"Awesome Bill" Returns to Busch Series at LMS After 12 Years

No. 6 Hungry Drivers™ Team Striving for Back-to-Back Wins

Bill Elliott

Statesville, NC (October 11, 2005) –It’s been twelve years since Bill Elliott competed in a Busch Series event at Lowe’s Motor Speedway but this weekend that absence will end. Elliott has been tapped to drive the Evernham Motorsports owned No. 6 Country Crock® Dodge Charger in Friday’s Dollar General 300 under the lights of Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

The occasion will mark Elliott’s fifth Busch Series start of the 2005 season. In four previous starts this season the former Nextel Cup champion has one top-ten (sixth at Pikes Peak International Raceway) and two top-20 finishes. Elliott has 41 career Busch Series starts spanning 22 years with one win (Watkins Glen, 1993), eight top-fives, 16 top-10’s and two poles.

Momentum could be on Elliott’s side for the upcoming event after the No. 6 Hungry Drivers™ team earned their first NASCAR Busch Series victory with Kasey Kahne last weekend at Kansas Speedway. That, coupled with Elliott’s past success at Lowe’s could mean another strong run for the team. In 55 NASCAR Nextel Cup starts at the Concord, NC-based track, Elliott has two wins, 11 top-five’s, 22 top-10’s, four pole awards and 1336 laps led.

Elliot made his first appearance in a NASCAR Busch Series race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in 1983, starting third and finishing fifth. Between 1983-1993 Elliott made just 11 Busch Series starts at Lowe’s posting three top-five and seven top-10 finishes. The driver hopes to add a “1” to the win column this weekend but knows that the conditions of the new track surface will be a challenge he will have to overcome.

"I'm really looking forward to running with the No. 6 team in the Busch race at Charlotte, especially with the momentum they have after winning last weekend in Kansas. I don't really know what to expect during the race, with all of the changes that have been made to the track but it will certainly be a challenge if testing is any indication. We ran well there in the spring in the Cup car, but there have been more changes made to the track surface since then that will affect everything. I believe that the teamwork that we convey at Evernham will be what carries us to a good finish in the No. 6 Country Crock® Dodge."

Elliott, who retired from full time competition at the end of the 2003 season, has to his credit two Daytona 500 wins, 44 NASCAR Cup Series career victories and the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup championship. A clear fan favorite, Elliott won the NMPA Most Popular Driver Award a record 16 times and in 1998 was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers of All Time.

Elliott will be back behind the wheel of the No. 6 Hungry Drivers™ Dodge on October 22, 2005 in the Busch Series event at Memphis Motorsports Park.