Steve Casebolt Wins 2006 Rookie of the Year Title

RICHMOND, IN (November 15 2006) - Steve Casebolt won the 2006 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Rookie of the Year title and will received the $10,000 cash award at the series banquet at the Marriott in Indianapolis IN on November 18th. Even though Steve did not record a win on the series in 2006, his consistency and strong finishes enabled him to not only win the Rookie of the Year title but he also finished 6th in the series final points standings and will receive cash awards for his finish in the final points standings as well.

Steve finished the 2006 racing season this past weekend at the MACS sanctioned event the Big Kahuna VI in Cumberland MD. Steve driving the Dale Beitler owned Rocket Chassis would qualify 8th fastest out of 52 cars on Friday nights portion of the Big Kahuna VI. Steve would start 4th in the 44-lap $5,000 to win feature event and was among the lead pack throughout the entire race. Steve would finish a strong second place behind Steve Shaver at the checkers and was a contender for the win. In Saturdays event at the Big Kahuna, Steve would qualify 5th fastest out of 38 cars entered in the second nights event at the Cumberland MD race track. Steve would start 8th in the feature but faded back through the field and eventually pulled off saving the equipment and finishing 24th in the final run down.

“We had a good run Friday finishing second to Shaver. My car was really fast but Steve was just a little better and we couldn’t quite get around him for the win. Saturday we just missed a little on the setup and I decided to pull in instead of chancing getting into a wreck. 2006 was pretty good for me and getting teamed up with Dale Beitler late in the year was a huge deal for me. We will be making some announcements soon about our plans for 2007”, stated Steve. “It was our goal to win the Rookie of the Year on the Lucas Oil Series and we accomplished that. Winning that deal means a lot for my career and hopefully we can back it up with several wins in 2007. I want to congratulate Earl Pearson Jr. and the entire Dunn-Benson Ford Motorsports team on winning the championship. They are all a class act and Earl is tough to beat every time he shows up at an event”, Steve went on to say.

For more information about the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series visit their official website at www.lucasdirt.com. For more information about Steve Casebolt and the Dale Beitler Racing Team visit the newly redesigned website at www.stevecasebolt.com.