CHINA GROVE, NC (May 25, 2009) – With each race on the NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule lately, it seems Ken Butler III is going to school in making inaugural starts at different tracks. This week, he’s has a monstrous task in front of him in making his first start at the Monster Mile of Dover International Speedway. And, he’ll be making it as a new father after his wife, Jaime, gave birth to their first child on Saturday.
Coming into the world at 2:32 p.m. on Saturday, May 23; Piper Shay Butler weighed in 6 lbs, 7 oz with mother and baby doing fine.
Butler and the No. 23 Aaron’s Chevrolet team of R3 Motorsports will take to the one-mile, high-banked oval looking to tame the monster quickly. To achieve that goal, they’ll need to utilize every bit of pre-qualifying practice to learn as much as possible – as quickly as possible.
In addition to paying attention to hitting his marks around the tricky track of Dover; KB3 will also being paying attention to his wife, Jaime, and, Piper Shay. New track, new baby and new experiences – that’s quite a week for the Aaron’s Dream Machine driver.
IMMEDIATE GOALS FOR DOVER: “The first thing I want do is learn how to drive that track. I’ve talked to and heard from everyone how tough Dover can be to figure out. Once I can get comfortable with the tendencies of the track, then I can start to relay that information to the team. From there, Walter (Giles, crew chief) and I can start to figure out how to get the car better each run we make in practice. After that, it’s all about having a good qualifying run and backing that up with a good race.”
HOW DO YOU DO THAT AT A NEW TRACK: “I’m going to do what I did last time once I get in the No. 23 Aaron’s Dream Machine Chevrolet at Richmond. I’m going to make a few laps on my own and see how it feels and how the car reacts when I dive off into turns 1 and 3. Then, I’m going to see how it feels when I get back on the gas out of turns 2 and 4. My best way to learn faster is to follow some veterans around the track and see their braking and acceleration points. The most important things to work on are finding out how your car handles through the turns and getting back on the gas.”
NOW YOU’RE A RACING DAD: “Man, this is very cool. I’ve been waiting for this day ever since we found out Piper was on the way. I can’t believe it; I’m a dad. I hope she likes racing. Then again, she was born on the 23rd and our Aaron’s car is No. 23.” (Laughs)
COME SEE KB3: Fans attending the race weekend at Dover can see Ken Butler III join several other NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers for an autograph session on Saturday morning. Look for them at the Sprint souvenir rig on Saturday morning at approximately 8:30 a.m. before his qualifying session that morning.
TUNE IN FOR THE WIN: SPEED will carry Qualifying at 4 p.m. (ET) on Friday. But, you need to switch over to ESPN2 at 7 p.m. later that night for all 250 laps of the race. MRN Radio and Sirius/XM NASCAR Radio Ch. 128 will carry it live, as well.
Aaron’s Sports Marketing Director – Rich Lamprey - 404-915-1683 - Richard.Lamprey@aaronrents.com
R3 Motorsports Media Relations Contact for Ken Butler III – Tim Packman - 704-507-1838 – timpackman@yahoo.com