Racing With Jesus – Richmond

Morgan Shepherd turned in his best qualifying effort of the year for the Richmond race this past Friday.

Locking into the race in 29th position, the team concentrated on getting the #89 into race-ready trim for the short-track. Unlike the previous week’s race at Talladega, the Richmond track is a short 3/4 mile oval.

Setup for the cars is totally different. This year, the Racing With Jesus team has the good fortune of having a separate car for this track.

Thanks to the tire sponsorship by Tony Stewart and Matt Yokum, the #89 turned in a solid performance for the night, finishing 28th.

Early in the race, a big part of the field was lapped by the front-runners as a result of a long green-flag run.

Struggling to recover from having been lapped, Morgan was constantly battling the other lapped cars in his effort to gain a top finishing position.

Although Kevin Harvick Inc. provided a handful of its guys to help fuel Shepherd’s car, a short-handed Faith Motorsports crew handled the tire changing and adjustments for the night.

“Our guys are simply great,” said team General Manager Dana Tomes. “Rich, Andrew and Craig were changing tires by themselves when everyone else had five crew members to work with. Craig did a great job with the jack and watching Rich and Andrew carry and change the tires by themselves was just awesome. Those guys are just unreal in their dedication and even being shorthanded, our stops were not that slow.”

“We are happy that we have been able to put together two solid weeks in a row,” Shepherd said. “We look forward to what we might be able to do at Darlington.”

Heading To Darlington

From Faith Motorsports PR:

DARLINGTON, SC – In a fitting tribute to mothers around the world, Morgan Shepherd’s #89 Racing With Jesus Dodge will honor and remember all mothers this Mother’s Day weekend.

Shepherd’s Dodge Charger will carry a large red banner on its rear quarter panels in Friday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race which reads “Happy Mother’s Day” and will also display the names of his late mother, Bettie Poovey; his mother-in-law, Betty Jones; Tony Stewart’s mom, Pam Boas; Kevin Harvick’s mom; JoNell Harvick; and Matt Yocum’s mother, Mary Yocum, as a small Mother’s Day tribute.

“This is a very special weekend,” said Shepherd, the 66-year-old racing veteran. “There aren’t many greater gifts in life than to be a mother and we want to pay special tribute to all the mothers out there for what they do for their children each day.”

While Friday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race will be run two days before the historic American holiday, Shepherd said he wants to bring attention to the important role that mothers play in a person’s life and remind race fans of the importance of remembering their mothers on this special weekend.

“We didn’t know how to thank many of those who have helped us so much, like Tony, Kevin and Matt,” Shepherd said. “What better way to say ‘thank you’ to them than to be a part of them honoring their mothers by having their names on our car.”

The name of Shepherd’s mother, the late Bettie Poovey, who passed away last May, and the name of Cindy Shepherd’s mother, Betty Jones, will appear on the lower rear quarter panels of the car as an honor to both women for the roles they played in shaping the Shepherd family.

The names of the mothers of Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick and Matt Yocum will appear on the lower rear quarter panels as a “thank you” for the generosity those families have shown Shepherd and his Faith Motorsports team.

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…..