NASCAR

Sean Caisse All-Star Showdown race notes

Dominant Effort at Irwindale Is Spoiled for Sean Caisse and ASM Caisse Leads First 74 Laps of Showdown Before Getting Tangled With Lapped Car CONCORD, NC (October 22, 2007) -- Sean Caisse was in the perfect position to turn around all the bad ...

Published: Oct 28, 2007, 10:01 PM

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Dominant Effort at Irwindale Is Spoiled for Sean Caisse and ASM
Caisse Leads First 74 Laps of Showdown Before Getting Tangled With Lapped Car

CONCORD, NC (October 22, 2007) -- Sean Caisse was in the perfect position to turn around all the bad luck that Andy Santerre Motorsports had faced at California's Irwindale Speedway in the past on Saturday night, October 20th. Caisse's car owner Andy Santerre, in the brief history of the Toyota All-Star Showdown as a driver, had often found bad luck despite having cars very capable of winning cars the invitational year-end NASCAR Grand National Division event.

In 2006, however, Caisse began to turn around the bad luck that Santerre and the team had faced before by scoring a second-place finish utilizing a backup car after a qualifying crash.

But in 2007, the stars seemed to be aligning themselves for a return to glory for the Andy Santerre Motorsports bunch. Caisse won the pole for the fifth running of the Toyota All-Star Showdown and led the first 74 laps of the 250-lap affair in impressive fashion.

Then, a tangle with a lapped car spelled doom for the Casella Waste Systems #44 Chevrolet and the bad luck reared its ugly head once again in California. The lapped car got into the rear end of Caisse's machine, sending the #44 into the wall and the ASM team back to their North Carolina shop with another frustrating ending to an otherwise dominant Irwindale weekend.

"It's a long way to go for that to happen," said Santerre, ASM team owner and crew chief. "We worked hard on this -- everyone at the shop -- and [everyone who builds] the racing engines. This one's a tough one to swallow. It's tough to stand here and not say something, but we try to be a good sport.

"We were here to win."

Caisse checked out from the field and easily led the first 74 laps, but luck was not on the young driver's side once again in California.

"We had a pretty good car," said Caisse. "The guys did a great job giving me a piece to run up front with. I'm just a little bit frustrated right now. Whatever happened, happened. I know the #78 (Moses Smith) ended up getting into us, but that's racing. You win some and lose some I guess.

"I'm frustrated more for my guys because they worked their butts off to get the car like this. We had a dominant piece. I was just riding around out front and it's frustrating. I have to thank Casella Waste Systems for sponsoring me the last couple of years."

Caisse finished the 2007 NASCAR Busch East Series season second in the championship standings with four wins, five Busch Poles and eight top-fives on the year with Andy Santerre Motorsports in the Casella Waste Systems #44 Chevrolet.

-credit: asm

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