Purvis to Drive for Rockwell Automation/Brant Motorsports at St. Louis, Pikes Peak

JOLIET, Ill. (July 13, 2001) -- Veteran NASCAR racer Jeff Purvis has been named the driver for the Richard Childress Racing/Brant Motorsports No. 21 Rockwell Automation Racing team at the NASCAR Busch Series events at Gateway International Raceway (July 21) and Pikes Peak International Raceway (July 28).

Purvis will substitute for fulltime driver Mike Skinner, whose primary commitment is to RCR's No. 31 Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse Racing NASCAR Winston Cup program. Skinner is scheduled to be behind the wheel at all Winston Cup/Busch Series companion events.

"Jeff being available to drive the Rockwell Automation/Brant Motorsports car for the next couple of races made it an easy decision," said Richard Childress, president and CEO of Richard Childress Racing. "It also didn't hurt that he had good runs last year at both Gateway and Pikes Peak. He'll be able to continue the momentum the team has built over the past few months and we appreciate him filling in."

The Clarksville, Tenn., native has run 17 Busch Series races this season, earning one top-five and six top-10 finishes. In 168 Busch Series starts since 1989, Purvis has two victories (Richmond, Spring '96, from the pole; Michigan, Fall '96), six poles, and 22 top-five and 54 top-10 appearances. He started 18th and finished second at last year's Busch Series event at Gateway and won the pole and finished 13th last year at Pikes Peak.

"I'm excited about racing the Rockwell Automation car the next couple of races," said Purvis. "An organization like RCR speaks for itself. They know how to win races and brought me on to help them do that. I like racing at both St. Louis and Pikes Peak. You need a lot of horsepower to compete at both places, something both the ACDelco and Rockwell Automation cars have plenty of, which will give us a good chance to win."

NASCAR Busch North Series regular Ted Christopher, NASCAR Truck Series rookie Travis Kvapil and Winston Cup and CART veteran Robby Gordon have also filled in for Skinner this season. Christopher started and finished 19th at Nazareth Speedway (May 20), Kvapil qualified third and finished 28th at Kentucky Speedway (June 16) and Gordon qualified third and finished fifth at Watkins Glen International (July 8).