Dover, DE — The 2007 NASCAR Busch East Series, Grand National Division season ended on a high note for newcomer Maxime Dumarey of Gent, Belgium. Dumarey, driving the #16 BODYCOACH.NET Chevrolet, posted his second career top-10 finish at the series’ most challenging track – Dover International Speedway.
“I’m very proud of this team,” said Dumarey. “They worked really hard and put a great car under me. We scraped the wall in practice and the guys worked on this car until the garage closed Thursday night, and then were back here first thing Friday morning. It’s pretty exciting to come out of here with a top-10, but it proves that we’re become contenders. I think we’ve come a long way since our first race together at South Boston.”
Dumarey rebounded from a practice crash on Thursday to post a speed of 147.777 mph in qualifying – the seventh fastest time among 33 competitors attempting to make the field for the Sunoco 150.
“It was an incredible lap,” said Dumarey. “Especially since we really weren’t sure how the car was going to handle after all the work we did to the car.”
Being a rookie on the ‘Monster Mile’, the team opted for patience in the beginning of the race. When a majority of the lead lap cars pitted during a caution at lap 55, Dumarey stayed out for the track position. On the restart, the 18-year-old driver was running fourth.
Dumarey pitted on the next caution period and restarted the race in 18th. He quickly made it back into the top-10, but had to pit unexpectedly at lap 117 for a right rear flat. The #16 BODYCOACH.NET Chevrolet restarted the race in the middle of the pack, but battled their way back up to 10th before the checkers dropped.
“There was an accident on the frontstretch and I think we ran over some of the debris,” Dumarey said of the right rear flat. “We really didn’t have a choice but to pit. These things happen sometimes, but I’m glad we had a strong enough car to come back up through. It’s a little disappointing on the other hand because if we didn’t have to pit I think we may have had something for a top-five finish.”
Dumarey concluded the season 19th in the point standings.
Sources: Penny Aicardi/NASCAR BES PR
Olsen Quietly Ends 12-Year Run With 15th Place Finish
Dover, DE — NASCAR Busch East Series two-time champion (2001 & 2006) bid his fond farewell to point chasing Friday night with a 15th place finish in the Sunoco 150 at Dover International Speedway. The 39-year-old driver completed an amazing 12-year run with sponsor “Little Trees” and finished sixth in the 2007 point standings.
“It was a hard day,” admitted Olsen. “We struggled getting this car dialed in all weekend, and it’s the last race of our last season. I’ve done this for the past 12 years, and going out with a top-15 finish was not the exclamation point we wanted to put on this team’s legacy.”
Olsen brought the same “Little Trees” Chevrolet to Dover that he posted a top-10 finish with last year, but the car definitely didn’t react as well as it did that short time ago. The team made wholesale changes after an unsatisfying practice session Thursday afternoon, but wasn’t able to put those changes to the test until qualifying. In time trials, Olsen posted a speed of 143.358 mph and was lined up 25th on the starting grid.
Olsen gained two spots before the first caution waved at lap five and gained three more after the race resumed at lap 14, however, his forward progression would soon be thwarted by handling problems. The team came in at lap 41 and crew chief Harry Norcross made a track bar adjustment before sending him back into the race.
The green flew once again at lap 48 with Olsen in 21st, but the two-time Champion knew the problem hadn’t been solved.
“The car was free at times, and tight at others,” Olsen explained. “We came in for another adjustment but we just couldn’t get the car hooked up. No matter what we tried it just didn’t seem to work.”
Olsen and the “Little Trees” crew continued to make adjustments during caution periods – finally finding something that appeared to work as the race neared its conclusion.
“We were running speeds similar to that of the front runners, but by that time, we just had too far to go. I’m disappointed that I couldn’t finish the year with a win, but at the same time, I have to hand it to this crew. They never gave up and we were able to pull out a top-15 finish.”
As announced earlier this year, Mike Olsen will step away from the NASCAR Busch East Series as a full-time competitor and concentrate on car-ownership in the 2008 season. Car-Freshner Corporation, maker of “Little Trees” will end what has been the longest running non-family sponsorship in the history of the Busch East Series.
Sources: Penny Aicardi/NASCAR BES PR
Kobyluck Disappointed In Results, Not Disappointed In Effort
Dover, DE — Two weeks ago, Matt Kobyluck hoped to play the role of spoiler to Joey Logano’s dominating championship season. But since reaching a shot at the series title, Kobyluck has had nothing but bad luck.
After racing up to second behind then-leader Joey Logano, Kobyluck got taken out of the Sunoco 150 at Dover International Speedway under caution. The team attempted to repair the damage to the #40 Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet, but had to retire from the event with only 116 laps complete. His 21st place finish moved him to fourth in the points as the series concluded its regular season.
“The car was really, really good,” said Kobyluck. “It’s disheartening for the guys and it’s disheartening for me because we put so much into it. The last two races have ended this way. When you’re running in the top-three or the top-five you’re supposed to feel as if you’re in pretty good company and that you are able to race and have fun out there. You don’t expect to get wrecked by a veteran and you don’t expect to get wrecked under caution. It’s discouraging, but the flipside of that is, we’ve had great performances. These are just circumstances out of our control.”
The demanding nature of Dover’s high-banked, high speed surface sent the team thrashing to make changes to the Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet after practice despite being one of the ten fastest cars of the day.
“You can’t say, well, the car is good enough. It has to be the best. Being one of the top-10 in practice isn’t good enough. You have to have a car that is going to be as good on lap one as it is on lap 150,” said Kobyluck.
The team made the right call, and as soon as the green dropped on the Sunoco 150, Kobyluck knew he was going to have a car to contend with. By lap 48, Kobyluck had come from a 13th starting position to fifth. He maintained that position before pitting during a lap 55 caution period.
Kobyluck re-entered the race in ninth and worked his way up to second by lap 92, but trouble was just around the corner. A caution flew on lap 94 when the 99 of Bryon Chew blew a tire and hit the wall in turn four. The third place car of Jesus Hernandez didn’t realize the caution was out and never reduced his speed coming out of turn two. By the time he saw Kobyluck, who had dropped to a caution pace, it was too late. He had run right into the back of the Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet.
“The caution had been out for a good quarter of a lap and it appears his spotter didn’t tell him the caution was out or anything. We took the caution when we went underneath the start/finish line and he wrecked me in turn two. To get wrecked under caution is one of the stupidest things that could happen on the racetrack,” said Kobyluck.
Kobyluck brought his machine onto pit road and the crew frantically went to work on banging out the damaged sheet metal. They also changed right side tires and a left side tire that had been damaged in the wreck. They went several laps down in the pits, but were hoping to complete the race. By lap 116, it became apparent to the team that they weren’t going to get all the damage fixed by the race conclusion and pulled the car behind the wall.
“At a place like this where your speeds are so high you do rely heavily on your spotter. (Jesus) came over afterwards and told me his spotter never told him the caution was out, and that he never even saw me in turn two because the sun was real bad. He said as soon as he could see he drove right into me. It was unfortunate to end our day that way,” he concluded.
Sources: Penny Aicardi/NASCAR BES PR
Jeff Anton Ends 2007 Campaign On Positive Note, Thirteenth Place Dover Finish
Dover, Del. (Sept. 21, 2007) – Russell, Massachusetts’ Jeff Anton ended the 2007 NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch East Series season with a good performance after a slow start. Struggling in practice getting his No. 30 Baran Institute of Technology/Engineered Floors Inc. Chevrolet up to speed, Anton ran well enough in the race to finish on the lead lap in thirteenth place.
With a short week between the previous race at New Hampshire International Speedway and Dover’s, Anton had a quick turnaround to get the car from racing on a flat mile asphalt oval to a high-banked concrete mile. The changes gave Anton a car that was only fast enough for 24th on the practice sheet and 27th after qualifying.
“We don’t know what the deal is,” he said. “The car was absolutely horrible, and we were almost a second slower on new tires than we were on old tires. I don’t know what the deal was, we might have got a bad set of tires.”
Going into the race, Anton fell victim to the rapid pace being set by the leaders and went down a lap before the race was one-third through. Undaunted, the Anton Racing team kept taking advantage of cautions to pit for tires, gas, and chassis adjustments. Eventually, those changes started paying off.
“It started off bad but we kept on making changes during pit stops: messing with the track bar, messing with wedge, and by the time it was over we got the car pretty decent.”
Pit stops helped, as did Anton’s being the beneficiary after a lap 93 caution and allowed to return to the lead lap. He stayed there for the balance of the event, making one more stop for one last adjustment, and ran to the finish in thirteenth.
“It worked out decent,” he said after the race. “We were hoping for a better run, but we did the best we could with what we had. The more we worked on the car, the better it got, but we never really got to the point where we were completely happy with it. We just ran with what we had and stayed out of trouble and tried to get as good a finish as we could.”
Anton wound up tenth in points with a top-five finish – third at Lime Rock Park – and four top-ten finishes.
“We’re proud of where we wound up because this year we’ve had to do everything on our own,” he said. “We built a new car over the off-season and went to a bunch of new tracks. We had to learn the car and develop it, we had to keep the short-track car ready to race week-to-week, and we always showed up prepared. We had a pretty good season and we’ll be even better to go when we start next year.”
Sources: Alan Claffie/NASCAR BES PR
Joey Logano Wraps Up Dominating Busch East Season With Title
Mooresville, NC — Even at just 17 years old, Joe Gibbs Racing Development Driver Joey Logano is one of the most competitive people anyone will ever meet. That’s why Logano, despite finishing second on Friday afternoon at Dover International Speedway in the final race of the year for the NASCAR Busch East Series, and despite locking up both the NASCAR Busch East Series Rookie of the Year and National Championship trophies, still wasn’t very happy.
“We had a good weekend, that’s for sure,” said Logano, driver of the #20 Joe Gibbs Driven Chevrolet. “We unloaded fast. We were on the outside pole. We led the most laps. We should have won the race. It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t. If we did, we could have won half the races this season that we ran, which would have been great.”
But it took nothing away from what Logano accomplished in his rookie NASCAR season. In 13 Busch East Series events, Logano won five times. In fact, Logano finished out of the top-five in just two races. He grabbed three Bud Poles during the BES season as well. Logano also competed in two NASCAR West Series events, winning one (at Phoenix International Raceway to open the season) and leading a majority of the other (at Infineon Raceway) before falling out with mechanical problems.
The stats all led up to Logano becoming the youngest Busch East Series Champion in the series’ illustrious history. Logano captured the title by 166 points over Sean Caisse. He dominated the Rookie of the Year standings, beating DEI Development Driver Jeffery Earnhardt.
“We had a good season for sure. I learned a lot from the years before and I put that to use. That is what I’m going to do next year. Every time I go somewhere, I learn something that you put to use the next time out. I think that is what helped us out a lot.
“My team was a huge part of this season too. Everywhere we went, we were a threat to win. It didn’t matter if it was a short track, speedway or road course. We were always fast off the trailer.
“Between those things, that is what made us dominant.”
At Dover, in the Sunoco 150, Logano qualified second and led the race on three different occasions but got bumped out of the way with just six laps to go by Caisse. It put just a brief sour note on what was a great weekend. Logano wrapped up the BES title by just taking the green flag at Dover.
“It’s just too bad that things played out how they did. I know it’s racing, but you have to at least try and pass someone before you go and dump them.
“We had a little more fun this weekend; I’m not going to lie. Normally when we go to a race, we are all about winning the race. We were able to have a little more fun this weekend, though, knowing we already had the championship under our belt. We knew we could try a few more things. I had a note in my car that actually said ‘after lap one, game on.’ So we were going for the win. It’s just too bad we didn’t get it.”
The second-place finish at Dover just capped what was a very memorable season for Logano. From the opening season win at Phoenix, and his win in the BES season-opener at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, Logano’s season was full of memorable moments.
“I am going to remember when I beat (NASCAR Nextel Cup star Kevin) Harvick at Iowa,” added Logano. “That was a big win for me. I will remember that for a long time. But we had a wicked good year. I will remember running at Infineon and running good out there. I really enjoyed Adirondack. That was a cool way to win the race on the last lap like we did. And it was fun to sweep the races at New Hampshire. That is something that isn’t done too often. There were quite a few good times. I will take a lot out of the season.”
But Dover, and celebrating the championship, was the best memory of all.
“We had a blast. I did this awesome burnout. We had some champagne that we sprayed around. (NASCAR President) Mike Helton came up and presented the championship trophy to me. The Gibbs Busch teams were both there. There were a lot of people that came over to congratulate me. It was all great.”
But the season isn’t completely done for Logano. He will still be the number one seed representing the Busch East Series in the Toyota All Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway in California at the end of the season.
“That race is a checker or wrecker,” laughed Logano. “We’ve got nothing to lose there. We are going for it there. I don’t really know what to expect going out there.”
When not racing, Logano will still stay plenty busy as well.
“They keep me plenty busy over here (at the Gibbs shop). I do a lot of testing. I will stay busy being at the shop working out, testing, doing school work and all that stuff.”
The Toyota All Star Showdown is set for October 19th-20th. The race will be shown live on SPEED.
For more information on Joey Logano, please contact Jeremy Troiano at (704) 788-2134 and check out joeyloganoracing.com.
Sources: Jeremy Trojano /NASCAR BES PR
Andy Santerre Motorsports Shows the Way at Dover
Concord, NC — Dover International Speedway is commonly referred to as the “Monster Mile,” thanks in large part to the high-banked, mile-long racetrack’s notorious reputation for tearing up racecars and leaving drivers shaking in their racing shoes from the wickedly intense action.
On Friday, September 21st, however, two drivers proved that they were not even the least bit intimidated by the “Monster,” as Andy Santerre Motorsports brought both Sean Caisse and Jeffrey Earnhardt to podium finishes in the Sunoco 150 NASCAR Busch East Series event. Caisse’s fourth victory of the season and Earnhardt’s career-best, third-place finish concluded the 2007 BES season on a high note for team ASM.
“Obviously, it was a great race for the whole ASM team,” said Team Owner Andy Santerre, himself a past Dover winner. “It was a lot of fun watching Sean and Jeffrey racing with each other and racing with Joey Logano, the series champion. Those three proved they were the class of the field at Dover. Even on Thursday in practice, we felt it was a three-man race. We thought we had a good shot at going to victory lane with the #1 (Earnhardt), but we weren’t so sure about the #44 (Caisse). But in the end, Sean got up on the wheel and got after it. I’d say the driver won that race.”
Caisse sewed up second in Busch East Series points with his fourth victory of the year in the Casella Waste Systems #44. The win, however, was not as simple as the strong car he had throughout the day may have shown. Caisse had to use some late-race short track prowess to get by BES Champion Joey Logano for the lead with just eight laps remaining. Just to have a shot to get the lead, Caisse had to battle his way to the front of the field at Dover, just as he had to climb up in points throughout the season after some mid-season bad luck to get back up to second in points for the second-straight season.
“It was short track racing for sure,” said Caisse. “He bumped me a few times this year, and I race my competitors the way they race me. I got an opportunity (to take the lead) and I seized the day. He’s been a great competitor all year, and I know he’s moving up in his career. I’m sure we’ll be racing in the future. It was a good run for him and his team and congratulations on the championship.
“We ended up second in the points, so I’m really proud of all my guys and my whole team. We came back from a lot of adversity – we had four bad weeks in a row. It just goes to show we do have a championship-caliber team because we came back from so far.”
DEI Development Driver Jeffrey Earnhardt, in an ASM-prepared Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats-backed #1 Chevrolet, had perhaps the strongest car throughout the Dover weekend. Earnhardt put the #1 machine on the pole on Thursday, his first-ever Busch Pole Award, and battled with his ASM teammate Caisse and Logano at the front of the field throughout the 150-lap race Friday. The only thing that kept Earnhardt out of victory lane were some late-race restarts, but a third-place finish still was the perfect way for Earnhardt to wrap up his rookie season.
“We had the car to beat, that’s all I can say,” said Earnhardt. “The guys on this team gave me one heck of a racecar. I probably should have done what Sean did to Logano and we would have won the race. We would run him down and get right behind him and just get really tight. We did that for a while and then the caution came out and we had been terrible on restarts. I just have to give it to my guys; they made me run as well as I did. They’re the ones who put the car under me, and they’re the ones who have worked hard all year long.”
Earnhardt wound up fifth in points in his rookie season on the Busch East Series with the strong run at Dover. Combine Earnhardt’s fifth-place points result and Caisse’s runner-up status at the end of the BES season, team ASM’s stats impress the four-time BES driving champion Santerre.
“Jeffrey was pretty awesome,” said Santerre. “We went to Dover and tested, and Jeffrey was really good. The car was real good; it was one of Junior’s (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) best cars. The thing ran flawless all weekend. Jeffrey hadn’t been known for his qualifying this year, but we knew he had a good shot at the pole. He got up on the wheel, put it on the pole and did a great job in the race.
“In the race, Jeffrey was right there trying to pass Logano and was right there on him when the caution came out. That kind of hurt his chances right there because his car was a little slow on the restarts. Sean was able to get on the wheel and get by.
“The ASM team ended up getting first and third and we were all pretty pumped up about that. That’s a good way to end the season.”
While the Busch East Series’ points-paying season may be over, team ASM still has one race remaining on its schedule. Sean Caisse and the Casella Waste Systems #44 Chevrolet will venture to Irwindale Speedway in California on October 19th and 20th for the Toyota All-Star Showdown, a big-money invitational race. The All-Star Showdown will be broadcast live on SPEED.
For more information on Andy Santerre Motorsports, contact Matt Kentfield at (704) 788-2134 and visit the new online home of ASM, www.andysanterremotorsports.com.
Sources: Matt Kentfield/NASCAR BES PR