Trackside Now:  NASCAR Busch East Opener at Greenville
 Logano Smokes 'Em at Greenville-Pickens to Score First Busch East Win

Article from www.speed51.com

 

Saturday, 11:00am ET - Greetings from a sunny and warm Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina for the first race of the 2007 NASCAR Busch East Series. 
 

Today's schedule is a fairly light one, with only the NASCAR Busch East Series on the docket with only one support division.  The rookie meeting, which should be heavily attended with 15 of the 38 cars entered being driven by registered rookies in the series.  Shortly after the rookie meeting is the driver's meeting, followed by the only practice of the day from 11am-1pm.  Busch Pole Qualifying is scheduled for 6pm, followed by an on-track autograph session, with the green flag scheduled at 8pm.
 

So far the biggest buzz in the infield at Greenville-Pickens this morning revolves around the rookies, the diversity and the NASCAR "big three" influence invading what once was a Northeastern-based regional series.  If ever one needed proof that the Busch North Series of yesterday is gone, today's entry list is proof enough.
 

Jeffrey Earnhardt, a DEI development driver, is in a team car to Sean Caisse's Andy Santerre Motorsports #44.  Fitz Racing has three entries, Belgian Maxime Dumarey, Canadian Pierre Bourque and Mexican Ruben Pardo.  Joe Gibbs Racing has its two development drivers, Joey Logano and Marc Davis at Greenville to hopefully duplicate their 1-2 finish last weekend in Phoenix.  Hendrick Motorsports has a car prepared for Jamie Hayes. Jesus Hernandez is in a Ginn motorpsorts ride, while ST Motorsports has two of its development drivers trying to get into the 150-lap event tonight, John Wes Townley and Jonathan Cash.  Rusty Wallace Inc. has an entry here for former ASA Late Model driver Chase Austin and Spraker Racing has the field's only female in the #37, former Pro Cup driver Michelle Theriault.


All of the Cup/Busch/Truck influence has put a bind on some of the lower-buck teams to find their way to Greenville.  Among the notable drivers not entered in today's event include 21-year-old Charles Lewandoski.  Lewandoski was named "Most Improved Driver" after finishing 10th in points in the series' 2006 standings, is here in Greenville, but he was unable to put a deal together with a team for the first race of the new season.  Some of the additions to the series include NASCAR Elite Division champion Tim Schendel and former NASCAR Weekly Series National Champion Peyton Sellers and West Series champ Eric Holmes.
 

NASCAR Busch East Series Greenville Entry List

1  Jeffrey Earnhardt

2  Max Dumarey

03 Rogelio Lopez

3  John Townley

4 Jesus Hernandez

5 John Smith

7  Pierre Bourque

8  Steven Addis

15  Glenn Sullivan

18 Marc Davis

20 Joey Logano

21 German Quiroga, Jr.

22 Ruben Pardo

23 Casey Wyatt

24 Patrick Dupree

25 Jeremy Clark

26 Scott Bouley

30 Jeff Anton

35 Eric Holmes

37 Michelle Theriault

40 Matt Kobyluck

41 James Pritchard

43 Tim Schendel

44 Sean Caisse

50 Todd Peck

52 Jamie Hayes

57 John Freeman

58 Rich Gould

59 Jonathan Cash

61 Mike Olsen

63 John Salemi

66 Chase Austin

75 Tim Cowen

83 Peyton Sellars

84 Dion Ciccarelli

91 Richard Jarvis

96 Mike Johnson

99 Bryon Chew


Saturday, 12:30pm ET - The driver's meeting has just wrapped up and teams are preparing their cars for the two-hour practice session at 1pm. 
 

In the driver's meeting, several new policies for the season-opener were announced.  The practice session goes from 1pm to 3pm, but from 1 to 1:30, the only cars allowed on the track will be the series veterans.  The rookies will have a practice all to their own from 1:30 to 1:50.  The remainder of the practice is open to all drivers.
 

A few competitors were a bit confused about some of the in-race procedures announced by Competition Director Dave Baker.  Most recently, the field would be frozen the moment the caution flag comes out for an incident and scoring would revert to the closest scoring loop.  Baker announced that today, the field will go back to the last completed green flag.  Several drivers, including Matt Kobyluck and Glenn Sullivan, asked questions making sure everyone was on the same page about these procedures.
 

Saturday, 2:30pm ET - The first two practice rounds, one for the veterans and the other for the rookies only, have been completed.  To little surprise, the three drivers likely to be the frontrunners for the 2007 BES title were the three fastest cars.  Last year's winner Sean Caisse laid down the only sub-21-second lap in the veteran session.  He put on a spirited game of cat-and-mouse with Matt Kobyluck early in the session. 
 

The rookie session was led by Joe Gibbs Racing development driver Marc Davis. 
 

So far, the practice session has been incident-free.
 

Veterans-Only Practice

1.  Sean Caisse  20.992

2.  Matt Kobyluck  21.039

3.  Mike Olsen  21.069

4.  Peyton Sellers  21.18

5.  Bryon Chew  21.307

6.  Mike Johnson  21.516

7.  Ruben Pardo  21.528

8.  John Freeman  21.592

9.  Tim Cowen  21.646

10.  Dion Ciccarelli  21.661

11.  Patrick Dupree  21.67

12.  Jeff Anton  21.780

13.  Eric Holmes  21.831

14.  Glenn Sullivan  22.001

15.  Rich Gould  22.108

16.  Pierre Bourque  22.666

17.  Scott Bouley  22.956

18.  Jeremy Clark  23.102
 

Rookies-Only Practice

1.  Marc Davis  21.452

2.  Rogelio Lopez  21.493

3.  Jesus Hernandez  21.619

4.  Joey Logano  21.619

5.  Jeffrey Earnhardt  21.665

6.  Jonathan Cash  21.701

7.  Michelle Theriault  21.715

8.  German Quiroga Jr.  21.852

9.  John Townley  21.853

10.  James Pritchard  21.877

11.  Richard Jarvis  21.887

12.  Jamie Hayes  21.887

13.  Casey Wyatt  21.97

14.  Chase Austin  21.988

15.  Max Dumarey  22.165

16.  John Smith  22.333

17.  Tim Schendel  22.775

18.  Todd Peck  22.782


 

Saturday, 3:50pm ET - Sean Caisse and John Freeman both got their first real shots at the Busch East Series in recent years driving for former driver Barney McRae.  This year, McRae has another young driver hoping to follow in those drivers' footsteps.  John Smith is making his debut in the #5 machine here at Greenville.  Smith is a NASCAR Diversity driver who competed in the Late Model ranks at Stafford Motor Speedway (CT) last year.  Smith will be traveling back up to Stafford after tonight's BES race to compete in the LM feature as part of the Stafford Spring Sizzler event on Sunday.
 

Another driver making his first attempt to qualify for a BES race here at Greenville is Blair Addis.  Addis is the 2005 Late Model track champion at Greenville, but he has yet to get his #8 machine up to speed so far today.
 

Saturday, 3:30pm ET - Sean Caisse appears to be determined to back up his season-opening victory at Greenville-Pickens Speedway.  He was fastest in the veterans-only practice to start the on-track activity today, then backed it up in the hour-long final practice.  Every driver in attendance took time and Caisse narrowly beat out BES rookie and last week's NASCAR West Series winner Joey Logano for fast time in practice. Jeffrey Earnhardt, in a team car to Caisse's, was third quick, followed by Peyton Sellers and Eric Holmes.  Mike Olsen was the first of the BES "old guard" in ninth.  The BES cars will not be on the track until Busch Pole Qualifying at 6pm.
 

Final Practice

1.  Sean Caisse  21.039

2.  Joey Logano  21.182

3.  Jeffrey Earnhardt  21.239

4.  Peyton Sellers  21.325

5.  Eric Holmes  21.445

6.  Ruben Pardo  21.462

7.  Marc Davis  21.494

8.  Rogelio Lopez  21.496

9.  Mike Olsen  21.506

10.  Casey Wyatt  21.548

11.  Bryon Chew  21.548

12.  Richard Jarvis  21.603

13.  Michelle Theriault  21.631

14.  John Freeman  21.643

15.  Jamie Hayes  21.646

16.  Matt Kobyluck  21.716

17.  Mike Johnson  21.742

18.  Jesus Hernandez  21.765

19.  Chase Austin  21.808

20.  Todd Peck  21.872

21.  Dion Ciccarelli  21.874

22.  Tim Schendel  21.939

23.  Tim Cowen  21.965

24.  Patrick Dupree  21.966

25.  John Cash  21.977

26.  Pierre Bourque  22.002

27.  Jeff Anton  22.024

28.  Max Dumarey  22.037

29.  John Townley  22.049

30.  John Salemi  22.059

31.  John Smith  22.12

32.  Glenn Sullivan  22.129

33.  German Quiroga, Jr.  22.129

34.  Rich Gould  22.130

35.  James Pritchard  22.236

36.  Scott Bouley  23.400

37.  Jeremy Clark  24.324

38. Blair Addis  25.263


Saturday, 8:46pm ET - The first caution of the night has flown on lap 26 when the lapped car of Max Dumarey spun in turn four.  Dumarey's car slid up the track towards the outside wall, giving third-place running Matt Kobyluck, who had tried to squeeze by on the outside, nowhere to go.  Kobyluck's car has damage to the front end and has come to the attention of his crew.  After two pit stops, Kobyluck is back on track.


Because this is a "no tire" race, Kobyluck's team, and every other team for that matter, are only allotted the four tires that they start the race on.  The only way tires can be changed tonight is if a wheel is bent or the tire is flat at NASCAR's discretion.
 

Top-five is Caisse, Holmes, Logano, Chew, Sellers and John Freeman.
 

Saturday, 8:35pm ET - BES flagman Shawn Houlihan has given the 30-car field the green flag and a packed house here at Greenville has come to their feet to watch Sean Caisse pull ahead at the start.  When the field gets mostly single file on lap five, it's Caisse, Eric Holmes, Matt Kobyluck, Joey Logano, Bryon Chew and Peyton Sellers.


Saturday, 8:30pm ET - The autograph session as wrapped up, much to the chagrin of the nearly 50 fans still in line for young Jeffrey Earnhardt's autograph when the allotted time for the session ran out.  The field has fired engines and are beginning the first of three pace laps. 
 

Already some drama fo the Matt Kobyluck team, as the driver's radio was malfunctioning and the crew had to run a new one to the grid just before the field pulled off for the pace laps.


Saturday, 7:45pm ET - Busch Pole Qualifying has wrapped up.  Anyone who has followed NASCAR Grand National Division racing so far in this early season should automatically know who is on the pole.  That's right, 16-year-old Joey Logano continues his early season reign over the veterans in the Grand National divisions.  He won the NASCAR West Series race at Phoenix last week and now he's won the Busch Pole Award in his first NASCAR Busch East Series race. 


Logano knocked fellow young gun Sean Caisse off the pole with an impressive lap of 20.576 to Caisse's 20.585.  Bryon Chew, a veteran in the series, timed third, while Matt Kobyluck, Peyton Sellers and Eric Holmes rounded out the top-five.


Provisionals went to Patrick Dupree, Scott Bouley, Jeff Anton and Max Dumarey.  Missing the show are Jonathan Cash, John Smith, Pierre Bourque, James Pritchard, Jr., Jeremy Clark, Tim Cowen, Glenn Sullivan and Blair Addis.

The field is lining up on the frontstretch for an on-track autograph session.  Green flag is scheduled for now shortly after 8pm.


Qualifying

1.  Joey Logano 20.576

2.  Sean Caisse 20.585

3.  Bryon Chew 20.708

4.  Matt Kobyluck 20.731

5.  Peyton Sellars 20.756

6.  Eric Holmes 20.786

7.  John Freeman 20.874

8.  Jeffrey Earnhardt 20.898

9.  Richard Jarvis 20.946

10.  Ruben Pardo 20.952

11.  Rogelio Lopez 20.973

12.  Marc Davis 20.983

13.  Tim Schendel 20.996

14.  German Quiroga Jr. 21.060

15.  Richard Gould 20.080

16.  Mike Olsen 21.087

17.  Jamie Hayes 21.109

18.  Mike Johnson 21.132

19.  Chase Austin 21.140

20.  John Wes Townley 21.155

21.  Michelle Theriault 21.060

22.  Dion Ciccarelli 21.214

23.  Casey Wyatt 21.294

24.  Todd Peck 21.294

25.  John Salemi 21.304

26.  Jesus Hernandez 21.318

27.  Jonathan Cash 21.323

28.  John Smith 21.339

29.  Scott Bouley 21.349

30.  Jeff Anton 21.354

31.  Pierre Bourque 21.413

32.  James Pritchard Jr. 21.426

33.  Max Dumarey 21.426

34.  Jeremy Clark 21.439

35.  Tim Cowen 21.614

36.  Glenn Sullivan 21.736

37.  Patrick Dupree 21.740

38. Blair Addis 23.224


Starting Lineup

1.  Joey Logano

2.  Sean Caisse

3.  Bryon Chew

4.  Matt Kobyluck

5.  Peyton Sellars

6.  Eric Holmes

7.  John Freeman

8.  Jeffrey Earnhardt

9.  Richard Jarvis

10.  Ruben Pardo

11.  Rogelio Lopez

12.  Marc Davis

13.  Tim Schendel

14.  German Quiroga Jr.

15.  Richard Gould

16.  Mike Olsen

17.  Jamie Hayes

18.  Mike Johnson

19.  Chase Austin

20.  John Wes Townley

21.  Michelle Theriault

22.  Dion Ciccarelli

23.  Casey Wyatt

24.  Todd Peck

25.  John Salemi

26.  Jesus Hernandez

27.  Max Dumarey

28.  Jeff Anton

29.  Scott Bouley

30.  Patrick Dupree

 

Saturday, 9:08pm ET - On lap 61, Joey Logano used the outside lane to move to second, passing Eric Holmes.  Holmes slid all the way back to fifth, as Bryon Chew and Peyton Sellers moved ahead of him.  They all follow Caisse, however.
 

Saturday, 8:58pm ET - It's now lap 50 and Sean Caisse is still showing the way over Eric Holmes, Bryon Chew, Joey Logano, and Peyton Sellers.  The caution flew on lap 45 for the spun car of Richard Jarvis in turn one.  There was a previous caution just a handful of laps earlier when Dion Ciccarelli hit the wall in turn four.
 

Matt Kobyluck did lose a lap when he was on pit road after getting damage in the first caution of the night, but he was named the Beneficiary in the most recent caution and is now back on the lead lap.
 

Saturday, 9:31pm ET - It's lap 108 of 150 and the caution has flown for John Wes Townley.  Joey Logano had opened up a 10-carlength lead before the yellow flew. Sean Caisse was holding off a stiff challenge for second from Bryon Chew at the yellow, as well.   Peyton Sellers remains fourth and a hard-charging Jeffrey Earnhardt is in fifth.
 

One would think they were at Talladega or any other Cup race whenever Jeffrey Earnhardt makes a pass on the track.  Just like they have for years for other racers with whom he shares a name, whenever Earnhardt makes a move, the fans at Greenville are on their feet and cheering.


Whatever fans are not cheering on Earnhardt, they're seemingly pulling for Michelle Theirault, who has worked her way to seventh.
 

Saturday, 9:16pm ET - Just when it seemed that Sean Caisse was going to run away and hide from the BES field, along came Joey Logano.  On lap 73, Logano caught Caisse and nudged last year's winner here at Greenville going into turn one.  The nudge moved Caisse up the track enough for Logano to take the lead off the fourth turn.  It's now Logano, Caisse, Chew, Sellers, Holmes, Freeman and Earnhardt. 


The yellow has flown on lap 83 for a spinning Rich Gould off turn four.
 

Saturday, 9:44pm ET - The field is under a red flag condition on lap 115 after a massive pileup of cars occurred between the start-finish line and turn one.  Todd Peck spun and Patrick Dupree was collected.  Casey Wyatt slammed Peck and Ruben Pardo gunned it to the inside and had nowhere to go, plowing into Wyatt's car and jacknifing it up in the air.


NASCAR officials are giving drivers water as they sit on the backstretch awaiting the caution and the subsequent restart.
 

It's Logano, Caisse, Chew, Sellers, Earnhardt, Ruben Pardo, Theriault, Freeman, Marc Davis, and Mike Olsen.


Saturday, 10:10pm ET - Another double file restart with 16 laps remaining.  Logano gets a great jump again on Caisse, but they stay side-by-side for a full lap before Logano takes the lead on lap 135. Sure enough, as has been the case in recent laps, the caution followed shortly thereafter when Matt Kobyluck spins in turn one.
 

Saturday, 10:05pm ET - It may be cliche in racing to say that cautions breed cautions, but in the late stages of the Busch East Series opener at Greenville, it is certainly true.  On the lap 128 restart, Logano had a good start over Caisse, but in turn three, German Quiroga, Jr. hit the wall, bringing out another caution. 
 

Saturday, 10:01pm ET - The green flag is back out on lap 121, meaning 29 laps remain.  It's a double-file restart with Logano and Caisse on the front row, Chew and Sellers in the second, and Earnhardt and Lopez in the third row. 
 

Mike Johnson's #96 machine failed to fire when the field went back to caution and is now on pit road.
 

At the drop of the green flag, Caisse got a big jump, but Logano fought back to run side-by-side before taking the lead again the next lap.
 

But the field slowed again on lap 123 when Jesus Hernandez was sent spinning in turn one, negating the great duel up front.
 

Unofficial Results

1.  Joey Logano

2.  Sean Caisse

3.  Bryon Chew

4.  Peyton Sellars

5.  Rogelio Lopez

6.  Jeffrey Earnhardt

7.  Mike Olsen

8.  Michelle Theriault

9.  John Freeman

10.  John Townley

11.  Jesus Hernandez

12.  Marc Davis

13.  Jamie Hayes

14.  John Salemi

15.  Eric Holmes

16.  Scott Bouley

17.  Tim Schendel

18.  Jeff Anton

19.  Chase Austin

20.  Rich Gould

21.  Matt Kobyluck

22.  Dion Ciccarelli

23.  Richard Jarvis

24.  Mike Johnson

25.  Max Dumarey

26.  German Quiroga Jr.

27.  Todd Peck

28.  Casey Wyatt

29.  Patrick Dupree

30.  Ruben Pardo
 

Saturday, 11:26pm ET - Joey Logano is now two-for-two in his young NASCAR career.  He won last week's NASCAR West Series opener and he dominated the final stages of tonight's Busch East Series feature.  We're out of here for the night, be sure to stay tuned to Speed51.com for a full race recap as well as Leftovers later in the week.
 

Saturday, 10:10pm ET - Joey Logano Wins! Double-file restart and both cars up front get an equal start  on lap 143.   They're side by side before Logano takes the lead off turn four.  From there, Logano checked out to the checkered flag.  Caisse held off Bryon Chew for second, followed by Peyton Sellers, Rogelio Lopez, Mike Olsen, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Michelle Theriault.