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BUSCH: Daytona: Mark McFarland preview

JR Motorsports' long off-season finally comes to an end this week with the start of the activities for the Hershey Kissables 300, the season opener for the NASCAR Busch Series, at the Daytona International Speedway. Driver Mark McFarland and the ...

Edited: Apr 16, 2008, 12:40 AM

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JR Motorsports' long off-season finally comes to an end this week with the start of the activities for the Hershey Kissables 300, the season opener for the NASCAR Busch Series, at the Daytona International Speedway. Driver Mark McFarland and the rest of the No. 88 crew have kept the midnight oil burning this winter and look forward to getting back to racing.

"We have a bunch of racers on this team," said McFarland. "They have put in 11-12 hour days, seven days a week for the last few months and they are chomping at the bit to get back what we all love doing and that is competing against the best drivers in the world."

Crew chief Rich Hubbs agrees. "We have put together a great crew in a short period of time," said Hubbs. "Everyone is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure we hit the ground at Daytona running. I can't thank them enough for the hard work they have put in and it will show this week."

This will be McFarland's 11th start in the NASCAR Busch Series. JR Motorsports, with the help of Ken Schrader Racing, fielded a No. 88 Navy Monte Carlo for the 2005 season-finale at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. This will be the first race that JR Motorsports we be using their complete team.

Mark on representing the Navy in 2006:

"Representing the 350,000 Navy men and women is the highest honor of my life. I have met some great young sailors during this off-season who are dedicated to preserving our way of life. They were really excited about this year and their excitement and support makes me pumped up to race."

"There are so many similarities between the crew of a ship and our race team. Everyone on both teams is an intergral, working part of a finely-tuned machine and the success of the whole is a product of each part doing their job."

Mark on his preparation for his first restrictor-plate race:

"It has been a long winter at the Navy shop. My team did a great job in preparing our cars and it showed at the Daytona and Vegas tests. We were a little off, aero-wise, at the Daytona test and our fab shop went back to work and we expect great things our of this car. For me I just need to utilize the drafting practice and find out what my car can do."

"The most important area will be the communication between Hubbs, T.J. (Majors, spotter) and myself. T.J. does a great job of keeping me in rythym and Hubbs and I are getting more comfortable with making decisions about what the car needs and we just need to keep that up."

Mark on having car owner, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the field:

"Obviously having the best restrictor-plate racer in the world on my side will make my life easier. He actually got in my Navy Monte Carlo during testing here and dialed us in. I'm in a great position to advance my restrictor-plate racing in a hurry by learning from Dale Jr. this weekend."

-jr motorsports-

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