in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevy for nine races. Those races include the six upcoming Nationwide Series events – Texas (April 17), Talladega (April 24), Richmond (April 30), Darlington (May 7), Dover (May 15) and Charlotte (May 30) – plus Chicagoland (July 9), Atlanta (Sept. 4) and the return trip to Charlotte (Oct. 15). Hellmann’s will be the primary sponsor in all but two of those races, and the Suave Men brand will be featured on the No. 88 at Chicagoland Speedway.

A native of Joplin, Mo., McMurray is the reigning Daytona 500 champion. He is a seven-time winner in the Nationwide Series with 27 top-fives, 59 top-10s, and three pole awards. No driver decisions for the No. 88 have been determined beyond McMurray’s nine races.

“We are extremely appreciative of Kelly Bires and wish him the best,” Kelley Earnhardt said. “Internally, it was evident the chemistry that is imperative for us to succeed in this highly competitive industry was simply not there. That is the fault of no one person. We owe it to our fans and sponsors to make necessary adjustments in an effort to put our best product on the track, and we’ll continue evaluating our progress until we are confident that our full potential is being reached.”

Under the direction of crew chief Tony Eury Sr., the No. 88 team has finished third in the Nationwide Series point standings each of the past two seasons, accumulating six total victories. In six races this season, the team has one top-10 finish (seventh at Auto Club Speedway). Bires competed in six races for JRM dating back to last November at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He raced the No. 88 in five of the six Nationwide Series events this year, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. driving the season opener at Daytona International Speedway.

The alteration to the No. 88 team does not change plans for the No. 7 team, which presently is to run the full Nationwide Series schedule with multiple drivers. Landon Cassill began a part-time stint last weekend at Phoenix International Raceway, becoming the third driver this season to get behind the wheel of the No. 7 Chevrolets prepared by crew chief and co-owner Tony Eury Jr. He will race the car this weekend at Texas. Danica Patrick has 10 of her scheduled 13 races remaining on the 2010 slate. Scott Wimmer recently completed a two-race commitment and posted season-best finishes of 10th at Bristol Motor Speedway and seventh at Nashville Superspeedway. Driving vacancies left on the No. 7 schedule are still to be determined.

Guest Column by Cathy Elliott

The first time I heard a driver — it was Kurt Busch — refer to Greg Biffle as “The Biff,” I laughed out loud. It sounded so much like a superhero’s name.

But what kind of superhero might he be? Their names should be indicative of their powers, right? They are men to be respected, by virtue of their physical prowess. The Hulk is bigger than we are, The Flash is faster, and Superman, obviously, is simply super.

So what is the deal with The Biff?

The only Biffs I’ve ever known, or known of, are Biff Tannen, the antagonist in the “Back to the Future” movies, and a couple of guys in college who were perpetually dressed in plaid.

I have never seen Greg Biffle in a pair of pink and green patterned pants, nor do I want to. I have also never heard him utter the phrase, “Why don’t you make like a tree and get outta here, McFly?”

But I have seen him drive, and that tells me all I need to know.

Biffle is not what you’d call a regular water cooler topic. When controversies and on-track issues arise, his is not generally the first name that pops into your head. He’s been known to get a little hot under the collar now and again, but as we all know, that comes with the territory for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers.

For the most part, Biffle is what you’d call an even-keeled type of guy. He likes to fish. He has a pilot’s license and enjoys flying.

He and his wife Nicole have a love and concern for animals and their foundation makes major contributions to local humane societies, no-kill animal shelters, spay and neuter clinics, and the Animal Adoption League.

Add a pair of big black spectacles and it’s Clark Kent, eat your heart out … until a situation occurs. For our purposes here, we’ll call it a race.

Biffle springs into action. Whatever non-plaid clothes he is wearing are replaced by a firesuit. He straps in. He buckles up.

And he wins. Biffle was the 1998 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year, and the 2000 series champion. He was the 2001 NASCAR Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year, and the 2002 series champion. He has made the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup three times, in 2005, 2008 and 2009.

Currently, he is sitting in third place in the driver standings, 92 points behind four-time series champion Jimmie Johnson. Rounding out the top five are Biffle’s Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth; Kevin Harvick; and Jeff Gordon. The current top 12 includes former champion Tony Stewart; Carl Edwards; and Kyle Busch. It is, just to keep this movie reference thing current, a real clash of the titans.

In true superhero fashion, Biffle knows what he needs to do, and is prepared to follow through. He finished in the top 10 in all six Sprint Cup Series races leading up to Phoenix. In a teleconference on April 6, he said of course he knew the team would have finishes worse than 10th place over the course of the long season, and “we’ve been good so far. That’s not good enough. We’re going to have to be better than that … but we have the makings of a championship caliber team. We certainly do.”

So Johnson or any other possible future points leader had best take note of what they might see suddenly taking up a considerable amount of space in their rearview mirror. That isn’t a bird, and it isn’t a plane.

It’s The Biff, and he’s definitely flying.

The opinions expressed in this articles are solely those of the author and not this website.