Kerry and Jeffrey Earnhardt Join Rick Ware Racing In NASCAR Nationwide Series

Seems like old times – with a touch of the future thrown in.

Dover, Del. March 26, 2009: Kerry and Jeffrey Earnhardt have joined Rick Ware Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Kerry will debut with the organization April 4 at Texas Motor Speedway in the No 31 Chevrolet. His son Jeffrey, 19, is scheduled to make his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at Dover International Speedway May 30.

Kerry, son of the legendary seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt, has 70 career starts in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and has three top fives and six top-10 finishes. He competed full-time in the series in 2002, finishing 22nd in the standings. He last raced in the series in 2008.

Jeffery has experience in the NASCAR Camping World Series East where he was fifth in the standings as a rookie in 2007 and finished 15th in the rankings last year.

Both father and son will be paired with former NASCAR champion crew chief Paul Andrews until they do battle at Atlanta Motor Speedway this fall. At that juncture, Clyde McCloud will serve as crew chief for the younger Earnhardt.

Atlanta also will highlight three Earnhardts in series competition. Jeffrey’s uncle, Dale Earnhardt Jr., a two-time series champion, also is slated to compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race there.

Jeffrey will race a progressive schedule this year, running in seven events from a 1-mile track to a 2-mile oval as he prepares for the 2010 season and a Raybestos Rookie of the Year campaign.

He also will compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, becoming the first Earnhardt to race in a NASCAR-sanctioned event in Canada.

The Earnhardts will be driving in events when Stanton Barrett will be competing in IRL races. The No. 31 will be the organization’s primary car and the No. 41 Chevrolet will be the second car for races in which Barrett, Tim Andrews, Travis Kittleson, Tim Brown (a seven-time track champion at Bowman-Gray Stadium in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Division) or Jeffrey compete.