Chase Austin Continues Solid Development in ASA

INDIANAPOLIS (July 28, 2005) – Hendrick Motorsports developmental driver Chase Austin is showing consistent growth as a rookie in the ASA Late Model Series. In his most recent event this past Saturday at Illiana Speedway, the 15-year-old rookie qualified seventh and matched a career-best eighth-place finish driving the No. 111 ditech.com Chevrolet Monte Carlo. The highly competitive ASA Late Model Series regularly receives more than 40 entries and only qualifies the top 20. Austin has made the field in all five races he’s started --including two top-10 performances in the last three races. “I’m learning something new each time I get on the track and we are starting to move up in the field,” Austin said. The next event will be the ASI Limited 100 held on July 30. The title sponsor is the parent company of SS Racing, which fields Austin in the ASA Late Model Series as part of the team’s alliance with the Hendrick Motorsports driver development program. There are 10 more events left in the 2005 ASA Late Model season and Austin hopes can win at least one of them. “It’s my goal to make each new race better than the last one, but I really want to win one for my team,” said Austin, referring to his SS Racing crew led by crew chief Deon Deneau. “They work so hard to give me great race cars and they deserve to stand in victory lane.”