MAKE Motorsports Kicks Off 2012 NNS Season Heading Eastbound and Down

SHELBY, N.C. (February 21, 2012) – On February 25, NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) team MAKE Motorsports will kick off the 2012 season with a sponsorship from HBO and the hit comedy series “Eastbound & Down.”  In celebration of the HBO series’ season three debut on Feb. 19, the network will sponsor the #50 Chevrolet driven by T.J. Bell at DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

The #50 Eastbound & Down / Make Motorsports Chevrolet features elements of lead character Kenny Powers’ prized jet ski, with a purple and leopard-print scheme, as well as the likeness of the “legend” himself, who also hails from Shelby, N.C.

“The name and likeness of Kenny Powers have long been associated with victory and success,” said Powers. “It’s pretty obvious why somebody would want to put a giant picture of my face on a tastefully decorated stock car.

“Best of luck to our driver, T.J. Bell. If he doesn’t win first place at Daytona, they must not have made that picture of my face big enough.”

Also making his debut with MAKE Motorsports is new crew chief Mark Zakalowski.  Mark “Z” as he’s known by the team has spent years in a variety of engineering capacities in racing, including time with Dale Earnhardt Inc., Haas CNC Racing and Robby Gordon Motorsports.  Zakalowski has had a long history with team owners Mark Beaver and Tracy Lowe, working with them on their Dirt Late Model machines that competed in the Prelude to the Dream event at Eldora Speedway.

Longtime sponsors Liberty Tire Recycling will be joined for the 2012 season by Gulfcoast Software Solutions, a leading provider of loss prevention software for all types of businesses and facilities.

“It’s been a whirlwind of activity in the last few months as MAKE Motorsports prepares for its first full season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series,” said Mark Beaver, co-owner and Shelby, N.C. native.  “Between our new crew chief Mark Z. and our partnership with Gulfcoast Software we are really building our team up to a high level.  And what a way to get started to have HBO chose our team to expose its hit show ‘Eastbound & Down’ to NASCAR fans.”

MAKE Motorsports was created in 2010 and initially participated in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS).  While the team will continue to run a limited NCWTS schedule, they will also be running for the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship on a full-time basis in 2012.

“Mark and I had been co-owners of a variety of teams in the past, but it’s really the creation of MAKE Motorsports, between his family and mine that has taken off,” said Tracy Lowe, co-owner and also a Shelby, N.C. native.  “We started off with such a small operation and are thankful that we could grow it with the assistance of NASCAR, Liberty Tire Recycling, Pro Cal and many others.”

Driver T.J. Bell has also been involved with MAKE Motorsports since its inaugural year, competing in six NCWTS races and six NNS races for the team in the last two seasons.

“To be a part of a team such as MAKE Motorsports from its first year, it’s just amazing to see how the team has evolved,” said Bell, who has driven in NASCAR since 2003 and has open-wheel and sports car racing on his resume, including driving in the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans.  “Mark and Tracy have put together a great operation out of literally nothing, and to see us be able to race at Daytona with an incredible sponsor lineup, especially HBO and ‘Eastbound & Down,’ I’m honored to be a part of it.”

Practice for the DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway begins at 9 a.m. (ET) on Thursday, Feb. 23, with final practice televised live on ESPN2 at 10 a.m.  Qualifying for the 300-mile event will take place on Friday the 24th at 2:05 p.m. and the race will take place on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 1:15 p.m.  Both qualifying and the race will be aired live on ESPN2.

About Eastbound & Down
Sunday night HBO kicked off the third season of its hit half-hour comedy series about an arrogant, burned-out, former major-league pitcher named Kenny Powers (Danny McBride.)  Picking up a year after Season 2, which followed Kenny’s misadventures in Mexico, the third season finds Kenny back in action in the Carolinas, somehow resurrecting his baseball career as the closer for the minor-league Myrtle Beach Mermen.  Even as he tries to pass himself off as the “King of Myrtle Beach,” Kenny struggles to come to terms with growing older and accepting the responsibilities of being a new father.  “Eastbound & Down” airs on Sunday nights at 10pm ET/PT.

About Liberty Tire Recycling
Liberty Tire Recycling is the premier provider of tire recycling services in North America. By recycling more than 110 million tires annually, Liberty Tire reclaims about 1.5 billion pounds of rubber for innovative, eco-friendly products. The recycled rubber produced by Liberty Tire is used as crumb rubber and industrial feedstock for molded products; as tire-derived fuel for industrial kilns, mills and power plants; and as rubber mulch for landscaping and playgrounds. The company maintains a nationwide network of processing plants, and comprehensive door-to-door collection services. Liberty Tire Recycling is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA. For more information, please visit www.LibertyTire.com.

About Gulfcoast Software Solutions
Gulfcoast Software Solutions’ flexible, innovative, leading edge Loss Prevention Software Suite features multiple device data mining, and a broad range of real time, event driven, local and enterprise tools that simplify LP operations, and pinpoint targeted activity for action. Gulfcoast’s state of the art Digital Video and Data Recorders feature best in class video compression and remote view technologies, and our innovative spirit and first to market reputation make us the right choice of major c-store, restaurant and retail chains nationwide.  Please visit www.gulfcoastsoftware.com for more information.

About MAKE Motorsports
Hailing from Shelby, N.C., MAKE Motorsports is a race team that competes in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.  The moniker “MAKE” is made up of the first letters of the first names of the owners’ children – Beaver’s son Mikey and daughters Amanda and Emily, and Lowe’s daughter Katelyn.  For more information about MAKE Motorsports, please visit www.MAKEMotorsports.com, FaceBook page at www.facebook.com/MAKEMotorsports or via twitter @MAKEMotorsports.