Frank Cicci Racing with Jim Kelly Taps Mike McLaughlin to Replace Clay
Rogers in LesCare Kitchens Chevrolet
MOORESTOWN, NORTH CAROLINA
- The new Frank Cicci Racing with Jim Kelly NASCAR Busch Series
organization has yet to run its first race but a driver change
has already taken place.
Veteran Mike McLaughlin,
who drove for Cicci from 1994 through 1999, was named Tuesday to
succeed young Clay Rogers in the team's #34 Chevrolet Monte
Carlos. Like Cicci a native of upstate New York, McLaughlin will
be behind the wheel of that machine for the team's inaugural
race on April 5th in the Aaron's Rents 312 on the 2.66-mile,
27-degree banked Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.
LesCare Kitchens, the
largest, privately held frameless cabinet manufacturer in
America, will be the car sponsor in this first event of an
initial 10-race sponsorship pact in 2003 with Frank Cicci Racing
with Jim Kelly.
"NASCAR has a very
strict driver approval process designed to protect new drivers,
and we applaud them for being so safety conscious.
Unfortunately, Clay (Rogers) has not yet been approved to
compete on high banked super speedways, and since we needed to
get our program started now, we have elected to go with Mike
(McLaughlin) as our driver," Cicci explained.
Cicci further stated that
the team has plans to implement a driver development program to
give Rogers the track time he will need to gain that approval.
Those plans would have Frank Cicci Racing with Jim Kelly
entering Rogers in selected ARCA super speedway races and
possibly in some Busch Series events later in 2003.
The popular McLaughlin
drove the last two seasons for Joe Gibbs Racing before being
released at the end of the 2002 campaign to allow Gibbs to move
his son, Coy, into that car for this season. McLaughlin was a
front runner most of the 2002 campaign and finished fourth in
the final driver points standing despite failing to add to his
career Busch Series victory total of six. He did record seven
top five and 17 top ten finishes in the #20 MBNA Pontiac and
earned a career, single season high of $1,281,256. McLaughlin
has been a full-time Busch Series driver for the last nine
seasons but began his career in this division in 1984 by running
a limited schedule.
McLaughlin enjoyed the
most productive years of his Busch Series driving career when he
last drove for Cicci. During those six seasons, McLaughlin won
five of his six races, finished third in driver points twice
(1995 and 1998) and fourth once (1997), posted 41 top five and
70 top ten finishes, earned five pole positions and led in 35 of
the 171 events. McLaughlin had signed to drive the 2003 season
for Angela's Racing last fall before the team folded in January.
McLaughlin is excited about his reunion with Cicci.
"It's been rough for
me the last few months, but it was quite rewarding to see the
amount of support I received from my friends and fans. The call
from Frank was like getting a call to come home,"
McLaughlin said.
"I'm excited about
this new organization that Frank has put together, and having
the chance to work with a Hall of Fame NFL quarterback in Jim
Kelly should really be cool. They say that everything happens
for a reason, so maybe renewing my relationship with Frank Cicci
will help me show the NASCAR world that I still have a lot of
racing left in me. I'm looking forward to going to Talladega to
help give Frank a competitive racecar and to help LesCare sell
more cabinets," he added.
Veteran Blake Bainbridge
will be McLaughlin's crew chief. He served in a similar capacity
last year with then Busch Series rookie Brian Vickers and before
that with Tommy Baldwin Racing. Clyde McLeod, another long-time
Cicci employee who was the team manager during McLaughlin's most
successful seasons, will serve in that same capacity with Frank
Cicci Racing with Jim Kelly.
Kelly is scheduled to
attend the race at Talladega to aid the team's debut.
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