P.J. Jones To Drive No. 00 Car
P.J. Jones is scheduled to run the final NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series road course race of the season for David Reutimann in the No. 00 BURGER KING® Toyota Camry this weekend at Watkins Glen International.

“Watkins Glen is my favorite track for several reasons,” said Jones, who has a top-five and two top-10 finishes in a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series entry at the 2.45-mile road course. “I collected a fourth-place finish there driving the No. 14 car for AJ Foyt in 2002, which is my career-best finish in the Cup Series. I also came really close to winning a Busch race there in 2000 driving the 19 car.”

In June, Jones posted a 12th place finish in the No. 00 BURGER KING® Toyota Camry at Infineon Raceway and is aiming for a top-10 finish this time around.

“We were a bit lucky in Sonoma, but we know we will be better this weekend,” Jones said. “Toyota has been focused on working on the motor for road course races and we’re shooting for a top-10 finish. It’s a great opportunity and I’m going to do my best for the team and for David (Reutimann)”

Team Owner Michael Waltrip chose Jones because road courses are his area of expertise.

“P.J. is a solid road racer with a ton of experience at Watkins Glen,” Waltrip said. “There has been so much progress made with the No. 00 BURGER KING® Toyota Camry team that I feel we will be in a very competitive situation. David has been doing a remarkable job in his rookie season with a rookie team and a rookie manufacturer. He has become one of the crown jewels of Toyota’s NASCAR program. The road races are exceptionally difficult and being outside the top-35, we felt it was necessary to have PJ’s experience in qualifying the car.”

Reutimann has only two NASCAR Busch Series road course races under his belt, but his finishes were quite impressive. The Florida native looks forward to his first shot at running that style of track in a future NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event and wishes Jones and his team good luck this weekend.

“I wish I was able to race the BURGER KING® Toyota this weekend at Watkins Glen,” said Reutimann, who is fresh off a ninth-place NASCAR Busch Series finish at Gilles Villeneuve Circuit road course in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. “I feel like I’m a pretty good road course racer even though I have limited experience. I can’t wait for the chance to run my first Cup road course. I hope the guys have a good run this weekend.”

Gerhart Released, Driver Named
Bobby Gerhart, injured during last Saturday’s ARCA RE/MAX Series Pennsylvania 200 at Pocono Raceway, was released Wednesday afternoon from Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Gerhart, diagnosed with a left brachial plexus injury and a T6 compression fracture, has been fitted in a neck brace for comfort. The veteran driver has also been fitted with a back brace to be worn at all times in the upright position, and will undergo physical therapy under a physician’s care in his hometown of Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

“Overall, I’m just so disappointed,” said Gerhart on Wednesday. “As a team, we think it’s plain to see that we’ve got this program completely turned around. We’ve been competitive everywhere. But our championship hopes are gone for 2007, and that’s just disappointing; I don’t know how else to say it. I just want to thank Lucas Oil, Eagle Warranty and all our sponsors for being so supportive through all of this.”

Unable to drive the No. 5 Lucas Oil Chevrolet in this Saturday’s Toyota 150 ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Nashville Superspeedway, Bobby Gerhart Racing has announced that veteran driver Brian Keselowski will sub for Gerhart at Nashville.

“It was a unanimous choice at BGR. I’m sure he’ll (Keselowski) do a great job. The car he’ll be in will be high quality in all regards, so he’ll have the opportunity to win the race.”

In six ARCA RE/MAX Series starts this year, Keselowski, driving the family-owned No. 29, has been extremely impressive with two victories already at Salem Speedway and Berlin Raceway. In fact, the Rochester Hills, Michigan third-generation driver hasn’t finished out of the top-10 yet this year. Keselowski’s first series victory came at Berlin in 2006, giving him three victories in 28 career ARCA RE/MAX Series starts.

Brother, car owner and crew chief Bill Gerhart certainly shares in his brother Bobby’s enthusiasm regarding the decision to put Keselowski in the seat. “We feel we’ve made a great choice in selecting Brian Keselowski for Nashville,” said Bill Gerhart. “Honestly, our phone’s been ringing off the hook, but Brian’s going to be our driver. We feel like by choosing Brian we also keep things within the ARCA family. When we first broke into this series in the 80s, Brian’s father Bob Keselowski was the man here. I mean, we really looked up to him, and we certainly still do. We have an enormous amount of respect for the entire Keselowski family. The Keselowski’s have also been very supportive of our team over the years and have been instrumental in helping us with some of our short-track set-ups.”

Bill Gerhart also shares in his brother’s disappointment. “To say that we are disappointed is an understatement,” added Bill Gerhart. “We started with a two-year plan in 2005 to run for the championship in 2007. We’ve had, and continue to have, great support from our marketing partners and we’ve worked so hard to make this championship run a reality. We just want to thank our sponsors who have been very supportive of our entire situation.”

Gerhart, a five-time Daytona ARCA 200 winner, has been flooded with phone calls and well wishes since the accident. “I just want to personally thank everyone who’s tried to call or reach out to me; it really does mean a lot. I also want everyone to know that I’ll be back (in the driver’s seat); I don’t know when, but I’ll be back.”

"Prelude" Raises $800,000 for Charity
The third annual NEXTEL Prelude to the Dream presented by Old Spice, held June 6 and broadcast live on HBO Pay-Per-View, raised $800,000 for charity. The 30-lap dirt late model event at the famed Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, featured some of racing’s biggest stars, and in a thrilling race won by NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver Carl Edwards, it allowed the Tony Stewart Foundation to make significant contributions to charity.

The chief benefactor of the NEXTEL Prelude to the Dream presented by Old Spice was the Victory Junction Gang Camp. The Randleman, N.C.-based organization that serves as a year-round camp for children ages seven to 15 with an assortment of life-threatening illnesses will receive $600,000 from the Tony Stewart Foundation.

“It’s tough to put into words what that kind of a donation means to Victory Junction,” said Kyle Petty, who along with wife Pattie formed the Victory Junction Gang Camp in honor of their late son, Adam. “Getting the camp built was a huge undertaking that took a lot of money from a lot of generous donations, but running the camp and maintaining its medical facilities have proven to be just as expensive. The success of the Prelude to the Dream has ensured the camp’s success, which allows everyone who works at Victory Junction to focus on one thing – making sure the kids who come to camp get to do the things they can’t always do in a hospital, and that’s the ability to simply be a kid.”

Also receiving support from the proceeds generated by the NEXTEL Prelude to the Dream presented by Old Spice was the Autism Society of Delaware and Motor Racing Outreach, with each entity receiving $25,000. The remaining $150,000 stayed with the Tony Stewart Foundation, allowing the Foundation to continue its support of groups caring for chronically ill children, drivers injured in motorsports activities and charitable outfits specializing in the protection of various animal species. Charities actively supported by the Foundation include, but are not limited to, the Ronald McDonald House, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Indiana Special Olympics, Greyrescue (Greyhound Rescue Organization) and the Victory Junction Gang Camp.

“This year’s Prelude to the Dream was our biggest yet, and the money it was able to raise for charity is a testament to all of the time and effort everyone put into it,” said Tony Stewart, two-time Nextel Cup champion and founder of the Tony Stewart Foundation. “From the drivers who participated in the race, to the fans who came to Eldora or watched it on HBO Pay-Per-View, to the media who covered it, to all the work everyone did behind the scenes to make the event first-class, it was a total team effort that made the Prelude so successful. “We learned a lot from this year’s race, and we’re already planning for next year. We feel like we’ve found a cool event that the drivers and the fans really enjoy, and we only want to make it better so that next year’s donation is even bigger.”

Carl Stealey, Old Spice associate marketing director, added, “We consider our relationship with Tony Stewart to be very special, and when our relationship can benefit the work of such great charitable organizations, it’s just hard to imagine it getting any better.”