LOUDON, N.H. – There is light at the end of the tunnel for the Busch East series, according to Busch series director Lee Roy.

“There’s a lot of things happening out there. This is as excited as I’ve ever been [about the series],” said Roy, who is in his fifth season as the director.

The series has only 11 races this season. It ran 13 each of the past two years but averaged 18 the previous six seasons.

Roy said he anticipates having a 15-race schedule in 2007.

He also said the availability of a cheaper composite fiberglass body and spec engines should enable the series’ teams to significantly reduce their costs.

Drivers can save anywhere from $2,000 to $9,000 on the body and $15,000 to $25,000 on the engines.

Most of the drivers are using the metal bodies.

Roy said one of the drivers, Dion Ciccarelli, is using the fiberglass body and he told Roy the average cost of materials to repair damage after races is around $30.

Roy said cars with metal bodies can cost “hundreds of dollars or more” to repair.

Roy said there has been quite a bit of interest from track owners and drivers across the East Coast who are interested in the series.

“We had 13 rookies in our race at Loudon [New Hampshire International Speedway) last Friday. That’s the most we’ve had in my five years,” said Roy.

He estimated the car counts are up 20 to 30 percent over last year. They are averaging 28 cars per race.

The AutoZone West series, the western version of Busch East, has also had improved car counts and had 13 rookies at a race in Phoenix.

This season, all but one of the races is scheduled to be held at tracks in the northeast.

The opener was held at the Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina.

That will change, according to Roy, as more southern tracks will come on board.

“It will be more of an East Coast series than a northeast series,” said Roy.

Roy said NASCAR is looking at holding races at tracks that are at least a half-mile long and with a seating capacity of at least 5,000. But those aren’t etched in stone as they could go to shorter tracks.

He said the two series are a little more geared toward driver development these days “and the feeling is that the tracks that are at least a half-mile long are more conducive to driver development. But you may see some races at three-eighths of a mile tracks.”

The age requirement will be lowered to 16 next season. Drivers have to be at least 18 this season.

He knows expanding the series, geographically, will weigh into the plans of the drivers from the northeast, some of whom may decided to skip the races at tracks far away to save money.

“We know we’re going to lose some people. Change is difficult,” said Roy. “Some of them may run selected races. Some may try the series next year [to see if they can handle the schedule].”

NASCAR is starting a new television contract next season and Roy expects Busch East to benefit along with the other series.

Roy said HDNet, a network launched by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Phillip Garvin of Colorado Studios in 2001, televises seven or eight of their races live and sends them to Speed Network, which shows them and a couple of the other races on a tape-delayed basis.

Roy is hoping they will have more races televised live on channels with more subscribers.

“That would expand our exposure and our audience,” said Roy.

It could also lead to more cars and more interest from track owners.

Roy admits the series had been struggling.

“They were looking for an identity and a direction,” said Roy. “Everybody got re-focused.”

He said there will still be bumps in the road in 2007 and 2008 but the future is much brighter than it was.

Busch series Montreal-bound

It appears as though the Busch series is heading north of the border next season.

The final touches are being made to bring the series to Montreal.

The series, which has Nextel Cup regulars occupying seven of the top eight spots in points, has had races in Mexico City the past two seasons.

According to published reports, the Montreal race will be held on either the third weekend in July or the first weekend in August.

It will be held over the 2.786-mile road course, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which was constructed on a man-made island surrounded by the St. Lawrence River.

The Formula-1 Canadian Grand Prix is held there along with a CHAMP race. CHAMP, the rival of the Indy Racing League (IRL), will be eliminated and replaced by the Busch race after this season.

“They’ll fill the seats. There’s a big fan base there,” said Daniel Rufiange of Auto Journal Inc. “They may try to have an IRL race on the same weekend as the Busch race.”

Former Nextel Cup driver Ricky Craven of Newburgh said, “I truly believe it will be a big success.

“Canadian fans are passionate about auto racing,”

Craven added. “It’s always good when NASCAR reaches out to a new group of fans who didn’t previously have access to it.”