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  • Canadian Steve Meehan Partners with J.R. Fitzpatrick, Purchasing Baker Curb Racing

    Canadian investor Steeve Meehan made a huge purchase this week as he purchased all but the name of the Baker Curb Racing Nationwide Series team that has fell into financial hard times.

    With the equipment, he plans to take 2010 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Runner-Up J.R. Fitzpatrick to the Sprint Cup Series full-time by 2013.

    “I think it’s fantastic,” Fitzpatrick told the Globe & Mail. “Steve is a really good guy, he’s Canadian and he really wants to see Canadian corporate sponsorship and Canadian drivers, so I mean it’s really cool.

    “He really believes in me and that’s what I really like. Given that I do need the experience and the time at the tracks and, even if it can’t be a full year, he is definitely going to push my career along and I am glad to be a part of it.”

    Fitzpatrick ran the Daytona and Fontana Nationwide races for Baker Curb Racing, finishing 42nd and 20th respectively. Fitzpatrick ran three Nationwide races for JR Motorsports last year, finishing in the top 10 twice. Making the jump from the Canadian Tire Series to the Nationwide Series hasn’t been easy due to the weight difference, however it has been fun.

    “The Mustangs and the [Dodge] Challengers look awesome,” he said. “The Chevy looks good too. I really like the fact that NASCAR brought these cars in because I can actually sit in them – I’m six-four, so it’s really hard for me to get in the old-style car – and they just look wicked, a lot of people like them and I just love them.”

    With more starts on his belt, Fitzpatrick has been getting better at driving them, including finishing 20th at Fontana after starting 25th.

    “We went there with a set-up that really didn’t suit my style and I was happy to come out of there with a top-20 with the way the car was handling,” he said. “I’m a very competitive person, Steve is too and so is the whole team, so we were happy but we’re not happy if you know what I mean.

    “I wanted a top-15 finish and that would have been like a win to me but I didn’t quite get my goal.”

    Fitzpatrick plans to run a dozen Nationwide Series races with one or two Sprint Cup races with Meehan’s new team, along with some Canadian Tire Series races for his own team.

    “We will run primarily in Nationwide and likely a few Cup races in 2011 — I think J.R. is comfortable running the road courses in Cup and with a little bit more experience and practice I think he could run an oval or two in Cup,” Meehan told the Globe & Mail. “Our focus is to quickly evolve to a full-time Cup team and I think J.R. is sufficiently talented to get there with the right people behind him.”

    The 46-year-old investor is the original founder of the Investment Planning Counsel, which was sold to IBM Financial in 2004 for $95 million on a cash and stock deal.

    “We have an opportunity to represent a country as opposed to just being a team and I’m excited by the prospect of doing that,” Meehan said. “It’s a feel good story and it’s my job to capture it and sell it to corporate Canada.”

    A press conference is expected in the future to put all the final details together, but the new team is set to debut at the Nashville Nationwide race on April 23rd.

  • J.R. Fitzpatrick To Run For Baker Curb Racing in Nationwide Series at Daytona

    J.R. Fitzpatrick To Run For Baker Curb Racing in Nationwide Series at Daytona

    J.R. Fitzpatrick announced that he’d begin his 2011 season with the Saturday’s DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona, which is the opening race for the NASCAR Nationwide Series season.

    [media-credit name=” JRFitzpatrick” align=”alignright” width=”141″][/media-credit]The 22-year-old, Cambridge, Ontario native will race the No. 27 Shick Hydro/Energizer Ford Mustang for Baker Curb Racing. This marks a continued partnership with Fitzpatrick and Shick Hydro as they sponsored him during the 2010 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series season and the three Nationwide Series races he ran last year for JR Motorsports. Though this marks the first time that Fitzpatrick has come together with Energizer Canada Inc.

    “I can’t think of a better race to start the new season with,” Fitzpatrick commented in a press release.  “Daytona boasts an atmosphere like no other and to be in a race with the opportunity to compete against guys like Dale Earnhardt Jr and Tony Stewart is fantastic.  I’ve raced at Daytona before, a couple of years ago in the Truck Series, and ran well leading the most laps in that event before taking fourth.”

    “I’m sure that experience and knowledge will help combined with my time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series last season.  This is definitely where I want to be competing on a regular basis so I’m looking to make a strong start to the year on Saturday.  I’m obviously grateful to Schick Canada and Energizer Canada for their support this week and I look forward to flying the maple leaf flag for Canadian fans!”

    Fitzpatrick finished fourth a couple years ago when he ran the truck series opener at Daytona for Kevin Harvick Incorporated, and last year finished in the top 10 at both Montreal and Road Atlanta in the Nationwide Series.

    “We’re really looking forward to teaming up with J.R.,” commented Baker Curb Racing’s Team President, Matt Crews.  “I’ve had the opportunity to spend some time with him this off season and get to know him.  His attitude and dedication to his sport is certainly very impressive and his potential is limitless!”

    This past year, Fitzpatrick took on running the entire NASCAR Canadian Tire Series schedule, with his goals set on winning the championship. He was in the thick of the battle all year long, though after a bad finish at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and a broken clutch at Riverside Speedway, he ended up second, 40 points behind champion D.J. Kennington.

    “It’s good,” Fitzpatrick told me. “I took all of last year off as I was racing stuff in the States. But after taking a year off, the series has definitely grown quite a bit. It does need more cars but competitive wise, it is doing very well. To finish second in the championship after taking a year off, I am pretty pleased about that.”

    Fitzpatrick got started in the series when it was named CASCAR and became the youngest champion at the age of 18 in 2006.

    The following year, NASCAR took over rights to the series and it has been debated as to whether that was a positive move or not for the series. Fitzpatrick said he’s seen the influence, though thinks it’ll still take time.

    “It’s helped in a way,” he said. “But I think it’s going to take some time to get some more people in the series because it does cost a lot to run that deal. The series is slowly going and it’s going to take a few years for it to grow to its full potential.”

    On top of running the Canadian Tire Series and the Nationwide Series when time allows, Fitzpatrick hits the local tracks and races at the grass roots level where it started.

    “I support it 100 percent anyway I can,” he said of grass roots racing. “At the end of the day, that’s where we all started and guys that don’t feel like coming back, I don’t get it. I wish I had a late model as that’s where I started but super stocks are a lot of fun.”

    For this year, he put a Super Stock race car together with some friends.

    “Its fun,” he said of running the car. “It’s definitely a different kind of car for me. Me and my friend built this car and it’s been working fairly well. We’re starting ninth out of 45 cars so we’re pretty happy about that.”

    Fitzpatrick had a successful year with that as he got his first feature  Super Stock win at Flamboro Speedway during FrostFest.

    Fitzpatrick got started in racing at the age of six running a Jr. Late Model.

    “I got started through Jr. Late Models when I was six years old at Sauble Beach,” he said. “Then I moved on to Delaware (Speedway) and when I was 13 years old, I got a late model and then from there, I just stayed in heavy stock cars.”

    Fitzpatrick then moved up to the CASCAR Super Series, where he finished second in the Rookie of the Year standings in 2004 at the age of 16.

    At the age of 17, he scored his first win and got three top-fives and five top-10 finishes.

    Then in 2006, he became the youngest Canadian Tire Series National Champion with a win, five podium finishes and two pole awards at the age of 18.

    Over the next three years in the Canadian Tire Series, Fitzpatrick would earn a total of four wins, 10 top-fives, 14 top-10s and five pole awards.

    Fitzpatrick made his first in the NASCAR Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) at the Telcel-Motorola Mexico 200 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, where he finished 33rd due to an ill-handling car.

    Fitzpatrick’s last race at Daytona was when he made his first start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2009 where he finished fourth, driving the No. 7 Mammoet Chevrolet Silverado at Daytona International Speedway for TRG Motorsports.

    Fitzpatrick will be on-track on Wednesday and Thursday of this week with four NASCAR Nationwide Series practice sessions scheduled before Friday hosts qualifying at 4:10pm EST.  The ‘DRIVE4COPD 300’ starts on Saturday 19th February at 1:15pm EST.  Race fans in Canada can watch the ‘DRIVE4COPD 300’ live on TSN2 with broadcast coverage starting at Noon EST on Saturday.