There must be something about Canadian racing drivers that Dale Earnhardt Jr. likes.
Steve Arpin of Fort Frances, Ont., has started four or five races for Little E’s JR Motorsports Nationwide team since taking over the famous No. 7 car that was vacated in March by Danica Patrick.
Early in May, the team announced that J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge would be in that very car for three road-course races this season, including the Nationwide round at Montreal in late August.
Then, late today, JR Motorsports announced that Canadian veteran Ron Fellows of Mississauga would be in the team's flagship No. 88 car for races at Road America in Wisconsin on June 19 and Watkins Glen, N.Y., Aug. 7.
The official name of the team is JR Motorsports but you can bet it will be known as Team Canada at Road America and Watkins Glen when both Fellows and Fitzpatrick will be racing.
Fellows has raced for Earnhardt three times previously, winning the 2008 Nationwide race at Montreal. In his two other starts for Dale Jr., he finished in the top five.
"We are thrilled to have Ron back with us," said JR Motorsports general manager and co-owner Kelly Earnhardt. "He’s an incredible talent behind the wheel and he will bring a lot of experience and insight to our program."
You betcha he will. He’s won a total of six Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series races in NASCAR and he’s finished second twice in Sprint Cup competition.
As well, the veteran Canadian has won the 24 Hours of Daytona, three American Le Mans Series titles, two class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 19 races in the SCCA Pro Racing Trans-Am Series.
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