Dirt Track Racing Next for Casola After Good Run at Nashville Superspeedway

LEBANON TN (8-14-07)--"It was not as good of a finish as we were hoping but it was a strong effort," said Dominick Casola after finishing the Toyota ARCA 150 at Nashville Superspeedway this past Saturday.

"We were one of the top ARCA regulars in the finishing order but the teams supported by NASCAR Nextel Cup teams seemed to get the top spots."

Casola and the A.Casola Farms Ford Fusion, prepared and fielded by Andy Belmont Motorsports, came home 17th at Nashville, two laps down on the winner Jeremy Clements. He had started in 23rd position.

Casola is now 17th in the ARCA RE/MAX Series point standings as the team heads to Springfield, Illinois for the Allen Crowe 100 run on a one-mile-dirt track at the Springfield Fairgrounds.

Everything happens in one day at Springfield with practice, qualifying and the 100-mile race taking place on Sunday, August 19th.

Casola felt going into Nashville that he could come away with a strong showing. He had run well at the same track in April  but had a disappointing finish when he got caught up in someone else‘s mistake. With his recent career best eighth place finish in the Pennsylvania 200 at Pocono Raceway he was optimistic about Nashville.

"The car just was not quite right. We battled a tight condition in the car all day," the rookie racer said. "Racing on the hot concrete surface was new to me and the car, most cars, just kept sliding around. We did manage to bring the car home without a scratch on it, some others were not that fortunate.

"Overall we are pretty happy but it could have been a little bit better. We had a top ten car."

Casola does not know what to expect at Springfield. He has raced on dirt just twice in his career and both times that was with a truck at Bridgeport, NJ Speedway. "It was different to say the least," was Dominick's comment.

He will have some great support from car owner Andy Belmont who has raced on the dirt many, many times and will be tutoring the young Holmdel, NJ racer on the ins and outs of dirt track racing.

"It will either be fun for me or it will be funny for those watching," said Casola. "We will give it our best shot. Andy is giving me some great equipment and with his tutoring we can make this work and could very well surprise some people with a strong finish.

"A lot of the NASCAR Nextel Cup supported teams will not show up at Springfield so this should be a truly ARCA regulars show except I do understand that Ken Schrader is entered and he won it last year."

On Sunday, August 26th, the A.Casola Farms team heads to the Governors Cup 200 at the Milwaukee, Wisconsin Mile.