Racing With Jesus – Preparing For Charlotte

While this past weekend was an “off” week in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Morgan Shepherd and the Racing With Jesus team were busy both in preparations for the upcoming Charlotte race and in the news with all the recent events that have unfolded.

As we had mentioned earlier, The Hotlap had started a “Tires For Faith” fund to buy a set of tires for the #89 for the Charlotte race. The initial success of the fund drive led to the opening of a 2nd drive for a second set of tires.

Now, the “Tires For Faith” drive has been shifted to the Dover race as retiring NASCAR champion Dale Jarrett has stepped forward to sponsor tires for the Charlotte race.

The really big news for this week comes from the race team owned by Kevin and DeLana Harvick.

Kevin Harvick has donated a race car to Morgan Shepherd and Racing With Jesus! The team has been busily preparing the car and now, sporting a new candied-apple green paint job, Shepherd will enter the car in this weekend’s race.

From Faith Motorsports:

“I am just so thankful for Kevin and DeLana and their willingness to help me,” Shepherd said. “I just couldn’t believe it when they called and told me they were giving me a race car. I just didn’t know what to say. I am just so honored to have friends like the Harvicks, Tony Stewart, Matt Yocum and the Jarretts.”

While the Harvicks’ gesture of kindness has been by far the biggest gift Shepherd has received from a colleague, it is nowhere near the only one.

Fellow racer Tony Stewart and broadcaster Matt Yocum helped Shepherd with his tire bill two weeks ago at Richmond. Stewart stepped up again with help on Shepherd’s tires at Darlington last weekend. Shepherd has responded with a Top-15 and a Top-20 finish in the past three races.

As the team prepares for the upcoming Charlotte race at Lowe’s, this week their focus has shifted. For the first time since entering the Nationwide series, Shepherd is in the position of not facing the go-or-go-home status in qualifying.

Over the past 3 races, fueled by two top-20 finishes, the team has moved from 48th place in the points standings into the top 30, locking in a starting slot in this week’s race.

**********

You can follow the inspiring story of this team and read more about Morgan Shepherd and Racing with Jesus at the team’s website – www.racewithfaith.com. In addition to the team’s site, Jeff Parnell of KingdomWinners.com is writing a weekly blog of the team’s exploits at Christian Business Daily.

Read more of this inspiring story

….. to be continued…..