Mooresville, NC

John Andretti returns to the seat of the Billy Ballew Motorsports entry this weekend for the running of the Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.  This Saturday’s race will be the fourth time Andretti has piloted the No. 15 Chevrolet in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competition.  Also returning to the No. 15 will be the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, who sponsored the Billy Ballew Motorsports team at the race in Memphis a couple races ago.

“I’ve never been to Nashville (Superspeedway) before,” said Andretti.  “Not even seen the track, but that’s not anything unique.  I hadn’t been to Memphis before or IRP in 20 years, so I’ll go learn some more.”

Learning these new tracks are something Andretti has become accustomed to here as of late.  Andretti had never been in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series vehicle when he made his debut at Kansas Speedway last month, ran as high as third and finished in the ninth position.  He had never competed at Memphis Motorsports Park before and came home with an eighth place.  It had been some 20 years since Andretti returned to his hometown of Indianapolis to compete at the small oval of Indianapolis Raceway Park.  Andretti learned a hard lesson at IRP, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series motto: “Tough Trucks, Tough Drivers.”  Andretti is determined to show how tough he is when he arrives in Nashville.

“I’d obviously like to have a great run in the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau Chevrolet,” continues Andretti.  “I look forward to competing at Nashville.  It’ll be nice to have an opportunity to go to a track I’ve been to before, should that ever occur, but I know the Billy Ballew Motorsports team is strong wherever we go, so I’m not too concerned.”

The Billy Ballew Motorsports team heads to Nashville seventh in the owners standings, after dropping three spots from a disappointing finish last week at IRP.  The team remains focused and optimistic on their goals for the 2005 season.

“We had a disheartening run at IRP last Friday night,” said team owner Billy Ballew, “but we’re still focused on finishing the season high in the owners standings.  We’re glad to have John back with us this week, and I think he’ll do a good job for us at Nashville.  We’re thankful to have the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau again.  We appreciate the support Kevin Kane (Pres.) and his whole staff have given us.  We hope to give the city of Memphis a great showing in Nashville.”

The Toyota Tundra 200 gets underway at 5:15 ET from the Nashville Superspeedway, located in Lebanon, Tenn.  The race will be broadcast live on SPEED Channel and MRN Radio.