Kelly Bires | |||||||
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Bires in 2008
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Born |
Mauston, Wisconsin |
August 25, 1984 ||||||
Achievements | 2001 Great Lakes Allison Legacy Series Champion 2006 ASA Late Model Series Challenge Division Champion |
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Awards | 2006 ASA Late Model Series Rookie of the Year | ||||||
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
3 races run over 1 year | |||||||
Best finish | 54th (2012) | ||||||
First race | 2012 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 (Loudon) | ||||||
Last race | 2012 Hollywood Casino 400 (Kansas) | ||||||
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NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
88 races run over 6 years | |||||||
Best finish | 13th (2008) | ||||||
First race | 2007 Federated Auto Parts 300 (Nashville) | ||||||
Last race | 2012 OneMain Financial 200 (Dover) | ||||||
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NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career | |||||||
8 races run over 2 years | |||||||
Best finish | 44th (2007) | ||||||
First race | 2006 Easy Care Vehicle Service Contracts 200 (Atlanta) | ||||||
Last race | 2007 Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200 (Milwaukee) | ||||||
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Statistics current as of October 21, 2012. |
Kelly Bires (born August 25, 1984) is an American professional driver. He most recently drove part-time for Go Green Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series. Previously, Bires drove competitively for JTG Daugherty Racing, JR Motorsports, and Braun Racing in the Nationwide Series.
Bires began karting at Sugar River Raceway in Brodhead, Wisconsin at age 9 and began competing in national karting events at age 12. He won several regional titles and two national championships.
He became the Great Lakes Allison Legacy Series Rookie of the Year in 2000, and followed up the championship by winning the series in 2001. Bires next moved up to the Super Late Model race cars at Dells Motor Speedway, finishing fifth in points and named 2002 Rookie of the Year. The following year he finished second in championship points. Bires made his first start in ARCA in May 2004. In 2006, he joined up with veteran American Speed Association Late Model Series crew chief Howie Lettow and won the season championship that year.
In the 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Bires was the driver of the #21 Wood Brothers Racing truck in 19 races, handing over driving duties for the other six races to veteran Mark Martin. He had a tenth-place finish at Atlanta. After the departure of Jon Wood due to illness, Bires left the Truck Series and started racing for Tad Geschickter beginning at Nashville Superspeedway. His best Busch Series start was 26th and best finish was 7th in the Meijer 300 presented by Oreo race at Kentucky Speedway. Named the permanent driver of the #47 car in 2008, Bires had six top-ten finishes en route to a 13th-place points finish. But with Clorox/Kingsford moving up with Marcos Ambrose to the Sprint Cup Series, he was left without a full-time ride at the end of the season due to lack of sponsorship.