Aaron Fike at the O’Reilly 300
AARON FIKE
#43 RFMS/Curb Agajanian Performance Group Dodge
NASCAR Busch Series O’Reilly 300
Saturday, April 8, 2006 – Texas Motor Speedway
TV: Live on FOX, 3 p.m. EDT; Radio: Live on PRN
Product Partners: Wiley X Eyewear, Rod End Supply, Planar, Odyssey Batteries, Shurtape, Smith Transport, Mobile Storage Group, X1R, Hylomar, Lehigh Safety Shoes, High Performance Coatings, Gunk, Dayco, E.A.R.,Inc.
FAST FACTS
Aaron Fike and the #43 RFMS/Curb Agajanian Performance Group Dodge team are at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend for Saturday’s O’Reilly 300 NASCAR Busch Series race. It will be Fike’s 44th career NBS start and his second on the 1.5-mile tri-oval north of Fort Worth.
Before the series took last weekend off, the 23-year-old from Galesburg, Ill., scored a stellar 18th-place finish in the Sharpie Mini 300 at Bristol in one of the team’s best all-around performances of the year.
Last November here, Fike started 19th in the CAPG Dodge and ran in the top-20 before losing valuable time in the pits while repairs were made resulting from a broken shock mount. He finished 29th.
Fike, who entered 2006 with 37 career NBS starts the previous two seasons, is in the midst of his first full-time NBS season. He opened this year’s campaign with a front-row qualifying effort at Daytona before being taken out early in the race by another competitor who blew a tire.
Sponsoring the #43 CAPG Dodge team for this weekend’s seventh of 35 NBS races of 2006 is RFMS, Inc., the Galesburg, Ill.-based retirement lifestyles operation with retirement villages and assisted living facilities in northern Illinois and Iowa.
Joining the #43 CAPG Dodge team as a new product partner is E.A.R., Inc., the Boulder, Colo.-based provider of ear molds, hearing protection products, hearing aids, sport glasses and health supplements for aviation, pediatrics, motorsports, outdoor sports and water sports. More information on the company, which also provides products for law enforcement and military applications, can be found at www.earinc.com.
AARON FIKE QUOTES ON TEXAS – “It’ll be great to get back to racing. We’ve been ready to go since we finished up with one of our best efforts of the year, so far, at Bristol. We had a good test at Richmond and have used the weekend off to get things ready to go for this weekend at Texas. We had one of our best efforts of the season there last November before a shock mount broke and set us a couple of laps off the pace. We’re bringing a brand new car that I hope will get us back up front, and keep us there. We’re pumped up and ready to go!”
PRE-RACE SCHEDULE (All Times EDT) – NBS Practice, Thursday, 12 noon to 1 p.m.; NBS Final Practice, Thursday, 2-3 p.m.; NBS Qualifying, Thursday, 7 p.m.
Twenty-three-year-old Aaron Fike is one of the latest in a long line of standout driving talents from the ultra-competitive United States Auto Club ranks. In 2006, Fike is slated to drive the full NASCAR Busch Series season for the CAPG Dodge team.
Fike competed in 37 NASCAR Busch Series races in 2004 and 2005, sharing time behind the wheel of entries by Brewco Motorsports and the Curb Agajanian Performance Group (CAPG). In 2005, Fike raced to a career-high finish of eighth at Pikes Peak International Raceway in July, and a top qualifying effort of fourth at Nashville in June. He has established himself as one of the most diverse drivers in the country by racing in all three USAC divisions, the Infiniti Pro Series, the ARCA RE/MAX series and the NASCAR Busch Series over the last two seasons.
In 2003, Fike successfully defended the National Midget Driver of the Year title he earned in 2002, becoming the first back-to-back winner. He won four times in the USAC Midget Series in 2003, including the 58th renewal of the prestigious “Night Before the 500,” and he won his second race on the Infiniti Pro Series Tour. Fike also made two late-season starts in the ARCA RE/MAX series in 2003.
During an outstanding 2002 season, Fike was picked to drive in the Indy Racing League’s Infiniti Pro Series. Proving to be a quick study, he immediately won during his rookie year in the rear-engined car. Fike won seven times in the Midget Series that year enroute to the Badger Midget Racing Association Championship. He also has the distinction of being the 2001 USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year, breaking Jeff Gordon’s record as the youngest winner in the series, and was also the 2000 USAC National Midget Series Rookie of the Year.
CONTACT: Laz Denes, 256-717-8014
43BuschPR@motorsportsmanagement.com
www.capg43.com