Caisse hoping for change of fortune in Friday race

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Sean Caisse can’t wait for tonight’s New England 125 Busch East race at New Hampshire International Speedway.

The native of Pelham, N.H., who drives for the Andy Santerre Motorsports team, figures his luck has to change and this would be the perfect time for it.

Caisse finished second in points in 2006 and led the series with five poles and three wins.

But this year has been a lesson in frustration.

A blown tire in one race, a radiator problem in another and a bad sway bar mount have resulted in three consecutive finishes of 24th or worse.

Caisse has qualified first or second in four of the five races and is ninth in points.

He qualified second Thursday night for the New England 125 behind Joey Logano.

Caisse is very optimistic about his luck turning around.

“Things couldn’t get any worse. But it’s all behind us now,” reasoned Caisse, 21, who started the season with a second-place finish and a victory.

He said the important thing is, “we’ve been really competitive. That’s all you can ask for with the competition the way it is.

“I’m real excited about this weekend. We have a good car. It’s really fast,” said Caisse, who added it will be nice to see his family and friends again.

Cherryfield’s Santerre, Caisse’s crew chief and the team owner, said Caisse should be in the “top three in points.

“But we’ve had some freaky, crazy things happen that have never happened to us before. We’ve had real good qualifying runs and real good race trim [setups]. But we’ve had those mechanical problems,” said Santerre.

Santerre is pretty optimistic about Caisse’s chances to take the car to Victory Lane.

“He has as good a chance as anybody. It takes a lot of luck and preparation. We’re prepared. Hopefully, we’ve got the monkey off our backs,” said Santerre, who pointed out the car Caisse will drive was the one they tested at NHIS “six to eight weeks ago and it was the fastest car among the 18 that tested that day.”

Santerre is also hoping for a good run from 18-year-old rookie Jeffrey Earnhardt, the other driver in Santerre’s stable. The grandson of Dale Earnhardt Sr. will make his NHIS Busch East debut.

Earnhardt is 11th in points with one top-10 and two top-12 finishes in the five races. He will start 42nd tonight.

“He’s been hot and cold but he’s been learning every week. He’s been getting better and better,” said Santerre. “It’s tough racing at tracks the first time.”

Caisse said he has enjoyed having Earnhardt as a teammate and they compare notes.

“He’s really mature for someone who just turned 18. He has lot of respect for everybody,” said Caisse. “He looks up to me as much as I look up to him.”

With Busch series and Nextel Cup races also on the schedule this weekend, a good showing could really help Caisse eventually land a Busch series race. Santerre said Caisse is ready for the Busch series.

Caisse said he doesn’t feel that the presence of Busch and Cup series owners will add any pressure on him.

“I try to do my best each and every week. We’ve been running competitively but haven’t had the finishes we’ve wanted. It has been kind of frustrating but, at the same time, I’ve learned to deal with adversity, stay positive and keep my game face on,” said Caisse.

“If I got a chance [to run in the Busch series], I’d do it in a heartbeat. But it takes money to push the door open. There are a lot of young drivers who bring a lot of [sponsorship] funds with them,” said Caisse.

Caisse is hoping to land more sponsors but “I’m just going to do the best I can.”

He noted the Busch East series has improved significantly this year and, as a result, “it is getting the credibility it has lacked the last five to 10 years.”

Date switch produces tickets

Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 300 Nextel Cup race will be the earliest ever held at NHIS and that is why tickets have been available for the usually sold-out event, according to NHIS public relations director Fred Neergaard.

The July race is usually held two weeks later.

“But we’re very close [to capacity] and I think we’ll have our 25th [consecutive] capacity crowd,” said Neergaard. “When they made the race two weeks earlier, people had already made their vacation plans around that date and they were unable to change them.”

He feels one of the positive aspects of the change is the weather.

“We’re going to have great weather, a nice, cool, breezy day,” said Neergaard. “It’s great to have that instead of the hot, muggy weather we usually have in the middle of July. It’ll be nice for the fans to have a nice, sunny day without baking.”