Kelly Bires

Kelly Bires (born August 25, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He most recently drove part-time for Go Green Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series. Previously, Bires drove competitively for JTG Daugherty Racing, JR Motorsports, and Braun Racing in the Nationwide Series.

Kelly Bires
Bires in 2008
Born (1984-08-25) August 25, 1984
Mauston, Wisconsin
Achievements2001 Great Lakes Allison Legacy Series Champion
2006 ASA Late Model Series Challenge Division Champion
Awards2006 ASA Late Model Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Cup Series career
3 races run over 1 year
Best finish54th (2012)
First race2012 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 (Loudon)
Last race2012 Hollywood Casino 400 (Kansas)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
88 races run over 6 years
Best finish13th (2008)
First race2007 Federated Auto Parts 300 (Nashville)
Last race2012 OneMain Financial 200 (Dover)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 13 0
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
8 races run over 2 years
Best finish44th (2007)
First race2006 Easy Care Vehicle Service Contracts 200 (Atlanta)
Last race2007 Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200 (Milwaukee)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 1 0
Statistics current as of October 21, 2012.

Early career

Bires began karting at Sugar River Raceway in Brodhead, Wisconsin at age 9 and began competing in national karting events at age 12. He won several regional titles and two national championships.[1]

He became the Great Lakes Allison Legacy Series Rookie of the Year in 2000, and followed up the championship by winning the series in 2001. Bires next moved up to the Super Late Model race cars at Dells Motor Speedway, finishing fifth in points and named 2002 Rookie of the Year. The following year he finished second in championship points. Bires made his first start in ARCA in May 2004. In 2006, he joined up with veteran American Speed Association Late Model Series crew chief Howie Lettow and won the season championship that year.[2]

NASCAR career
Bires during the 2007 Ford 300

2007–2008

In the 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Bires was the driver of the #21 Wood Brothers Racing truck in 19 races, handing over driving duties for the other six races to veteran Mark Martin. He had a tenth-place finish at Atlanta. After the departure of Jon Wood due to illness, Bires left the Truck Series and started racing for Tad Geschickter beginning at Nashville Superspeedway. His best Busch Series start was 26th and best finish was 7th in the Meijer 300 presented by Oreo race at Kentucky Speedway. Named the permanent driver of the #47 car in 2008, Bires had six top-ten finishes en route to a 13th-place points finish. But with Clorox/Kingsford moving up with Marcos Ambrose to the Sprint Cup Series, he was left without a full-time ride at the end of the season due to lack of sponsorship.

Bires' 2009 Nationwide car

2009 to present

Bires spent the 2009 season driving for various teams, including Braun Racing, MSRP Motorsports, and JTG, where he start and parked, as well as competing for Kevin Harvick Incorporated and CJM Racing. His best finish that year came at Iowa Speedway, where he finished fifth in Braun's Fraternal Order of Eagles Toyota. Bires also had a 10th-place finish for KHI at Nashville. At the end of the season, Bires signed a two-year contract to drive for JR Motorsports in the #88 Chevy through 2011, with Earnhardt eager to see what Bires could do in his equipment.[3] Bires drove the #5 Ragu Chevy for Junior at Homestead in preparation for running full-time in 2010.[4]

Due to sponsorship obligations with Unilever and their Hellmann's Mayonnaise brand, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran the #88 car at the 2010 season opener at Daytona and Danica Patrick ran the #7 car with her sponsor GoDaddy.com, forcing Bires to sit out.[5] In his debut at Fontana, he did have a seventh-place finish. Even more curious than his missing Daytona was when Bires was removed from the #88 car in favor of Cup driver Jamie McMurray after only five races run, with only one finish below 17th (a crash at Las Vegas).[6] Earnhardt Jr. cited chemistry issues between Bires, JR Motorsports management, and the team including Tony Eury, Sr. and Jr., and implied that Bires was taking a seat from "the next Brad [Keselowski], the next Jeff Gordon." Prior to Brad Keselowski, the team had also hastily released Mark McFarland in 2006 after 21 races and Shane Huffman in 2007 after 18 races.[7] Bires returned to the Braun Racing #10 at Richmond, where he finished 11th, then ran races for Baker-Curb Racing, Team Rensi Motorsports, and RAB Racing.

Bires returned to the Nationwide Series in 2011, driving for Rensi. However, Bires had to start and park his #25 on numerous occasions, and withdrew from two races. After Rensi cut back its schedule, Bires was hired by Joe Gibbs Racing to drive their #18 Toyota at Richmond and Chicagoland. Bires also ran two races as a start and park in Go Green Racing's 04 car.

Bires attempted six races in the Sprint Cup Series in 2012 for Go Green, making 3 races but finishing no better than 38th. Bires was released from both the Cup and Nationwide rides in November.[8]

In 2013, Bires became crew chief for the late model team of Matt Kenseth's son Ross Kenseth.[9]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 NSCC Pts
2009 BlackJack Racing 51 Dodge DAY
DNQ		 CAL LVS ATL BRI MAR TEX PHO TAL RCH DAR CLT DOV POC MCH SON NHA DAY CHI IND POC GLN MCH BRI ATL RCH NHA DOV KAN CAL CLT MAR TAL TEX PHO HOM 83rd 0
2012 Go Green Racing 79 Ford DAY PHO LVS BRI CAL MAR TEX KAN RCH TAL DAR CLT DOV POC MCH SON KEN DAY NHA
42		 IND POC GLN MCH BRI
DNQ		 ATL RCH CHI NHA
43		 DOV
DNQ		 TAL CLT KAN
38		 MAR TEX
DNQ		 PHO HOM 54th 9
Daytona 500
Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish
2009 BlackJack Racing Dodge DNQ

Nationwide Series
NASCAR Nationwide Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 NNSC Pts
2007 JTG Daugherty Racing 47 Ford DAY CAL MXC LVS ATL BRI NSH TEX PHO TAL RCH DAR CLT DOV NSH
15		 KEN
7		 MLW
30		 NHA
24		 DAY
16		 CHI
24		 GTY
24		 IRP
38		 CGV GLN MCH
32		 BRI
29		 CAL
23		 RCH
26		 DOV
19		 KAN
40		 CLT
9		 MEM
14		 TEX
19		 PHO
22		 HOM
20		 32nd 1820
2008 DAY
12		 CAL
30		 LVS
15		 ATL
12		 BRI
20		 NSH
5		 TEX
17		 PHO
19		 MXC
31		 TAL
36		 RCH
20		 DAR
24		 CLT
33		 DOV
13		 NSH
8		 KEN
19		 MLW
11		 NHA
22		 DAY
16		 CHI
12		 GTY
32		 IRP
36		 CGV
24		 GLN
17		 MCH
9		 BRI
17		 CAL
13		 RCH
20		 DOV
34		 KAN
10		 CLT
7		 MEM
18		 TEX
22		 PHO
17		 HOM
9		 13th 3764
2009 Braun Racing 10 Toyota DAY CAL LVS
37		 BRI
42		 TEX MLW
36		 IOW
5		 GLN MCH BRI CGV 48th 1053
Kevin Harvick Incorporated 33 Chevy NSH
4		 PHO TAL RCH DAR CLT DOV KEN
10		 MEM
25		 TEX PHO
MSRP Motorsports 91 Chevy NSH
37		 NHA
41		 DAY
JTG Daugherty Racing 47 Toyota CHI
40		 GTY
40		 IRP
39
CJM Racing 11 Toyota ATL
32		 RCH DOV KAN CAL CLT
JR Motorsports 5 Chevy HOM
29
2010 88 DAY CAL
7		 LVS
42		 BRI
12		 NSH
14		 PHO
17		 TEX TAL 45th 1019
Braun Racing 10 Toyota RCH
11		 DAR DOV CLT NSH KEN ROA NHA DAY CHI
Baker Curb Racing 27 Ford GTY
32		 IRP IOW GLN MCH BRI CGV ATL
Team Rensi Motorsports 25 Ford RCH
27		 CLT
22		 GTY TEX PHO HOM
RAB Racing 09 Ford DOV
21		 KAN CAL
2011 Team Rensi Motorsports 25 Ford DAY
43		 PHO
37		 LVS
35		 BRI
43		 CAL TEX TAL NSH 47th 77
Joe Gibbs Racing 18 Toyota RCH
30		 DAR DOV IOW CHI
8		 MCH ROA DAY KEN NHA NSH IRP IOW GLN CGV BRI ATL RCH CHI
Go Green Racing 04 Ford CLT
42		 DOV
37		 KAN CLT TEX PHO HOM
2012 39 DAY PHO LVS BRI CAL TEX
22		 RCH TAL DAR IOW CLT DOV MCH ROA KEN DAY NHA CHI IND IOW GLN CGV BRI ATL RCH CHI KEN 131st 01
Rick Ware Racing 15 Chevy DOV
42		 CLT KAN TEX PHO HOM

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

Craftsman Truck Series
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NCTC Pts
2006 Wood Brothers/JTG Racing 19 Ford DAY CAL ATL MAR GTY CLT MFD DOV TEX MCH MLW KAN KEN MEM IRP NSH BRI NHA LVS TAL MAR ATL
19		 TEX PHO HOM 76th 106
2007 Wood Brothers Racing 21 DAY
26		 ATL
10		 MAR
34		 KAN
31		 CLT MFD
25		 DOV TEX MCH MLW
35		 MEM KEN IRP NSH BRI GTW NHA LVS TAL MAR ATL TEX PHO HOM 44th 572
Xpress Motorsports 16 Ford CAL
29

References
  1. Biography at official website, Retrieved September 28, 2012
  2. Jim, Tretow. "Howie Lettow Remembered". Speed 51. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
  3. Associated Press (September 15, 2009). "Bires signs deal with JR Motorsports". espn.go.com. Mooresville, North Carolina: ESPN. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  4. JR Motorsports (November 17, 2009). "Homestead: Kelly Bires preview". motorsport.com. motorsport.com. Retrieved 23 August 2014. JRM DEBUT - Kelly Bires will make his debut with JR Motorsports in the No. 5 Ragu Chevrolet this weekend in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. WEEKEND OF FIRSTS - Homestead marks Ragu's first race with JR Motorsports.
  5. McCubbin, Ashley (Feb 20, 2010). "Kelly Bires Looks to Debut for JR Motorsports at Auto Club Speedway". bleacherreport.com. Bleacher Report. Retrieved 23 August 2014. When they signed the contract, Kelly Bires was ready to start the year off strong for JR Motorsports, though when it came to Daytona, he wasn’t to be found in either JR Motorsports car.
  6. Busbee, Jay (April 13, 2010). "https://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/blog/from_the_marbles/post/Kelly-Bires-relieved-of-duties-at-JR-Motorspor?urn=nascar,233887". sports.yahoo.com. Yahoo. Retrieved 23 August 2014. External link in |title= (help)
  7. Gluck, Jeff (April 16, 2010). "Earnhardt Jr. Explains Why JR Motorsports Fired Kelly Bires". sbnation.com. SB Nation. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  8. Wolkin, Joseph (November 6, 2012). "Kelly Bires loses start and park ride". rantsports.com. Rant, Inc. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  9. Southmayd, Reed (July 10, 2013). "ARCA Midwest Tour notes: Mauston's Kelly Bires goes from driver to crew chief". madison.com. West Allis, Wisconsin: madison.com.
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