He wanted to finish the season, but his owner and some other team members thought it was best to begin building for the future immediately.

So Cherryfield’s Andy Santerre, the 1998 Busch Grand National Rookie of the Year, will spend his 31st birthday today pondering his future after being released from the Innovative Motorsports team.

Last Wednesday, Santerre told team owner George deBidart that he didn’t want to return to Innovative Motorsports on a full-time basis next year. His decision was prompted by his loyalty to his sponsor, MONRO Muffler Brake & Service.

Santerre said MONRO officials had indicated to him that they didn’t want to sponsor the car for the full series next year, but they might want to sponsor half of the 32 races.

“I offered to come back if George was interested in doing 15 or 16 races. I wanted to keep my sponsor. But he said he wasn’t interested in partial deals. He wanted two full-time teams next year,” said Santerre.

“We wish Andy all the best,” said deBidart in a press release. “We had a good couple of years together and we built a competitive race team. Andy wanted to concentrate on a limited schedule and that just didn’t fit into our plans here.”

Six-year BGN driver Mike McLaughlin will join Innovative Motorsports next season.

The other ingredient in the decision was Santerre’s recent difficulties in qualifying. Even though he had three top-20 finishes in his last six races, including his first-ever BGN win at the Pikes Peak 250 (Colo.) on July 24, he had failed to qualify his Chevy Monte Carlo for two of the last three races.

After Santerre failed to qualify for the Dura Lube 200 Friday, deBidart had a meeting with team officials and Santerre was let go.

“We just couldn’t get a good qualifying package,” said Santerre. “But when we qualified, we ran well in the races. Obviously, some of the team members thought I was the reason we weren’t qualifying well. If they qualify better with a new driver, they made the right move. If they don’t, they didn’t.”

A disappointed Santerre said, “It’s tough anytime you lose a job. Sue [his wife and the media relations director for his MONRO team] and I have put our heart and soul into this team for two years. We’ve got a lot of good friends here. We’ve got to put it behind us now.”

He doesn’t have any animosity toward deBidart, saying deBidart gave him a “great opportunity and did everything he told me he would.”

Santerre, who will still be getting paid by deBidart, said he intends to remain loyal to MONRO and will include them in any future plans.

“It’s so hard to get a sponsor as loyal as they have been,” said Santerre, whose season got off to a bad start when he broke his leg in the first race (the NAPA Auto Parts 300 on Feb. 13) and missed the next four months.

He admits he has been somewhat soured by his release and the business itself.

“It’s a tough, tough business,” said Santerre, who feels he is driving better than ever and will entertain opportunities to drive this year as well as next season.