By NASCAR Public Relations
August 5, 2005

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - In a class of Sunoco Rookie of the Year contenders that is the largest and maybe the deepest in talent since 2001, 19-year-old Sean Caisse of Pelham, N.H., has stamped himself as the favorite for the Busch North Series Sunoco Rookie Award by leading the rookie field in four of the first six races.

Driving Barney McRae's Motion Racing/Trik Custom Sleds Chevrolet, Caisse has also been second once and third once in the Sunoco Rookie "race within a race", giving him 57 points. The top rookie receives ten points, the second rookie nine points and so on. Caisse's best overall race finish is sixth at Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl.

A dark horse has emerged in second place as John Salemi of Nashua, N.H. has scored 43 points with his DelCorp Co. Pontiac. He also scored his best result at Waterford with an 11th place showing.

Chasing Salemi hard are Charles Lewandoski of Stafford Springs, Conn. and Jeff Anton of Russell, Mass. Lewandoski has run into a bad stretch, damaging his Lewandoski Construction Chevrolet at Waterford and being forced to start a borrowed car in the next race at Adirondack International Speedway in Beaver Falls, N.Y. He holds 40 points, one ahead of Anton, who registered his first career top ten while leading the rookies home at Adirondack. Anton has recently driven Dale Quarterley's short track car while Quarterley has been away running the NASCAR Busch Series.

The final rookie attempting the full schedule is Joe Masessa of Franklin Lakes, N.J., who has scored 26 points. Also registered for the Sunoco program but not contesting enough races to be in contention are James Civali of Meriden, Conn., Marc Rogers of Brick Township, N.J., and Anthony Demonte of Ronkonkoma, N.Y. Of that group, Civali scored the most impressive result, a top-ten finish on his first visit to New Hampshire International Speedway.