CHINA GROVE, NC (June 29, 2009) – Ken Butler III and the No. 23 Aaron’s Dream Machine Chevrolet of R3 Motorsports endured a long race of green-flag runs at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon.
Teams were able to partake in only one of two scheduled practice sessions on Friday as Mother Nature came in later in the afternoon dumping rain on the one mile oval of NHMS. So, the next time the NASCAR Nationwide Series took to the track was Saturday morning for qualifying.
Once again this season, came to a track with no prior experience. And, just like he has before, the Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate utilized every lap and advice from veterans to learn the track. When the green flag dropped, he settled in to run his race and learn some more.
As the laps clicked off, it soon became apparent he and the Aaron’s Dream Machine team were going to have their hands full. Teams like to see an early caution to make adjustments as soon as possible.
But, the first caution didn’t wave until lap 52 allowing KB3 to hit pit road for tires, fuel and adjustments. There were only two more cautions in the 200-lap race and each one allowed the team to make needed adjustments.
The long green flag runs kept putting multiple cars laps down as the race played out. When the checkered finally did wave, there were 19 of 43 cars on the lead lap, two cars down two laps and two down three laps.
For the R3 Motorsports team, KB3 was one of eight cars four laps down. But, he was the second of those eight which put him 25th on the chart. This finish keeps the team in the coveted top-30 owner’s points positions of 28th place.
The next race for KB3 will be at Gateway International Raceway on July 18.
Ken Butler III – “The one thing I hate is coming to these tracks I’ve never raced on before. But, the thing I like is leaving here knowing I learned a new track. This just puts us ahead of ourselves when we return here again later in the year.
“Those long green-flag runs didn’t help us out one bit. We were hoping for some early cautions to get our car dialed in a little better, but we did the best we could with how things played out.
“That’s one thing I can honestly say about this Aaron’s Dream Machine team is they never give up. From building the car to practice to qualifying to the race – they’re in it every step of the way. It was nice to have some positions to battle for towards the end, to finish the race and put it on the hauler in one piece.”
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