Tony Stewart Taking Part in Friday Nights Nationwide Series Race

Charlotte – Ryan Newman won’t be the only Stewart-Haas driver to get behind the wheel for Friday nights NASCAR Nationwide Series Race. Tony Stewart will become the sixth driver to pilot the No. 5 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports this year, as he will compete in his only event for JRM this weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Friday’s Dollar General 300 will be Stewart’s third NASCAR Nationwide Series race this season. In two starts, Stewart has one win (Daytona) for Hendrick Motorsports and a runner-up finish (Texas) for Kevin Harvick Inc. He has led 28 laps this year.

Stewart will be making his 89th Nationwide Series start this weekend at LMS. He’s earned eight victories, 27 top-fives, 37 top-10 finishes and six poles. His average finish is 16.0 and average start is 15.3.

In seven Nationwide Series starts at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Stewart has two top-five and two top-10 finishes, leading a total of 16 laps. Stewart’s best finish was a third-place showing in his first race at LMS for car owner Bobby Labonte. He finished 16th in his most recent race at LMS (2006), driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc.

Tony Stewart on to racing at Charlotte
“It’s going to be a lot of fun driving for Dale Jr. and Mr. Hendrick this weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. I raced at Daytona earlier this year with HMS, and was lucky enough to get a victory. This will be my first race under the JRM banner and it’s exciting. JRM consistently puts strong cars on the track, and we’re hoping to capitalize on that with the Delphi team this weekend.”

Does racing in the Nationwide Series take anything away from your focus on The Chase?
“No, it doesn’t take away from your focus unless you go out there and get hurt, or something like that. If you didn’t run the Nationwide Series race or a Truck Series race that day and you went out and went fishing that afternoon, you could just as easily trip over a log and break your arm and maybe hurt yourself more than you would if you were in a race car. You have to live life, and if you want to drive race cars, then that’s what you should do. If that’s what’s going to make you happy, then as a driver, that’s what you need to do.”
[nichemate]0,1,2,’NASCAR’,,US,,,,,,,,1[/nichemate]