Patrick Carpentier has been announced as driver of the #55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International. Carpentier drove the NAPA Toyota to an 11th place finish at Infineon in June.

“Patrick is being rewarded for perserverence,” said team owner Micheal Waltrip. “At Sonoma, he drove for me and started out with a car he wasn’t happy with. He worked with my crew chief Bootie (Barker)and my NAPA boys to get an 11th-place finish. We also had a little deal on the side. If he was able to finish solidly at Infineon Raceway and hedeemed the experience of working with my team as fun and wanted to do again,then he and I would ask NAPA to allow him to drive again. We all agreed so Patrick will drive the No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota for NAPA and me at Watkins Glen.”

Carpentier is also scheduled to drive # 99 NAPA for Michael Waltrip Racing in the NAPA AUTO PARTS 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal on Aug. 30.

“I’m really happy about this new opportunity,” said Carpentier, who has four NASCAR starts at Watkins Glen International. “We had a really good time in Sonoma once we got accustomed to each other. Friday was tough for us, but Saturday and Sunday was really great for me and the NAPA team. I am really looking forward to driving the NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota for Michael at Watkins Glen.”

The Canadian driver tested with the MWR team atVirginia International Raceway on July 22nd in preparation for Watkins Glen.

“I feel like we will be even better at Watkins Glen after I had a chance to test with Michael’s team,” added Carpentier. “I believe we made a lot of improvements. We tested a couple of cars with different set ups and things so we have a good idea of what we need to have. I believe I have a really good car for the race.”

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