James Buescher Battles ARCA Warriors for USA Int’l Victory

16-Year-Old Wins in Career-First Start

LAKELAND FL (3-24-07) – Two days shy of his 17^th birthday, James Buescher, in his career first ARCA RE/MAX Series start, steered his way into the history books with a stunning victory in the Construct Corps-Palm Beach Grading 250 Saturday night at USA Int’l Speedway in Lakeland, Florida.

The Plano, Texas driver, after dodging several bullets, out-dueled rookie Bryan Clauson in the closing laps to score the thrilling victory for his Country Joe Racing team and the near capacity crowd on hand for the inaugural event.

“What a great night,” said Buescher in victory lane. “We got up front early and stayed up front. I just want to thank all these guys at Country Joe Racing, and my family. They all made this happen. What a great birthday present; we just had a really good night.”

Buescher, in the Mercedes Homes-Red Line Oil Dodge, raced underneath Clauson 11 laps from the finish, and then held off the hungry pack through a green-white-checker finish. Clauson, in a Chip Ganassi Racing Memorex-sponsored Dodge, finished two lengths away in second after leading 61 laps. It was also Clauson’s career-first series start.

“James drove a great race,” said Clauson, who battled back from an earlier race incident. “Our tires were just used up. We stretched our last run 125 laps, so we were really slipping and sliding out there. But what a great night overall. I want to thank Ganassi Racing and Memorex for the opportunity; I think we’ll be back this year for five to eight more ARCA races.”

Wildwood, Florida driver Wayne Anderson, in the McDowell Construction-Airframe Int’l Dodge, gave the locals something to cheer about with a career-best third place finish.

“Wow, what a night,” said Anderson. “It was like bumper cars out there all night; I think we hit everything but the pace car. This is such a neat little racetrack. This is where this series belongs, at places like this. I really hope ARCA comes back.”

Anderson wasn’t the only driver who landed against another machine as 18 cautions for a variety of thrills and spills shook the field up constantly throughout the 250 lap race, which was extended three laps to accommodate the ARCA-mandated green flag finish. There were no injuries, but plenty of sparks to continually light up the southern skies.

Justin Allgaier, in the Hoosier Midwest-AG Tech-Trashman-USAF Chevrolet, raced his way from 19^th to fourth in the final running order ahead of Brian Keselowski, who finished fifth in the Holloway-Dusty’s Collision Dodge after leading 35 laps. As a result of Allgaier’s solid effort, the Springfield, Illinois driver is tied with Frank Kimmel for the championship points lead headed to Nashville Superspeedway for event number three of the 23 race schedule.

ARCA Pole Award winner Bobby Santos III, in the Bill Davis Racing Toyota, was impressive early leading the first 116 laps before getting tangled up with Patrick Sheltra on a restart, an incident that also collected Billy Venturini and Clauson. All but Santos were able to return to competition. The occasion marked the career-first Pole Award for Toyota in ARCA RE/MAX Series competition as well as the first time a Toyota led laps in RE/MAX Series competition.

Apopka, Florida driver Tim Russell finished sixth in the Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters-Eagle Creek Aviation Dodge with Kimmel, in the Tri-State Motorsports-Pork Ford, trailing in seventh. Kimmel, who started 25^th, was also awarded the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award for advancing the most positions. Ellenton, Florida driver John Jackson, who led seven laps, finished eighth in the Fixatire-James Carter Attorney Chevrolet. Justin South, in the HD Supply Chevrolet, finished ninth with Stuart, Florida driver Bryan Silas, in the Nortrax-Holland Pump Chevrolet, trailing in 10^th.

The next event for the ARCA RE/MAX Series will be the Nashville ARCA 150 at Nashville Superspeedway on April 7^th.

Top-10 ARCA RE/MAX Series points after the Construct Corps-Palm Beach Grading 250 at USA Int'l Speedway (3-24-07)

1) Frank Kimmel 405; 1) Justin Allgaier 405; 3) Phillip McGilton 350; 4) Bobby Gerhart 345; 5) Mario Gosselin 340; 6) Michael McDowell 320; 7) Darrell Basham 275; 8) Dexter Bean 240; 8) James Buescher 240; 10) Brian Keselowski 230; 10) Bryan Clauson 230.

CONTACTS

ARCA PR/Media

Don Radebaugh (419) 450-0611

Jackie L. Franzil (419) 574-2685

http://www.arcaracing.com

Official Finish

FIN	STR	NO	DRIVER/HOMETOWN	TEAM & CAR	LAPS	STATUS
1	2	32	James Buescher/Plano TX	Mercedes Homes-Red Line Oil Dodge	253	Running
2	3	40	Bryan Clauson/Noblesville IN	Memorex Dodge	253	Running
3	6	8	Wayne Anderson/Wildwood FL	McDowell Construction-Airframe Int'l Dodge	253	Running
4	19	16	Justin Allgaier/Springfield IL	Hoosier Midwest-AG Tech-Trashman-USAF Chevrolet	253	Running
5	5	29	Brian Keselowski/Rochester Hills MI	Holloway-Dusty's Collision Dodge	253	Running
6	14	9	Tim Russell/Apopka FL	Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters-Eagle Creek Dodge	253	Running
7	25	46	Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN	Tri-State Motorsports-Pork Ford	253	Running
8	16	72	John Jackson/Ellenton FL	Fixatire-James Carter Attorney-DGM Chevrolet	253	Running
9	13	59	Justin South/Hueytown AL	HD Supply Dodge	253	Running
10	18	11	Bryan Silas/Stuart FL	Nortrax-Holland Pump Chevrolet	253	Running
11	17	60	Patrick Sheltra/Indiantown FL	Premier Motorsports Chevrolet	253	Running
12	4	12	Mario Gosselin/Lake Wales FL	Guaranteed Concrete-James Carter Chevrolet	252	Running
13	27	47	Phillip McGilton/Marion IL	SIPerformance Ford	252	Running
14	26	25	Billy Venturini/Chicago IL	Remax.com Chevrolet	252	Running
15	21	48	Nick Tucker/Kannapolis NC	FreeFeds.org Dodge	252	Running
16	23	00	Robb Brent/Shelby Twp MI	Keselowski Racing Ford	252	Running
17	22	1	Dominick Casola/Wall Twp NJ	Casola Farms Ford	251	Running
18	7	2	Michael McDowell/Phoenix AZ	Z-Line Design-Make-A-Wish Dodge	249	Running
19	30	34	Darrell Basham/Henryville IN	Anti Monkey Butt Powder Chevrolet	248	Running
20	9	22	Ken Butler III/Sherrills Ford NC	ESR Development Team Dodge	242	Running
21	20	23	Josh Krug/Omaha NE	Big Ford Enterprise-Johnson Hardware Chevrolet	239	Running
22	28	90	Gabi DiCarlo/Vail CO	Great Clips Ford	238	Running
23	34	84	Norm Benning/Pittsburgh PA	Benning Motorsports Chevrolet	237	Running
24	29	38	Mike Harmon/Birmingport AL	All Sports Armour Chevrolet	236	Accident
25	37	06	Tim Mitchell/Fayetteville TN	Star Wheels Skate Center-Reid's Auto Color Ford	234	Running
26	24	5	Bobby Gerhart/Lebanon PA	Lucas Oil Chevrolet	218	Accident
27	35	7	Dicky Williamson/Savannah GA	BreastCancer.org Ford	184	Running
28	15	6	Dexter Bean/Westby WI	Five Star Telecom Chevrolet	177	Accident
29	33	08	Jason Hedlesky/Clinton MI	Hardcore Motorsports Ford	177	Engine
30	36	26	Brad Smith/Belleville MI	Call Us Mobile Home Service Ford	149	Running
31	12	4	Ryan Mathews/Lake Geneva WI	Cunningham Motorsports Dodge	138	Accident
32	11	65	Justin Marks/Rocklin CA	Construct Corps-No Fear Energy Drink Dodge	131	Accident
33	1	02	Bobby Santos III/Franklin MA	Bill Davis Racing Toyota	124	Accident
34	39	79	Mike Koch/Mountain Home AR	K&K Racing-Karl's Plumbing Pontiac	88	Engine
35	32	21	Todd Bowsher/Springfield OH	Jack Bowsher & Associates Ford	87	Transmssn
36	8	37	Michelle Theriault/Bristol CT	Glock Chevrolet	58	Accident
37	31	52	Bill Baird/Sarasota FL	Saturn Machine Dodge	57	Engine
38	10	62	Chad McCumbee/Supply NC	Nortrax-Holland Pump Chevrolet	47	Engine
39	40	13	Mark Gibson/Winder GA	Mark Gibson Racing Chevrolet	1	Handling
40	38	93	Julian Penaruiz/Paris France	Drew White Motorsports Chevrolet	1	Handling
			POLE AWARD: Bobby Santos III 22.070 (122.338 mph)
			MRGN OF VICT: .840 seconds	CAUTIONS: 18 for 95 laps
			TIME OF RACE: 2:37:32	AVG SPEED: 82.605 mph
			LAP LEADERS: Santos 1-88, 96-123 (116); Jackson 89-95 (7); Keselowski 124-158 (35); Buescher 159-179,
			241-253 (34); Clauson 180-240 (61)

"I would say this is probably the best this car has ever turned going into the corner," said Keselowski, who won his career first ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Berlin Raceway in the same car in 2006. "We're struggling in the same place everyone else is struggling and that is getting up off the corner. This is the first time I've ever been fastest in practice. That's pretty neat."

Keselowski was followed on the speed charts by 2007 Rookie of the Year contender Michael McDowell in the No. 2 Z-Line Design/Make-A-Wish Dodge and Ken Butler III in the No. 22 ESR Development Team Dodge. Both drivers are in cars prepared by Eddie Sharp Racing this weekend.

"We came here and tested for two days and learned a lot," said Sharp. "After we tested we made a pact that we were going to stick to our game plan and that's what we did."

Justin South and Ryan Mathews rounded out the top five during practice.

In all, the caution flag came out three times, the first of which was for debris on the racetrack. The second caution occurred when Gabi DiCarlo broke a transmission in the No. 90 Great Clips Ford.

The final caution occurred when Phillip McGilton and Tim Russell tangled in turn one. AJ Henriksen, in the No. 50 E.L. Jones Seafood Company Dodge, was unable to avoid the incident and his car suffered significant damage. As a result, Henriksen has withdrawn from this weekend's Construct Corps-Palm Beach Grading 250.