Mansfield, Ohio (Aug. 23, 2008) - Nineteen year-old Kevin Swindell made his first start in the NASCAR Camping World Series on Saturday night when he started seventh and finished thirteenth in the Mansfield 150, held at the half-mile Mansfield (Ohio) Motorsports Park. Swindell, son of World of Outlaws legend Sammy Swindell, raced a No. 9 Dodge Charger for Gillett-Evernham Motorsports, prepared by Dave Davis Motorsports of Denver, North Carolina.

Swindell, who's raced both dirt and asphalt sprint cars after an impressive run through the karting ranks, got his first start in NASCAR competition with practice at the Mansfield oval. He posted the seventh-best practice time in Saturday morning's session and was also seventh-fastest in qualifying.

"The day's gone fairly smoothly," said the Germantown, Tennessee driver. "Off the trailer we were competitive. It's the first time any of us has worked together so we got comfortable with each other and with the car. It's only the second time that car's been on the racetrack. I think we have a better car to race than we qualified, so we should have a good day. Seventh isn't bad, but I think we could have been a little better than we wound up. Overall, I'm happy with my first start and we'll work from there."

Swindell raced like a veteran through the early stages of the Mansfield 150, although the style of racing in closed-wheel cars was not what he was used to.

"It's definitely a whole different world," he said after the race. "The race pace was a little higher than what I expected. I thought there would be a little more of a patience factor to it, but overall it's a big learning experience seeing these guys really use each other up and use their fenders knowing the fact that they're not going to get a wheel up on another wheel. It's something I have to learn from and learn to deal with."

Racing in the top ten throughout the event, Swindell was poised for a great finish in his debut race but ran into trouble just thirty laps from the end. Traffic jumbled ahead of him and he got into the back of another car, sending that car spinning. NASCAR officials send Swindell to the rear of the field as a penalty. In the few remaining laps, he raced back from twentieth place to finish thirteenth.

"We had an awesome car," he said. "We deserved to finish in the top five, and maybe we should have been in the top three racing for the win at the end. We ran into a bad situation and that kept me from being there at the end to show just how good we could have been.

"I have to thank Gillette-Evernham and Dave Davis for giving me this opportunity and a car as good as this one. I found out who I can race with and who I can't, and that'll help in future races," Swindell continued.