CHINA GROVE, NC (June 16, 2009) – Ken Butler III and the No. 23 Aaron’s Dream Machine Chevrolet team of R3 Motorsports is going to The Milwaukee Mile with a little more moxie in their step this week.
Coming off their third top-20 finish of the year last weekend at Kentucky Speedway, KB3 enjoyed matching his personal mark of a career best of 17th place. Having raced at the 1.5-mile oval of Kentucky before, he hoped to utilize that prior experience into a good finish – which he accomplished.
This weekend, he once again gets to utilize his prior ARCA experience, this time at the famed one-mile oval located at the Milwaukee Fairgrounds. The last time he raced there, he was leading the field until some mechanical difficulties knocked him out of the event.
After starting ninth, KB3 moved through the top five to take the lead. With a car not only capable of running fast, but winning, too, his day ended early on lap 89. With an eight-second lead, the rear axle came out of the car relegating him to an undeserving 32nd place finish.
With seven NASCAR Nationwide Series starts to his credit - earning three, top-20 finishes - KB3 and the Aaron’s Dream Machine are ready to put together a string of good runs. If building on Kentucky means the next step in the process is Milwaukee; all the better for driver and team.
WHAT MAKES MILWAUKEE SO CHALLENGING: “It’s a flat track with very little degrees of banking in the turns. You have to be good on your entrance to the turns so you can be better than the other cars exiting. That gives you the speed to pass and remain a front runner throughout the race. That’s one thing I’m learning in the Nationwide Series; the pace of the race is so much faster than what I’ve ever raced before. One minute you’re racing in a pack and the next you’re either in front of or behind that pack within two laps. I want to be the one in front of that pack.”
HOW ABOUT THE PROGRESS OF YOUR R3 MOTORSPORTS TEAM: “The last few weeks have been great for all of us. I was able to finish 17th at Kentucky and my co-driver, Robert (Richardson, Jr.) earned a 21st at Nashville the week before. Our cars are good and the pit crew has really been on top of their game the last two races, too. It makes you really look forward to racing every chance you get.”
WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT ARCA LEAD IN 2007: “Man, you talk about not being fun. I had an eight-second lead and the rear axle just fell out. That’s why you can never be confident until you cross under the checkered flag. Just look at what happened in the Sprint Cup race at Michigan this past weekend as proof.”
Car Info: The team is using Car. No. 42 this weekend; the first time it’s seen on-track action this season.
Come see KB3: The driver of the No. 23 Aaron’s Dream Machine Chevrolet will partake in an autograph session on Friday, June 19 from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. behind the frontstretch grandstands.
Tune in for the Win: Qualifying at 6:30 p.m. (ET) and race action at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday will both air on ESPN2.
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