Cayuga round one preview

CAYUGA SPEEDWAY PARK NEWS AND NOTES

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (May 24, 2007) -- The much anticipated inaugural race of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series is scheduled for Saturday, May 26 at Cayuga Speedway Park with upwards of 30 cars expected to be on hand for a chance to win this historic race.

THE TRACK: The 5/8-mile oval of Cayuga, near Hagersville, Ontario, has the honor of hosting the first NASCAR Canadian Tire Series event. It is not, however, the first time that track has attracted top NASCAR talent. In its over 40 years, the likes of Bobby and Davey Allison, Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Rusty Wallace and Darrell Waltrip among others have competed there in various events.

NASCAR IN CANADA HISTORY 101: While the Dodge Dealers 200 is the first race for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, it is not the first NASCAR-sanctioned event in Canada. In fact, NASCAR's premier series, known today as the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, has held two events in Canada. The first was July 1, 1952 in Stamford Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario which was won by Buddy Shuman in a Hudson Hornet. The second was held at Canadian National Exposition Speedway in Toronto. Lee Petty won the event. Also in this race, a young man by the name of Richard Petty made his debut in NASCAR's premier series.

NASCAR HISTORY IN CANADA FOR $200, ALEX: Over the years, several Canadians have participated in NASCAR events. Earl Ross won the 1974 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Rookie of the Year. Roy Smith won four NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series championships. Montreal's Dick Foley competed in the first Daytona 500. Pete Harding won the 1999 title in the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Northwest Series.

WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD: Many of the entrants in the Dodge Dealers 200 are former CASCAR Super Series competitors and have raced numerous times at Cayuga Speedway Park, but this time it will be a little different. Perhaps the biggest change to the cars this year is the move to a wider Goodyear tire. Several teams tested the new tires at Cayuga two week ago and learned their race set-ups would not be as different as originally believed. "We came in here with some assumptions on how to prepare the car, but we pretty much ended up with the set-up that we ran here before," said veteran driver Dave Whitlock (No. 39 Dickies Ford).

Ticket information for the Dodge Dealers 200 can be obtained by calling Cayuga Speedway Park at (866) 670-1958 or by logging onto www.cayugaspeedwaypark.com.

-credit: cascar