CAISSE AND EARNHARDT TEAM UP WITH FORMER CHAMP SANTERRE

ASM Motorsports Looks to Finish Up Front at Greenville

In 2006 Andy Santerre Motorsports left an impression on the newly renamed NASCAR Busch East Series.  With young Sean Caisse behind the wheel, the team headed up by four-time series champ Andy Santerre, the new team mounted a significant challenge for the first-ever BES championship. 

Now in the second year of the series the ASM team is back to do it all again.  This time, there will be a new face, as Jeffrey Earnhardt will be joining up with ASM as a teammate to Caisse.

Caisse will be back behind the wheel of the Casella Waste Systems #44 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS in the first race of the BES season at Greenville-Pickens Speedway (SC) on April 28th.  Earnhardt will be there with his #1 Chevy as well.  They'll both be in Greenville with the Andy Santerre Motorsports team ready to clinch a fifth title for their car owner, Andy Santerre, as well as team's first Busch East title all at the same time.

"I am really looking forward to getting back Busch East Racing," said Santerre.  "We were the race winner at Greenville with Sean last year so hopefully we can go back and defend our win again.  We have tested a couple of times both with Sean and Jeffrey and they both have run a bunch of laps, and I think that we have both cars dialed in pretty well.  I think Sean is a contender for the pole and the win.

"With Jeffrey, it is going to be a learning curve for him with these heavy cars.  But he is a good driver and we are hoping that he can go there, race all the laps, keep the nose clean and get some experience under his belt."

Caisse has an impressive resume of Busch East racing already under his belt, winning races in 2006 and contending for the series title.  Earnhardt, however, is a young racer who has cut his teeth in the Late Model ranks around the Southeast.  The two drivers will combine knowledge and follow the leadership of Santerre to obtain the same goal – compete week in and week out in the Busch East Series.

"I am pretty happy with how things are going so far this season," said Caisse.  "I am pretty excited about having a teammate this year as well.  I think with 16 rookies coming in and the new tracks we are going to visit, that it is going to throw a lot more things in the pot and mix things up a little bit. So if you have a bad race, you can still come back and win a championship.  And that is what we plan on doing. 

"I know that we have a stronger team, and Andy is on top of his game.  Everything has gone really well so far, and it should stay that way."

Greenville-Pickens Speedway will be the debut for the two-car team, but already having a new driver added to the mix in Earnhardt has already had an impact on the team.

"We have already noticed an improvement at the racetrack with having two cars out there," added Caisse. "Especially since we are running the same equipment and mostly the same chassis, too.  I think that we will have an advantage over the one-car teams.  We can go to the racetrack and have one setup, he can have another, and we can figure out which one is going to work and we will see what happens.  The team should definitely be up front at Greenville."

The 2007 Busch East Series season will get underway on Saturday, April 28th, at the historic Greenville-Pickens Speedway (SC).

For more information on Andy Santerre Motorsports, please contact Amy Hayes at (704) 788-2134 and visit the online home of ASM, www.andysanterremotorsports.com.