Good news for fans of Snohomish native Kevin Hamlin
MacDonald Motorsports announced Tuesday that Hamlin will drive the No. 81 D.H. Griffin machine in the NASCAR Nationwide Series this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway and in two weeks at Texas Motor Speedway.
“I am excited to get back to Bristol,” Hamlin said. “It has been a couple of years since I have raced there, but anytime I can race on a short track I get pretty excited. Things in this business change fast and for the past three weeks I have been spotting for John Andretti on Sundays. However, this weekend I will be behind the wheel of the D.H. Griffin machine for MacDonald Motorsports. We had two good runs with MacDonald Motorsports last year at Dover and California and I hope we can build on that success this year and bring home a solid top-15 finish. I appreciate all the hard work from the guys at the shop and the opportunity Randy has given me.”
The 29-year-old driver launched his NASCAR career in 1998 when he began competing in the NASCAR Northwest Series. Over the next five years, Hamlin grabbed 12 wins, two championships (2001 and 2002) and won the “Most Popular Driver” awards in 2001 and 2004.
In 2005, Hamlin finally got the break he was waiting for and was signed as the developmental driver for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. Early in their partnership, Hamlin competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series through Ganassi’s alliances with smaller teams and eventually drove under the Ganassi name in 2007. In 25 NASCAR Nationwide Series starts Hamlin notched two top-10 finishes with a career-best finish of seventh in 2007 at Gateway International Speedway.
D.H. Griffin, who was the primary sponsor for the Camping World 300 at Daytona International Speedway, will sponsor the No. 81 this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. D.H. Griffin Companies has been providing services to the construction and construction related industries for over 50 years. They provide services in the following fields: demolition, dismantlement and erecting, hazardous materials removal, infrastructure, site development, grading and site preparation, used process equipment, new construction, recycling and brownfields site redevelopment.
“I am excited to have Kevin (Hamlin) back in the race car this weekend at Bristol,” team owner Randy MacDonald said. “It’s our job as a team to give Kevin a fast car this weekend and we’re counting on him to bring us home a solid finish. We are also extremely excited to have D.H. Griffin Companies back on our race car. D.H. Griffin is one of the most acclaimed specialty contractors and we are proud to represent the local offices here at Bristol.”
The Scott’s Turf Builder 300 will be televised live Saturday, March 21 beginning at 11 a.m. on ABC and will be broadcast live on PRN and Sirius/XM Satellite Radio.
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