Sam's Town 250 - Dexter Bean Notes

Dexter Bean, BlackJack Racing Ready To ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Memphis Style

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (Wednesday, October 25, 2006) - - The final standalone event for the NASCAR Busch Series yields a stop in Memphis, Tennessee at the Memphis Motorsports Park, the site of the final short track event of the season for the teams. For Raybestos Rookie Dexter Bean, it’s a time to shine. Shine brightly.

After a successful freshman campaign in the ARCA RE/MAX Series which saw a strong performance for the youngster in the final four races of the season which included a pole, three top-ten finishes, several laps led closed out by a worst finish of 11th. With the ARCA season concluded, he shifts his focus to another dream becoming a reality, making his NASCAR Busch Series debut.

Bean, with guidance from longtime NASCAR competitor Jeff Spraker of Spraker Racing Enterprises head into this weekend’s Sam’s Town 250 confident as ever and ready for any obstacles that may face them.

“This is a dream,” said the always-focused Bean. “Dreams come true if you want them bad enough and I really think it’s going to come true this weekend. We’re focused more than ever and I really think we have something that is going to be competitive and I hope to turn some heads.”

Bean excelled on the short tracks in the developmental series for NASCAR, the ARCA RE/MAX Series. While his finishes may not have reflected his performances on race day, Bean proved to his competitors that he is a fierce yet cautious competitor and hopes to bring that same attitude to Busch.

“I’ve always been a big fan of the short tracks,” continued Bean, who also collected three top-ten finishes in the AutoZone Series this year. I grew up around the small tracks all my life, so it’s my niche. But, I’m also a fan of the bigger tracks. The more I’m behind the wheel of a racecar, the better I get.”

He continued, “With the guidance of Jeff Spraker and my BlackJack Racing team, we should meet all of our goals this weekend. Jeff has done so much for my career and I know that he’ll guide me this weekend to potentially making my NASCAR debut.”

Wegner Motors who supplied BlackJack Racing’s motor program for a majority of the 2006 season in the ARCA RE/MAX Series has inked a deal to supply the team’s horsepower for the 32nd NBS race of the season.

With 50 race teams pre-entered for Saturday’s event, Bean will have to beat seven other competitors not locked into the top-30 NBS car owner standings to earn a berth for the event. “There’s a lot of pressure heading into any racing event. This weekend, the bar has been raised, but I’m ready. Our car looks great and we’ve done everything we can to make the car fast, we’ll just see what happens and hope for the best.”

The BlackJack Racing team invades Memphis without the security of a primary sponsor. With a solid performance this weekend, the team feels they could attract a new partner to latch onto for many years to come. “It’s tough racing without a sponsor, but we’re doing the best we can. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get sponsorship lined up for this weekend’s race at this point, so the car will be bare, but we sure could make a sponsor a good home,” Bean added.

While he has no Busch starts on record, rocking into Memphis, Bean, a native of Westby, Wisconsin has 26 ARCA RE/MAX Series starts to his resume with a career best finish of fourth at Pocono Raceway (July 2006) and Chicagoland Speedway (2006) while holding five additional top ten finishes at Michigan International Speedway (July 2006 and July 2005), Talladega Superspeedway (October 2005 and October 2006) and Iowa Speedway (October 2006). He holds a career best superspeedway time trials effort of fourth at Pocono Raceway (June 2006) while hoisting a pole position in the short track division at Salem Speedway (September 2006).

BlackJack Racing is still actively seeking sponsorship for this weekend’s event. Interested parties are urged to contact the team at Knight849@aol.com or 608-634-4242.

Currently, the team plans to return to the ARCA RE/MAX Series full time in 2007, while adding an additional five to seven NASCAR Busch Series events to their venue.

The Sam’s Town 250 (250 laps/187.5 miles) is the 32nd of 35 events on the 2006 NASCAR Busch Series schedule. Practice begins Friday, October 27, at 2:00pm with a final practice to follow later Friday afternoon at 4:00pm. Busch pole qualifying is set for Saturday morning slated to begin at 10:05am. NBC will air the event live beginning at 2:00PM EST, with MRN handling the airwaves starting at 1:45 PM EST. The race will also be available via XM satellite radio channel 144 launching at 1:30pm EST.