O'Reilly Challenge - Adrian Fernandez Notes

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ
NO. 5 LOWE’S / SPECTRACIDE CHEVROLET
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY PREVIEW

Adrian Fernandez will make the fourth start of his NASCAR career behind the wheel of the No. 5 Lowe’s / Hitachi Power Tools Chevrolet on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway. He tested with the No. 5 Team at TMS on Oct. 24. Fernandez is new to NASCAR but not TMS. Driving for the team he owns, Fernandez Racing, he posted fifth-place finishes in both Indy Racing League (IRL) events held at TMS in 2004.

DRIVER ADRIAN FERNANDEZ QUOTES:

TEXAS: “It’s a track that I know. But, obviously it is a totally different game in a Busch car compared to an IRL car. You don’t go as fast as in an IRL car but the IRL car has a lot more grip and seems as if it is planted in the track. You really need to drive a Busch car a lot more. I felt comfortable. I think we will be competitive. I did a lot of laps. We were lacking a little bit of overall grip, but we learned a lot. We made some changes at the end of the session and made it better. We were on the track with the Cup cars and it was interesting to watch how the Cup cars would catch us on the straight-aways because of the power differences between a Busch and Cup car.”

NASCAR EXPERIENCE: “Well it has been a wonderful experience. Everybody has been very nice to me and my wife. All of the drivers have been very helpful and friendly. NASCAR has been great. I cannot say enough about Hendrick Motorsports and Lowe’s. It’s been great. Now that I have three races in a row and I think I will feel the intensity more. Every time I get into the car I enjoy it more. The more laps I do the more familiar I am with the car. My communication with the team is getting better as well.”

GOALS: “My goal is to finish and try to score a top 10. Obviously, we did that in Mexico but to me that doesn’t count because of my experience on the road courses compared to everyone else. A top 10 is possible, but it is not going to be easy. I am very surprised how competitive this series is. It is extremely competitive. Sometimes you think you are pretty good and then you are just a couple of tenths off and you are running 25th. That’s probably why everyone likes NASCAR so much. “

CHASSIS INFORMATION- Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 318- This chassis was built at Hendrick Motorsports last season. Kyle Busch drove this car to a victory at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May, and a 36th-place finish at Chicagoland Speedway in July. Adrian Fernandez drove this chassis to a 28th-place finish at California Speedway in September. Most recently, this chassis was scheduled to be driven by Fernandez in the Busch race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway two weeks ago, but a wreck during qualifying forced the team to pull out a backup car.

Fernandez will appear at D. McRae Elementary School at 3316 Avenue N in Fort Worth on Thursday at 2 p.m. He will present the school with a $25,000 check on behalf of the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation. The school plans to use the donation for a playground and outdoor classroom.

Fernandez will also appear 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Lowe’s on 3500 West Airport Freeway in Irving.

2005 FERNANDEZ: In March, Fernandez made his first start in a stock car in the NASCAR Busch Series event at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course in Mexico City. Starting 40th, Fernandez led four laps on his way to a 10th-place finish.

Fernandez’ first stock car race on an oval track came at California Speedway in September, where he finished 28th. Last month, Fernandez drove the No. 5 to a 40th-place result at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. He is also scheduled to drive the Lowe’s Chevrolet in the season’s final two events at Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Hendrick Motorsports is fielding two entries for this weekend’s Busch race. In addition to Fernandez and the No. 5 entry, Kyle Busch will drive the No. 57 Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools Chevrolet.

TEAM NO. 5’s HISTORY AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: Kyle Busch started on the pole and led the most laps in the April, 2004, NASCAR Busch Series race at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS), but finished second to Matt Kenseth. Driving the No. 5 in 2003, Brian Vickers also led the most laps in that year’s Texas Busch Series race. Vickers’ chance for a win was dashed when he was penalized for passing to the left on a restart.

Ron Hornaday, filling in for the injured Ricky Hendrick, posted a 12th-place finish in the No. 5 in the 2002 Busch race in Texas. Earlier this season, Blake Feese qualified 13th for the April Busch race at TMS, but an accident midway through the event gave Feese a 37th-place finish.

LIVE STRONG JOHN: Members of the No. 5 Team Lowe’s Racing pit crew are displaying yellow lettering on their helmets that reads, “Live Strong John.” The message is a show of support for John Haaland, who is battling cancer. John Haaland is the father of the No. 5 team’s rear tire changer, Brian Haaland.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Fernandez is a familiar name to race fans, as the Mexico City native has spent the past 12 years at the top levels of open-wheel racing. A lack of sponsorship has kept Fernandez from driving full-time in the Indy Racing League (IRL) this season, but he did compete in the Indianapolis 500 in May, and owns Fernandez Racing, the team that fields IRL entries for drivers Scott Sharp and Kosuke Matsuura.

Fernandez began motocross racing at the age of eight in Mexico. He raced open-wheel cars in Mexico and Europe before joining the Championship Auto Racing Team (CART) series in 1993, posting eight career victories and 21 podium finishes through the 2003 season. In 2004, Fernandez joined the IRL, where he won three races, including two of the series’ final three events.

Fernandez is Mexico’s premiere driver, and was nominated for Mexico’s National Sports Award – the 2004 Premio Nacional del Deporte – for his career achievements in auto racing. Fernandez has received numerous awards, including “Athlete of the Year,” in Mexico. Most recently, he was recognized at the Premios Fox Sports Awards for his contributions to Latin American auto racing.

MULTI-DRIVER TEAM: The No. 5 Team Lowe’s Racing crew is competing for the 2005 NASCAR Busch Series owners’ points championship with seven different drivers.

Kyle Busch has driven the No. 5 in 10 races, including a win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May. Boston Reid and Blake Feese have six starts apiece in the Lowe’s entry, with Reid’s best finish being a 17th-place result at Nashville Superspeedway in June, and Feese’s best finish being a 23rd-place result at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March.

Jimmie Johnson drove the No. 5 in three races, scoring the team’s first pole position of 2005 at Darlington Raceway in May, and qualifying eighth the following weekend at Richmond International Raceway. Johnson’s best finish was a fifth-place result at Dover International Speedway in June.

Kyle Krisiloff made his Busch Series debut in the No. 5 at The Milwaukee Mile in June, and finished 40th in the Lowe’s Chevy at Michigan International Speedway in August. Most recently, Krisiloff drove the No. 5 to a 19th-place finish at Memphis Motorsports Park in October.

In his NASCAR debut, open-wheel star Adrian Fernandez drove the No. 5 to a top-10 finish in the Mexico City Busch Series race, finished 28th at California Speedway in Sept., and finished 40th in the No. 5 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last month. Fernandez is also slated to drive the No. 5 in the final two Busch races on this season’s schedule.

Brian Vickers’ only scheduled start in the No. 5 this season came at Watkins Glen International, where he finished third.

POINTS: Rick Hendrick, owner of the No. 5 Lowe’s / Hitachi Power Tools entry, sits 25th in the NASCAR Busch Series owners’ points standings after 32 events of the 35-race season.

SPONSOR: The No. 5 Team Lowe’s Racing Chevy will carry the Spectracide logo on its quarter panels this weekend. Spectracide is a product of Spectrum Brands, a leading manufacturer and marketer of value-oriented consumer lawn and garden products and household insecticides in the United States. Spectracide, Sta-Green and Hitachi Power Tools join returning Lowe’s vendor partners, Briggs & Stratton, Shop Vac and Pella as sponsors of the No. 5 team this season.