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Kevin Lepage reports for full-time duty at Lowes.
(photo by Pete
McCole)
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Morgan-McClure Motorsports has announced the signing of veteran Winston Cup driver Kevin Lepage for the remainder of the 2001 season. The announcement came during an open testing session at Lowes Motor Speedway earlier this week.
Lepage assumed driving responsibilities for the #4 Kodak Chevrolet after the March 25 race at Bristol, coinciding with Robby Gordon's being relived of his driving duties at Morgan-McClure. Lepage has been driving the Monte Carlo on a race-by-race basis since then, and just this week the team officially put Lepage in the driver's seat with a three-year contract.
"We are pleased to have Kevin Lepage join our Morgan-McClure Motorsports team", said team owner Larry McClure. "We feel he will be an asset in getting the KODAK MAX Film Monte Carlo back to victory lane."
"I'm just excited to be part of a race team with such a great sponsor such as Kodak", Lepage cheerfully said. "Kodak has been in the sport for 10 years with Larry (McClure) and they signed another five years with Larry and the whole Kodak team. To be involved with a race team and a car owner that will guarantee me the best cars and the best motors every week is something I haven't been used to in the last couple of years."
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The
Morgan-McClure shops ready several race cars for Kevin Lepage.
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Team owner Larry McClure had high praise for Lepage, "Lepage is a consistent driver. I believe he completed 95% of total laps in 1999. He has been around NASCAR for a long time. He knows the ins and outs of the sport. His workable knowledge of a race car is a key factor in communicating to the team."
Lepage admits that after failing to qualify for the race in California, the team is way back in the points race, "This is going to be a learning year for us, since we missed California we're kind of out of the points, but we still got a lot of point races ahead of us so we're going to use this (season) as a big test session and look forward to next year."
Still, Lepage is optimistic about the team's future, "Victory Lane is still not out of the question, we believe we can get there." Lepage said. "Larry (McClure) and all the guys have been working overtime, they're working hard, and that's why we're here testing, trying to make this program better and build for the last half of this year but also for next year."
The author can be contacted at dougb@autoracing1.com
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