Kroger 200 - Blake Feese Notes

BLAKE FEESE
NO. 5 LOWE’S / STA-GREEN CHEVROLET
IRP PREVIEW

THIS WEEK’S DRIVER – BLAKE FEESE: Blake Feese will make his sixth start of the 2005 Busch Series season this weekend at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Feese, 23, hails from Saybrook, IL.

Signed to Hendrick Motorsports last year, Feese scored two wins (Nashville Superspeedway and Talladega Superspeedway) in four 2004 ARCA (Automobile Racing Club of America) starts. Feese also made seven Busch Series starts in 2004; three starts in the No. 87 NEMCO Motorsports Chevy and four starts in the No. 00 Haas Chevy, both in partnership with Hendrick Motorsports.

In his previous starts behind the wheel of the No. 5 Lowe’s Chevy, Feese finished 23rd at Atlanta Motor Speedway, 28th at Bristol Motor Speedway, 37th at Texas Motor Speedway, 34th at Kentucky Speedway, and 37th at Pike’s Peak International Raceway.

Driving the No. 15 Chevrolet for Ballew Motorsports, Feese finished 15th in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Kentucky Speedway earlier this year.

Q&A WITH DRIVER BLAKE FEESE

DO YOU LIKE SHORT TRACKS LIKE IRP BETTER, OR DO YOU PREFER THE BIGGER TRACKS, LIKE KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY?: “I kind of like the faster tracks better, like Kentucky or Daytona (International Speedway). Really, though, it comes down to how we’re running at any given track. If you run good somewhere, you like that track. It doesn’t matter what size the place is. Just as long as the car’s doing what you want it to do, it makes you like the track you’re on.”

AREN’T YOU ALSO RETURNING TO YOUR OPEN WHEEL ROOTS THESE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKENDS?: “Yeah, I’m pretty excited about that. A guy I drove for back in my sprint car days called me the other day and asked me to drive his car in the Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway in Iowa. That’s like the Daytona 500 for sprint cars. That’s in two weeks, so to get ready for that, we’ll take the car to Eldora Speedway in Ohio this Friday night to make sure we’re ready to go. Then I’ll head over to Indianapolis that night and get ready for the Busch race on Saturday. It’ll be a tiring weekend, but I know it’s going to be a lot of fun, too. I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel of a sprint car.”

CHASSIS INFORMATION- Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 298– Chassis No. 298 was new to the Hendrick Motorsports stable in 2004. Kyle Busch started on the pole and drove this car to a runner-up finish at Phoenix International Raceway last November. Busch also drove this chassis to fifth-place finishes at Gateway International Raceway last May, at Dover International Speedway last June, and placed third with it in the August night race at Bristol Motor Speedway. This season, Jimmie Johnson drove this chassis to a 25th-place finish at Richmond International Raceway in May, and Blake Feese drove it to a 34th-place finish at Kentucky Speedway in June, and a 37th-place finish at Pike’s Peak International Raceway in July.

TEAM NO. 5’s HISTORY AT IRP: Two years ago, Brian Vickers engaged in a side-by-side battle with Shane Hmiel for a number of laps before Vickers was able to make the pass for the lead and claim the first win of the 2003 season for the No. 5 team.

Last year, it was Kyle Busch’s turn to take the No. 5 to Victory Lane at IRP. Starting from the eighth position, Busch and the Lowe’s team used pit strategy to claim their fourth win of the 2004 Busch Series season. After pitting for the final time on lap 112 of the 200 lap event, Busch held off a charging Johnny Sauter to win by a margin of .896 seconds.

Incidentally, Vickers and Busch both drove the same chassis (Chassis No. 273) in their respective IRP wins.

After the 2004 race, the entire No. 5 team, including team owners Rick and Ricky Hendrick, lined up and kissed the start/finish line at IRP, similar to how NEXTEL Cup teams “kiss the bricks” when they win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“We thought we’d start a new tradition at IRP,” said Howard Shipwash, who has been the engine tuner for the No. 5 team for the past four seasons. “I thought it would be something different and fun, and Mr. Hendrick and Ricky were all about it. The pictures from that night are great. Mr. Hendrick and Ricky both have their hats on backward and are laughing and cutting up. We had a lot of fun.”

MULTI-DRIVER TEAM: The No. 5 Team Lowe’s Racing crew is competing for the 2005 NASCAR Busch Series owners’ points championship with seven different drivers.

Kyle Busch has driven the No. 5 in six races, including a win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May. Boston Reid also has six starts in the No. 5, while Blake Feese has driven the Lowe’s entry in five events. Jimmie Johnson scored the team’s first pole position of 2005 at Darlington Raceway in May, and qualified eighth the following weekend at Richmond International Raceway. Johnson’s best finish in the No. 5 came at Dover International Speedway in June, where he finished fifth.

Open-wheel star Adrian Fernandez posted a top-10 finish in the Mexico City Busch Series race, and will drive the No. 5 in Busch Series races at California Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway later this season.

Kyle Krisiloff made his Busch Series debut in the No. 5 at The Milwaukee Mile in June, where he finished 42nd. Krisiloff is scheduled to be back behind the wheel of the Lowe’s machine at Michigan International Speedway in two weeks, and at Memphis Motorsports Park in October.

Brian Vickers, who drove the No. 5 car to the 2003 Busch Series drivers’ points championship, is scheduled to drive the No. 5 in next weekend’s road course race at Watkins Glen international.

STATS & FACTS