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BUSCH: Phoenix: Aaron Fike preview

AARON FIKE 43 RFMS/Curb Agajanian Performance Group Dodge FAST FACTS * Coming off of last weekend's top-15 run at Nashville Superspeedway, Aaron Fike and the ...

Edited: Apr 16, 2008, 12:40 AM

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AARON FIKE
43 RFMS/Curb Agajanian Performance Group Dodge

FAST FACTS

* Coming off of last weekend's top-15 run at Nashville Superspeedway, Aaron Fike and the #43 RFMS/Curb Agajanian Performance Group Dodge team come to the Phoenix International Raceway mile tri-oval for Friday night's NASCAR Busch Series Bashas' Supermarkets 200. The 23-year-old driver out of Galesburg, Ill., has made 45 career NBS starts to date -- two of those here at PIR.

* With team co-owner Mike Curb looking on, Fike and the team celebrated "43 Years of History-Making Music" last weekend on the 1.33-mile concrete tri-oval outside Nashville with their solid 15th-place. Commemorative signage on the #43 racing machine reflected Curb's achievements in the recording industry. Curb Records artists today include Tim McGraw, Wynonna, Jo Dee Messina, LeeAnn Rimes, and Hank Williams, Jr.

* Had it not been for a handful of minor setbacks the weekend before at Texas, where Fike and the #43 car qualified 22nd and quickly bolted into the top-20 on race day, the finish at Nashville easily could have been a third-consecutive top-20. In Fike's first-ever appearance on the Bristol Motor Speedway half-mile concrete oval the race prior to Texas, the young driving phenom brought home a solid 18th-place finish.

* In his previous two starts here at Phoenix, Fike had a top-20 qualifying effort in the #43 CAPG entry in 2004, and a top-20 finish last November. Fike's best career NBS finish came on a mile oval -- eighth place at Pikes Peak International Raceway -- last July. In 2003, Johnny Sauter finished ninth in the #43 CAPG Dodge here at PIR.

* Sponsoring the #43 CAPG Dodge for this weekend's ninth 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.

AARON FIKE QUOTES ON PHOENIX -- "We're starting to show signs of breaking through. Two top-20 finishes in the last three races -- which easily should have been three of three because we had a good car at Texas -- has us creeping closer and closer to the top-30 in owners points. That's our main goal right now. The CAPG team is really starting to gel with great pit stops and car preparation. I think, if all goes well in qualifying, we should have a really fun time at Phoenix on Friday night. It's a quirky track but definitely a lot of fun to drive if your car is working. We've got some momentum after Nashville so hopefully we can keep it moving in the right direction this weekend."

-capg-

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