NASCAR: Rain Tempers Fitzpatrick's Daytona Practice

Daytona Beach, Florida (February 16, 2011) – The Sunshine State threw a curveball at Canada’s J.R. Fitzpatrick at the Daytona International Speedway today with rain delaying much of the scheduled on-track practice ahead of Saturday’s ‘DRIVE4COPD 300,’ the opening round of the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series.

The 22-year-old from Cambridge, Ontario had the opportunity to run a mixture of single-car runs as well as some laps in the draft during a pair of hour-long practice sessions, as the NASCAR Nationwide Series field was finally unleashed having watched the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series hit the slow-drying track first.

“I’m happier with the car after the last practice session,” stated Fitzpatrick - the 2006 CASCAR Champion.  “I had the chance to work with Kyle Busch for a bit there and learned a lot about what we need for final practice tomorrow.  Overall, with the weather, it wasn’t really the day we were hoping for but those things are out of our control.  I’m grateful we got track time today and I’m looking forward to digesting a few more things overnight ahead of tomorrow’s final sessions.”

Final practice is set for Thursday before the field qualifies at 4:10pm EST on Friday.  The ‘DRIVE4COPD 300’ starts on Saturday 19th February at 1:15pm EST.  TSN2 in Canada will broadcast the race live with coverage starting at Noon EST.

By Stuart Morrison Public Relations