Kelly Bires
Bires in 2008
Born	Kelly James Bires (1984-08-25)August 25, 1984 (age 41) Mauston, Wisconsin, U.S.
Achievements	2001 Great LakesAllison Legacy Series Champion 2006ASA Late Model Series Challenge Division Champion
Awards	2006 ASA Late Model Series Rookie of the Year
NASCARCup Series career
3 races run over 1 year
Best finish	54th (2012)
First race	2012Lenox Industrial Tools 301 (Loudon)
Last race	2012Hollywood Casino 400 (Kansas)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCARO'Reilly Auto Parts Series career
88 races run over 6 years
Best finish	13th (2008)
First race	2007Federated Auto Parts 300 (Nashville)
Last race	2012OneMain Financial 200 (Dover)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 13 0
NASCARCraftsman Truck Series career
8 races run over 2 years
Best finish	44th (2007)
First race	2006Easy Care Vehicle Service Contracts 200 (Atlanta)
Last race	2007Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200 (Milwaukee)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0
Statistics up to date as of October 21, 2012.

Kelly James Bires (born August 25, 1984) is an American former professionalstock car racing driver. He most recently drove part-time forGo Green Racing in theNASCARSprint Cup Series andNationwide Series. Previously, Bires drove competitively forJTG Daugherty Racing,JR Motorsports, andBraun Racing in the Nationwide Series.

Bires begankarting at Sugar River Raceway inBrodhead, Wisconsin at age 9 and began competing in national karting events at the age of twelve. He won several regional titles and two national championships.^[1]

Bires became the Great LakesAllison Legacy Series Rookie of the Year in 2000, and followed up the championship by winning the series in 2001. Bires next moved up to theSuper Late Model race cars atDells Motor Speedway, finishing fifth in points and named 2002 Rookie of the Year. The following year, he finished second in championship points. Bires made his first start inARCA in May 2004. In 2006, he joined up with veteranAmerican Speed Association Late Model Series crew chief Howie Lettow and won the season championship that year.^[2]

In the2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Bires was the driver of the No. 21Wood Brothers Racing truck in nineteen races, handing over driving duties for the other six races to veteranMark Martin. He had a tenth-place finish atAtlanta. After the departure ofJon Wood due to illness, Bires left the Truck Series and started racing forTad Geschickter beginning atNashville Superspeedway. His bestBusch Series start was 26th and best finish was seventh in theMeijer 300 presented by Oreo race atKentucky Speedway. Named the permanent driver of the No. 47 car in 2008, Bires had six top-ten finishes en route to a thirteenth-place points finish. But withClorox/Kingsford moving up withMarcos Ambrose to theSprint Cup Series, he was left without a full-time ride at the end of the season due to lack of sponsorship.

Bires spent the 2009 season driving for various teams, includingBraun Racing,MSRP Motorsports, and JTG, where hestart and parked, as well as competing forKevin Harvick Incorporated andCJM Racing. His best finish that year came atIowa Speedway, where he finished fifth in Braun'sFraternal Order of Eagles Toyota. Bires also had a tenth place finish for KHI atNashville. At the end of the season, Bires signed a two-year contract to drive forJR Motorsports in the No. 88 Chevy through 2011, with Earnhardt eager to see what Bires could do in his equipment.^[3] Bires drove the #5Ragu Chevy for Junior at Homestead in preparation for running full-time in 2010.^[4]

Due to sponsorship obligations withUnilever and theirHellmann's Mayonnaise brand,Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran the No. 88 car at the 2010 season opener atDaytona andDanica Patrick ran the No. 7 car with her sponsorGoDaddy.com, forcing Bires to sit out.^[5] In his debut atFontana, he did have a seventh place finish. Even more curious than his missing Daytona was when Bires was removed from the No. 88 car in favor of Cup driverJamie McMurray after only five races run, with only one finish below seventeenth (a crash at Las Vegas).^[6] Earnhardt Jr. cited chemistry issues between Bires, JR Motorsports management, and the team includingTony Eury Sr. andJr., and implied that Bires was taking a seat from "the next Brad [Keselowski], the nextJeff Gordon." Prior toBrad Keselowski, the team had also hastily releasedMark McFarland in 2006 after 21 races andShane Huffman in 2007 after eighteen races.^[7] Bires returned to theBraun Racing #10 at Richmond, where he finished 11th, then ran races forBaker-Curb Racing,Team Rensi Motorsports, andRAB Racing.

Bires returned to the Nationwide Series in 2011, driving forRensi. However, Bires had tostart and park his #25 on numerous occasions, and withdrew from two races. After Rensi cut back its schedule, Bires was hired byJoe Gibbs Racing to drive their #18 Toyota at Richmond and Chicagoland. Bires also ran two races as a start and park inGo Green Racing's 04 car.

Bires attempted six races in theSprint Cup Series in 2012 for Go Green, making three races but finishing no better than 38th. Bires was released from both the Cup and Nationwide rides in November.^[8]

In 2013, Bires became crew chief for thelate model team ofMatt Kenseth's sonRoss Kenseth.^[9]

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

Wikimedia Commons has media related toKelly Bires.

• Official website
• Kelly Bires driver statistics at Racing-Reference

• Living people
• 1984 births
• People from Mauston, Wisconsin
• Racing drivers from Wisconsin
• NASCAR drivers
• JR Motorsports drivers
• Joe Gibbs Racing drivers
• ARCA Midwest Tour drivers

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Commons category link is on Wikidata