Green-White-Checker

Andy Santerre will race in Peterbilt 250

Andy Santerre will be back in a race car for the first time since he hung up his NASCAR Camping World East Series helmet in 2005.

Santerre has entered the 8th annual Peterbilt 250 at Speedway 660, the track formerly known as New Brunswick International Speedway, in Geary, New Brunswick. The race is scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 31.

Santerre is a 4-time CWES champion who fields a current entry in that series for Peyton Sellers.

ON PIT ROAD: Sanborn, Sprint Cup and soggy shoes

It's Thursday again. That means it's time to roll the old Mini Stock out of the garage, wipe the dust off and shake down the setup with a spin around the dirt track at the end of the street. With that, here's the latest list of notes collected in a dog-eared notebook over the last few weeks...

* EVERY TIME A non-Sprint Cup-affiliated team wins a NASCAR Camping World East Series race, it should be celebrated, particularly by fans who lament the significant changes the series has undergone in the last few years.

When the CWES was still a northeastern-based series, Matt Kobyluck’s Mohegan Sun team was one of the better funded teams there was. These days, with Cup teams putting East cars on the dyno every day – every day! – it’s impossible for "regular" guys to keep up.

OXFORD 250 NOTES: Carey Martin, Shawn Martin and Kevin Harvick's goodwill

I'm not sure, but I think I've finally dried out after sloshing through puddles for the last 5 days. All that rain sure does give you plenty of time to think about everything that happened last weekend at Oxford Plains Speedway.

* CONGRATULATIONS TO CAREY MARTIN for setting the reputation of the local racer back about two decades.

It's not that Martin chose not to back down to a Sprint Cup Series driver in the TD Banknorth 250, and it's not that the Denmark, Maine, driver was willing to trade paint with a guy who's won the Daytona 500.

It's that Martin wasn't racing the race cars on the track -- he was racing the name of the guy in his rearview mirror, and it was about as bush league as it gets.

ON SITE: Kevin Harvick wins the Oxford 250

Kevin Harvick had never seen Oxford Plains Speedway before Friday. He left having mastered it in a brand new car.

Harvick unofficially led the final 118 laps to win the TD Banknorth 250 on Monday night, a race postponed one day and then 3 hours by rain on Monday afternoon. Harvick’s crew chief Shane Wilson built the car specifically for the Oxford run, and its now a perfect 1-for-1.

And already sold to the American-Canadian Tour team for which Karl Allard drives.

"I know everybody’s supposed to be asleep right now, but damn I’m happy," said Harvick, the 2007 Daytona 500 champion. "I want to thank all the other competitors. What a great race. What a lot of fun."

I'm stealing a little something from Bill Ryan this time

You can probably tell by now that Bill Ryan likes to use this very Green-White-Checker blog for fodder for his own Green Flags and Tire Smoke blog.

It's high time I get a little back from Bill, know what I'm saying?

And I'm doing it on the big stage.

ON SITE: Ricky Rolfe, Kevin Harvick share pointers

Like in that movie "The Shawshank Redemption." he's the guy you see when you want to get things done.

Kevin Harvick figured that out early on this week.

On his way out of the track after completing all of the practice he wanted to complete, Ricky Rolfe was stopped by Harvick for a final time. The two drivers talked for several minutes, before smiling and shaking hands.

ON SITE: Travis Adams has a big fan

Ownership has its advantages.

Standing near his race car before practice got underway on Saturday morning at Oxford Plains Speedway, defending track champion Travis Adams watched Kevin Harvick walk by several times, eyeing something over Adams' shoulder. The Sprint Cup Series driver, who has his own car entered in Sunday's TD Banknorth 250, kept on staring, prompting Adams to give Harvick a wave.

"He came running right over like we were longtime best buddies," Adams said. "I mean, he'd really been gawking, so I knew something was up."

Can Kevin Harvick really win the Oxford 250?

The publicity machine goes into full-bore whenever a Cup driver competes at the local level, and it's been no different this time around. But make no mistake about it -- this will be like every other Cup attempt, with the lone exception being Kyle Busch's 2006 try, which remains the most sincere effort at winning the Oxford 250 by a Cup driver since NASCAR drivers competed at Oxford for points decades ago.

Kevin Harvick is here to have fun.

Rollie LaChance returns for another shot at the Oxford 250

Rollie LaChance remembers watching race haulers from all over the country roll through his hometown of Auburn. He carries that feeling of excitement with him today.

"When racing is in your blood, (the 250) is something that you know about and you want," LaChance said this week, taking a break from working his full-time job as a shop foreman and preparing both NASCAR Camping World East Series and Late Model cars for driver Eddie MacDonald. "Certainly the race has lost some of its luster. I remember when there was no Loudon, and growing up in Auburn, I remember the southern teams coming into town with their cars.

ON PIT ROAD: Cups, combinations and curious decisions

It's Thursday again. That means it's time to roll the old Mini Stock out of the garage, wipe the dust off and shake down the setup with a spin around the dirt track at the end of the street. With that, here's the latest list of notes collected in a dog-eared notebook over the last few weeks...

* I"M HEARING THAT there will be "fewer" big races on the Wiscasset Raceway schedule in 2009.

The track is expected to do away with many of the automatic qualifiers for the Street Stock and Sportsman Nationals events in October, races held as part of the season-ending championship weekend for PASS at Wiscasset.

BREAKING NEWS: DEI has PASS driver Derek Ramstrom "on their radar"

DEI is watching 16-year-old PASS North Series driver Derek Ramstrom.

Ramstrom's father, Rick Ramstrom, confirmed Tuesday that he and his son met with DEI development director Mike Greci for half an hour on Saturday morning at Thompson International Speedway. Greci was at Thompson to watch 3 DEI cars compete in the NASCAR Camping World East Series Pepsi 100, a race won by DEI driver Trevor Bayne.

According to Rick Ramstrom, Greci said that Derek Ramstrom is "on their radar."

Joey Pole runs uneventful 16th in East Series debut

Joey Polewarczyk essentially got just what he wanted out of his only scheduled Camping World East Series race this season.

Polewarczyk completed every lap of the Pepsi Full Fendered Frenzy 100 at Thompson International Speedway, rolling to an uneventful 16th-place finish. The 19-year-old driver from Hudson, N.H., and a 2-time winner on the American-Canadian Tour this year, was driving for longtime series East Series owner Barney McRae.

"I just want to have a clean race and earn some respect out there," Polewarczyk said before qualifying. "I'm just hoping that if I have a good race, then some team or someone will say, 'This kid has some talent' and maybe want to have me do some more races."

ON SITE: Trevor Bayne picks up 1st Camping World East Series win

Trevor Bayne made the No. 1 popular on Saturday night at Thompson International Speedway.

Bayne's No. 1 DEI car swept the day's honors, setting fast time in afternoon practice, winning the pole and then winning the NASCAR Camping World East Series Pepsi Full Fendered Frenzy 100.

It was the first career win for Bayne, who was beaten by Eddie MacDonald at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last time out.

ON SITE: Good thing I drove with the full fenders

This portion of the program is being brought to you by Monster energy drink, CLIF bars and the I'm-Gonna-Run-You-Over 225 at Interstate 95 Speedway.

Seriously folks, I know we joke all the time about tourists driving like it's Talladega out there, but I lived and breathed it today. Put it this way -- if you were going 85 mph, you were in the middle lane being passed on both sides, with hand signals flying your way like Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch were about to wreck each other in Nationwide Series cars.

It was that bad.

Tony Stewart's peers stand behind his decision

Seems everybody loves the move that Tony Stewart has made to the ownership side of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

But Jeff Gordon wanted to draw the line at comparing Stewart to Richard Childress, the man who provided the cars Dale Earnhardt drove to legendary status.

"Well, no offense at Richard Childress, but I think there’s a big difference between Richard Childress and Tony Stewart as drivers -- and as owners," Gordon said with a laugh on Thursday at Chicagoland Speedway.

ON PIT ROAD: Fireworks, firing up and first-come-first-serve

It's Thursday again. That means it's time to roll the old Mini Stock out of the garage, wipe the dust off and shake down the setup with a spin around the dirt track at the end of the street. With that, here's the latest list of notes collected in a dog-eared notebook over the last few weeks...

* SAGGING ATTENDANCE

? Check.

Low car counts? Check.

Purses out of control? Check.

So, you're a promoter at a short track in Maine, and you've got some problems, huh? Well, read on, Bingo, because I'm about to make all your problems disappear.

COLUMN: Tony Stewart checking out to cash in

If all Tony Stewart wanted was a new number, couldn't he just have asked nicely?

Joe Gibbs Racing made official today that the 2-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion will be released from his contract and will pursue opportunities outside of JGR at the end of 2008. It is expected, as has been widely reported for months, that Stewart will take an ownership role at Haas CNC Racing.

Stewart will reportedly drive the No. 14 car next year, paying homage to racing legend A.J. Foyt.

Corey Williams returns to PASS North this weekend

Corey Williams will pull double duty of a different kind on Saturday.

Williams, a Boothbay native and the PASS South Series points leader, will run in the 75-lap PASS North event at Thompson International Speedway. Williams will drive the No. 29 Ford of longtime PASS owner Jay Cushman.

Williams was slated to be at Thompson anyway. He works at Andy Santerre Motorsports, which fields cars in the NASCAR Camping World East Series for Peyton Sellers.

ON PIT ROAD: Bruton, Busch and Beech Ridge

It's Thursday again. That means it's time to roll the old Mini Stock out of the garage, wipe the dust off and shake down the setup with a spin around the dirt track at the end of the street. With that, here's the latest list of notes collected in a dog-eared notebook over the last few weeks...

* ON THE ONE hand, you've got about as old New England as they come.

Bob Bahre, the former owner of what was called New Hampshire International Speedway, always wearing a pressed white shirt and work pants, with the same yellow cardigan sweater if he caught a chill in the air. He dined in the same little breakfast nook each morning, spoke shortly and directly, and never seemed to smile -- even when cracking a joke so dry a garden hose couldn't save it.

On the other hand, you've got about as big city glitz as they come.

Bob Dillner makes discriminatory comments in radio appearance

If you're breaking out of the PC camp, you want to go all in.

Just ask esteemed SPEED reporter Bob Dillner, who doubled-down on the offensive comments during an appearance on a small New England radio show being broadcast live from New Hampshire Motor Speedway last Sunday morning.

As a guest on the "Carey and Coffey Show," which is aired on 940 AM and 1510 AM out of Danbury, Conn., and simulcast on the internet at www.careyandcoffey.com, Dillner took shots at the country musicians the show's hosts were discussing as he was coming on the air.