Meijer 300 - Blake Feese Notes

BLAKE FEESE
NO. 5 LOWE’S / HITACHI POWER TOOLS CHEVROLET
KENTUCKY PREVIEW

TEAM NO. 5’s HISTORY AT KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY: In three Busch Series races at Kentucky Speedway, the No. 5 team has never finished outside the top-10. One year ago, Kyle Busch qualified his No. 5 Lowe’s Chevrolet in the second position for this event, but crashed his primary car near the end of final practice on Friday evening. Driving a backup car, Busch started from the rear of the field and took the lead with two laps remaining to claim his third win of the 2004 Busch Series season.

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

Signed to Hendrick Motorsports’ driver development program 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 in March, and posted a 28th-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway and a 37th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in April.

Feese made his NASCAR Busch Series debut at Kentucky Speedway one year ago. Driving the No. 87 Chevy for NEMCO Motorsports, Feese crashed on lap 10 of the 200-lap event and finished 41st.

MULTI-DRIVER TEAM: The No. 5 Team Lowe’s Racing crew is competing for the 2005 NASCAR Busch Series owners’ points championship with a number of different drivers sharing seat time. Boston Reid and Kyle Busch have each made four starts in the No. 5 Chevy, with Busch winning at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May.

Jimmie Johnson scored the No. 5 team’s first pole position of 2005 at Darlington Raceway in May, and also drove the No. 5 at Richmond International Raceway and Dover International Speedway. Blake Feese has made three starts in the No. 5, and open-wheel star Adrian Fernandez posted a top-10 finish in the Mexico City Busch Series race.

Q&A WITH DRIVER BLAKE FEESE:

You’ve gotten more stock car experience at Kentucky Speedway than probably any other track on the circuit. What do you think of your chances this weekend? “I’m very confident. I’ve gotten the chance to test here a couple of times between the ARCA race and the Busch race we ran here last year, and we got a top-10 in the ARCA race last year, so it’s a track I feel very comfortable on. The team won this race a year ago, and someone told me the No. 5 team has never finished outside the top-10 at Kentucky, so that puts a little extra pressure on me to do well, but I like pressure.”

Father’s Day is coming up on Sunday. You and your dad (Dave Feese) are close, aren’t you? “Yeah, we really are. My dad used to race, so it’s a case of ‘Like father, like son.’ He’s the reason I’m in racing to begin with. My mom and dad have always supported me in my racing career, and my dad was always good about letting me know about the mistakes he made on the track so I could avoid making the same mistakes myself. He pretty much taught me everything I know, and I owe him a lot.

“My parents come to every race, so it’ll be good to have both of them in Kentucky. My dad does a good job of keeping me on an even keel when he’s at the track and he knows racing, so he’s a good sounding board for me. Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees, so he’s great at giving me a different viewpoint on things.”

So, what are you getting your dad for Father’s Day? “I’m a bad son when it comes to that stuff. I didn’t even know Father’s Day was this weekend until someone reminded me. I’m a big believer in letting a person get what they really want, so I’m seriously just going to get him a Lowe’s Gift Card and let him pick out what he wants. Someone may say that sounds like the easy way out, and they’d be right, but at least he’ll get something he really likes.”

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 and at Dover International Speedway last June, and placed third with it in the August night race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Most recently, Jimmie Johnson drove this chassis to a 25th-place finish at Richmond International Raceway in May.

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