Kelly Bires Rocks Pepsi 300 Practice at Nashville Superspeedway

Due to inclement weather in Nashville today, NASCAR combined the two Nationwide Series practices into one two-hour practice session at Nashville Superspeedway for Saturday's Pepsi 300.

Not surprisingly, Carl Edwards led the lone practice session with a lap speed of 162.688 mph.

But surprising was Kelly Bires, who in a one race deal with Kevin Harvick Inc. was eighth fastest in practice, driving the No. 33 Charter Communications Chevy.

Actually, it really isn't surprising. Bires is a immensely talented driver that was caught up in changes at JTG Daugherty Racing and affected by the economy.

Unfortunately, so far this season he's only run a limited schedule of races with Braun Racing before landing a one-off deal in the No. 33.

When practice started, Bires was loose all the way around the track. Crew chief Ernie Cope and the No. 33 crew made the necessary adjustments to improve the handling of the car, and had Bires running improved lap times on each run.

Eventually, they tightened up the No. 33 too much for Bires to drive and caused the brakes to start chattering. The team corrected this by making shock and track-bar adjustments to help the No. 33 car's handling.

Bires ended up being too free on his mock qualifying lap and would run a slower lap than his fastest posted lap speed.

Before qualifying Saturday morning, the No. 33 team will tighten up the car and make air pressure adjustments.

I've always liked Bires. He's loaded with talent and I'm sure he'll race well in the Pepsi 300...but what are the Harvicks going to do if he wins the race for them in a one race deal?

Qualifying starts Saturday at 11:05 A.M. on ESPN2. Bires and the No. 33 team will take to the track eighth in the qualifying order.

Source: kevinharvickinc.com