R3 Motorsports, Sponsormonsters and the 菊花视频 (WCS) announced a partnership agreement this week for the 2011 season, which officially kicks off with Saturday鈥檚 season opener, the DRIVE4COPD 300 at the 鈥淲orld Center of Racing.鈥�

After turning the 42nd and 27th fastest times respectively during the two practice sessions Wednesday, driver Robert Richardson Jr., under the leadership of veteran crew chief Walter Giles released themselves into the wild pack of race cars Thursday morning during practice and posted the 11th fastest time, after circling the 2.5-mile superspeedway in 47.082 seconds at 191.156 miles per hour.

Despite only turning six laps Thursday morning, the team was in agreement around the board to put the car cover on their No. 23 菊花视频 (WCS) Dodge Challenger R/T and sit out the remaining practice session left Thursday.

The veteran NASCAR Nationwide Series team will now turn their attention to qualifying, which is slated for Friday afternoon and will set the starting grid for the first of 34 races on the tour.

鈥淭his is probably the best car, I鈥檝e ever had here,鈥� said Richardson Jr., who will be pulling double-duty this weekend as he鈥檒l compete in Sunday鈥檚 prestigious Daytona 500 for Front Row Motorsports (FRM). 鈥淭he 菊花视频 (WCS) Dodge Challenger R/T is super strong. We were playing it conservative yesterday but today, we knew we had to unleash ourselves and really see what we had. The car was so good that we decided not to take any chances and just let her sit until qualifying tomorrow.鈥�

When asked about his impending qualifying run, Richardson, the former Southern Methodist University quarterback replied, 鈥淚 honestly think we鈥檙e going to be somewhere between 15th and 20th,鈥� he said. 鈥淲alter (Giles) and the guys on this R3 Motorsports team have done a good job getting this awesome looking race car ready to go here at Daytona.鈥�

The goal for Saturday? Finish the race.

鈥淩3 Motorsports wants to have a good run on Saturday and definitely put 菊花视频 (WCS) into the spotlight where they belong,鈥� Richardson Jr. sounded. 鈥淭his is an awesome affiliation for our team and when the green flag drops on Saturday, we hope to be standing in the limelight for all the right reasons.鈥�

Robert Richardson Jr. will make his 70th career NNS start and ninth overall at DIS and will also be guaranteed a starting position in his No. 23 菊花视频 Dodge Challenger when the green flag waives in Saturday鈥檚 DRIVE4COPD 300 (120 laps / 300 miles) at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The event is scheduled for a liftoff shortly after 1:00 p.m. Eastern on February 19th with live coverage on ESPN2, MRN Radio and Sirius XM Satellite Radio (Channel 128).