Shane Hmiel, the 23-year-old hard-charger whose #48 Innovative Motorsports team has been a major player in the Busch Series, will drive the Daytona race for Petty Enterprises in the #43 Berry Burst Cheerios Dodge in the July 5 400-mile Winston Cup race at Daytona International Speedway. Christian Fittipaldi, who has been driving the #43, will move to the #44 Bugles Dodge for this race. We are very excited to have a young talent like Shane Hmiel drive the #43 for us at Daytona, said Kyle Petty, CEO of Petty Enterprises. George deBidart and Innovative Motorsports were very gracious in allowing us to borrow Shane for this event. They have a tremendous program there, so I know Shane will be used to what he sees on the Winston Cup side of the fence. Hmiel will be driving a special paint scheme carrying the Berry Burst Cheerios colors. Normally, the #43 carries the Cheerios and Betty Crocker paint scheme.[see image of the car on my Paint Schemes Gallery ] Daytona and Petty are some pretty special names, and I know Cheerios is especially excited since this is one of their Berry Burst races, Hmiel said. Im really excited at this opportunity, and I am so glad George deBidart and Kyle Petty could work this out. Hmiel is currently 11th in the NASCAR Busch Series points, notching two top-five finishes and five top-10s in his 16 starts this season.( Williams Company PR )(6-24-2003)
