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JR Motorsports Inks All-Star Driver LineupJR Motorsports Signs Great Clips Inc. to 28-Race Sponsorship for 2013
Package brings Kasey Kahne, Brad Sweet to JR Motorsports

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Jan. 2, 2013) – JR Motorsports announced today significant developments in its 2013 NASCAR Nationwide Series plans, as Great Clips Inc., the world’s largest hair salon brand, has signed a primary sponsorship agreement for 28 races next season. The partnership brings Kasey Kahne and Brad Sweet to JR Motorsports, adding to a lineup that already includes Regan Smith, the series’ most recent winner, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

This will mark the 13th year Great Clips has used the Nationwide Series to market its brand, making it the series’ longest-running sponsor. Kahne has a long-standing relationship with Great Clips dating back to 2003 when the company served as primary sponsor for the up-and-coming driver for three seasons. The company also recently announced a sponsorship of Kahne’s No. 5 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports for three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races in 2013.

The addition of Great Clips further establishes the JR Motorsports line-up for 2013, albeit with substantial changes from two months ago. First, it guarantees the company will field at least two entries in 28 of 33 Nationwide Series events. Smith is already committed to driving a full schedule, and Earnhardt Jr. will compete in select races in a third car.

Additionally, car numbers have been reassigned to align with Kahne’s branding in the Sprint Cup Series. Kahne and Sweet will split time in the No. 5 Chevrolet for 27 races. Smith will compete for a championship in the No. 7, and Earnhardt Jr. will carry his familiar No. 88 in a limited schedule that presently stands at four races. One of Earnhardt’s races will be with Great Clips branding to fill out the 28-race sponsorship package.

JR Motorsports General Manager Kelley Earnhardt Miller said the organization still isn’t committing the No. 5 team to a full-season slate but continues to work at securing sponsorship to fill out the remaining six races.

“The last three months have been critical for the direction of JR Motorsports and the commitment we’ve made, and this partnership with Great Clips is a major step in the right direction,” Earnhardt Miller said. “To sign a 28-race sponsor while adding Kasey Kahne and Brad Sweet to our line-up is quite extraordinary. Our goal is still to run two full-time teams, and this helps us greatly to achieve that.”

A teammate of Earnhardt’s at Hendrick Motorsports, Kahne is a 14-time Sprint Cup Series winner and seven-time Nationwide Series winner. He drove two races for JR Motorsports in 2011, finishing fourth at Kentucky Speedway and third at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Kahne rejoined the Great Clips family in 2009 and, over the last three years, has competed in select Nationwide Series races with the company as his primary sponsor. Great Clips has since expanded its relationship with the Enumclaw, Wash. native over the years by being heavily involved in the driver’s charity events and serving as a primary sponsor for Kasey Kahne Racing. Part of that expansion has also included the addition of Sweet to the Great Clips driver lineup with the Grass Valley, Calif. native carrying Great Clips branding in 18 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and 19 Nationwide Series races over the last three years.

“Great Clips has been a long-time sponsor of mine for 10 years,” Kahne said. “They support everything that I do from the Kasey Kahne Foundation to my sprint car team and they continue to grow their program in NASCAR. We all look forward to joining JR Motorsports and continuing to build on the success that they have had.”

Like Kahne, Sweet is a product of United States Auto Club (USAC). He was hired by Kasey Kahne Racing in 2007 and has given KKR seven victories, including wins at the Belleville Midget Nationals, Knoxville Midget Nationals and Four Crown Nationals at Eldora Speedway.

“I’m looking forward to this new opportunity with JR Motorsports and to continue representing Great Clips, both on and off the track,” said Sweet. “They have been extremely supportive of me over the last couple of years so taking this step with them is very special for me. As a young driver in this sport, having the chance to drive under the JR Motorsports banner is an amazing opportunity that I plan to make the most of. The 2013 season is ‘gonna be great’ and I can’t wait to get it started.”

A race schedule for Kahne and Sweet in the No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet is still to be determined. So, too, is Earnhardt Jr.’s complete Nationwide Series slate. To date his only announced races are Feb. 23 at Daytona International Speedway and March 9 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, both in the No. 88 TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet.

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Turner Motorsports LogoTurner Motorsports and Great Clips to Part Ways in 2013

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (January 2, 2013) – Turner Motorsports announced today that their successful two-year-long primary marketing partnership with Great Clips, Inc. will not continue into the 2013 NASCAR season. The parting of ways is an amicable one, with both companies mutually coming to the decision in order to enhance their growing marketing platforms. Though Great Clips, the longest-running sponsor in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, will no longer serve as a primary sponsor of the organization’s No. 38 entry, there remain opportunities for joint partnerships in the future. This past season marked Great Clips’ 12th year in the series as primary sponsor. The company spent five years as a partner of Braun Racing, before it was acquired by Turner Motorsports two years ago. An announcement with Great Clips’ future plans will be made within the hour. Turner Motorsports will also soon be announcing their plans for the 2013 season.

“We want to thank Great Clips for two great years as an outstanding marketing partner,” said Steve Turner, owner of Turner Motorsports. “They have been a big supporter of this race team since the beginning and we just can’t thank them enough for that. Though we have mutually decided to end our business partnership, the friendships we have made over the years will endure well into the future.”

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SHOW #234 – Guest: Jeff Burton – We relive the Top 10 NASCAR Moments of the 2012 Season, hear from Jeff Burton and more. (can’t wait for racing again!) Hosted by Kerry Murphey and Toby Christie

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2012 Daytona Feb Aric Almirola in garageSHOW #233 – Guest: Aric Almirola – We countdown the Top 10 Cup Series drivers as voted on by their points (ha ha) plus news of the week. Hosted by Kerry Murphey and Toby Christie. (47:49 mins)

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Continue reading “The Final Lap Weekly #233 – Top 10 NASCAR Cup Drivers of 2012 / Aric Almirola”

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2012 Chicagoland Parker Kligerman Autographs Hat For Young FanKBM CONTINUES YOUTH MOVEMENT
WITH ADDITION OF KLIGERMAN
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Dec. 18, 2012)- Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) announced today that the team has signed 22-year-old Parker Kligerman to compete for the 2013 NASCAR Nationwide Series driver’s championship. Kligerman will pilot the No. 77 Toyota Camry for the entirety of the 33-race schedule.

Kligerman comes to KBM’s Nationwide Series program on the heels of a breakout season in 2012. In his second full-time Camping World Truck Series campaign, the talented youngster earned his first career NASCAR victory at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in October, captured two pole awards and collected eight top-five and 15 top-10 finishes en route to a fifth-place finish in the final Truck Series driver’s point standings. His Talladega victory, both poles and five of his eight top-five finishes came after joining the Toyota Racing family at the halfway point of the season.

The Connecticut native has registered five top-10 finishes in 18 career Nationwide Series starts. He posted two top-10 finishes in three starts this season, including a career-best seventh-place finish in the July race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.

In October of 2009, at the age of 19, Kligerman captured the pole in his first-ever Nationwide Series start at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, becoming the 10th driver in series history to accomplish the feat. That same year, he earned the 2009 Rookie of the Year award in the ARCA Racing Series after winning a series-high nine races and finishing second in the final point standings.

“When you think of Kyle Busch and Kyle Busch Motorsports, you think of an owner and a team that have established a tradition of winning and pride themselves on it, so I feel honored to be given the chance to come in and continue in that tradition,” Kligerman said. “I feel that running full-time in the Truck Series the last two seasons and coming close to a championship last season has prepared me to be able to do the same in the Nationwide Series next year. With the personnel that KBM has in place and what they were able to accomplish in their first year in the Nationwide Series combined with all the support they have from Toyota and TRD (Toyota Racing Development), I see no reason why we can’t compete for wins on a weekly basis and be a top-five team in the final point standings at the end of the season.”

“Once Parker got behind the wheel of a Toyota halfway through the season, he proved that he was capable of running up front week in and week out in the Truck Series and comes to us with a lot of confidence,” owner Kyle Busch said. “Since I started my Truck Series team in 2010, I’ve wanted the focus of our efforts to be on developing young talent and being able to create an identity for KBM without having to be behind the wheel myself. With the addition of Parker to our Nationwide Series program and Joey Coulter to our Truck Series program, we now have two of the sport’s most talented young drivers in our building.”

“Everyone at Toyota and TRD speaks very highly of Parker and they were a big part of why were able to bring him onboard here at KBM,” KBM General Manager Rick Ren said. “Although he has only driven a handful of races with these new Nationwide Series cars, he has participated in a lot of testing the last few years and we feel like he will be able to come in and be able to use that knowledge to help us to continue to make improvements to our program.”

In its inaugural Nationwide Series campaign, KBM registered one win, three poles, 15 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes en route to an eighth-place finish in the owner’s point standings. The team recorded eight top-five and 12 top-10 finishes over the last 13 races of the season.

“Our Nationwide Series program really seemed to hit its stride the last 10 races of the season — won a couple of poles, led a bunch of laps and were in contention for the win almost every week,” said Busch, who was behind the wheel for eight of the final 10 races. “We feel like we’ll be able to carry that momentum into next year and come out of the gates stronger than we did in our first season.”

Further details regarding sponsorship for Kligerman’s No. 77 Camry will be announced at a later date.