East Drives Kleenex® Ford to 21st in A T & T 250

Rookie battles radio issues, cautions in Milwaukee debut

West Allis, WI (June 23, 2007) … Bobby East has driven a lot of laps on the famous Milwaukee Mile. However, except for one start in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in 2006, all of his experience has been in a USAC Sprint or Silver Crown car. Therefore, his debut for Brewco Motorsports in the Busch Series at the one-mile track figured to be a stern challenge. But, it was two unexpected challenges that posed the most problems for East in route to a 21stplace finish on Saturday night.

The NASCAR Busch Series event at the famed Milwaukee track is basically a “one-day” show with practice, qualifying, and the 250-lap race all packed into the same day. Practice began at 9 a.m. CT, followed by rookie practice and “Happy Hour” for the Busch teams. That 2.5 hours of practice gave East an opportunity to log lots of laps and get accustomed to the heavier Busch cars on this track. In fact, the Ford Development driver was the fastest of 18 drivers who practiced during the special thirty-minute rookie session.

East was the 16th driver to make his qualifying attempt Saturday afternoon and responded with a fast lap of 30.018 seconds / 119.928 mph to earn the 17th starting position for the #37 Kleenex® / Pick N Save Ford Fusion.

With an unusual number of rookie joining the normal Nextel Cup and Busch competitors in the AT & T 250, the race figured to be one of survival. Little did anyone know just how true that would be. East wanted to run a competitive race, but not abuse his equipment and gain all the experience he could in the Busch car. Therefore, at the start of the 250-lap test, East dropped back in the running order. It was during these early laps that the first major issue for East developed. Radio communication between spotter Shawn Parker, Crew Chief Stewart Cooper, and East experienced a problem. Apparently, Parker’s radio had an issue and his communication with East often cut in and out. Parker changed radios and the transmission was clearer, but still not the best.  Obviously, not being able to hear your spotter clearly at Milwaukee can be a major problem for anyone, certainly for a rookie driving his first Busch event at the track.

When caution waved on lap 29, East told Crew Chief Stewart Cooper that his Kleenex® / Pick N Save Ford was “a little tight and I can’t run on the bottom lane of the track”. East made his first pit stop of the race on lap 31 for tires, fuel, track bar and air pressure adjustments. He would restart 24th, and within ten laps told Cooper that the adjustments made his Ford Fusion “much better”.

When The #77 car of Ron Hornaday spun in turn one on lap 56, East had to make a quick, evasive move to the inside of the track to avoid the accident. It was the first of three times during the race that East was directly behind either spinning cars or an accident and had to make a split-second move to avoid being involved.

At the halfway point of the race, East was running 22nd, one lap down to the leaders. He reported to Cooper that his Kleenex Ford Fusion became “a little tight in the center of the corner and loose off”. Cooper and the Kleenex® crew continued to make adjustments for East during each caution period, and their Ford Fusion would post some very consistent lap speeds during the middle portion of the race. East would move into the top twenty by lap 150, and had hopes of gaining more positions. However, the handling issues would resurface and East would drop back several positions. The Busch Series rookie would run between 19th and 23rd in the latter stages of the race. Restarting 23rd on lap 235, East charged past two other lapped competitors in the final fifteen laps to earn his 21st-place finish in the AT & T 250.

“This was really a tough race for me,” East stated after the event. “The radio issue was certainly a problem, but I never really got comfortable in the race. Stewart (Cooper) and the Kleenex crew really worked hard and kept making adjustments to my car. It (car) would get much better for a while, but then got a little snug and lost forward bite. I was fortunate to miss a couple accidents that occurred right in front of me. I certainly wanted to have a good race for all the Kimberly-Clark folks in attendance.”

The next race on the NASCAR Busch Series 2007 schedule will be the Camping World 200 Presented by RVs.com at the New Hampshire International Speedway on Saturday, June 30th. Practice will begin on Friday, June 29th, with qualifying set for 10:05 a.m. ET next Saturday. The 200-lap race is set for a 3:00 p.m. ET start with ESPN2 providing live coverage. MRN will handle the radio broadcast of the 211.6-mile event. Ward Burton will be back driving for Brewco next week in the #27 Kleenex® Ford Fusion.

# # #