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Like NASCAR dropping its regional touring series.
Schendel, who won the now-defunct NASCAR Midwest Touring Series championship last year, was basically a top-flight regional driver without anywhere to race. Sure he could run the ASA Midwest Series, or hit the Super Late Model circuit at tracks around Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois, but he’s been there, done that.
So the Sparta, Wis., man has decided to hit the road this summer and compete in the NASCAR Busch East Series, which mainly runs on the East Coast. The 13-race schedule involves a lot of travel, but the price will be worth it. Or so the tireless Schendel believes.
“This Busch East Series, it gets national exposure. That’s a good thing for me and my sponsors,” said Schendel, whose main sponsors — Mathews Solo-Cam and Texspar Energy — have been with him for a number of years. “Every year you keep trying to put your face where it needs to be and have the right eyes look at you. Teams are always scouting and looking for other people.”
Schendel was in Phoenix last week for the NASCAR Busch West Series race, mainly as a way to shake down his new Busch car for the first time this season. He was running a strong race until a faulty gas can cost him some fuel — and valuable track position — during a pit stop. Once back on the track, he was running as high as seventh place before an electrical problem forced him out late in the race.
“There was a lot of potential there,” Schendel said. “I believe we would have been a third- to sixth-place car. We just didn’t see the end result.”
Schendel is banking his career — at least at this point — on seeing some results in the Busch East Series. The Busch East Series is just that, a series in which Busch Grand National cars are used, and the tracks are on the East Coast. What makes the series so enticing for Schendel is that a number of the Nextel Cup and Busch Series owners have developmental teams in the Busch East Series. Beat them, and heads — the right heads — could turn.
“We’re going to run for rookie of the year and run for the championship,” Schendel said. “We bought two Busch cars over the winter. It has been pretty hectic trying to get ready. We have one full-time guy and me and a bunch of volunteers, and were working right up until the time we left (for Phoenix).”
The Busch East Series opener is Saturday in Greenville, S.C., and Schendel said he will be racing the same car that he raced in Phoenix. Competing in the series will be a challenge, but one Schendel is ready for.
“(In Phoenix) we were running with the development teams of (Joe) Gibbs and (Richard) Childress. If you can keep doing that, and they see you in your own stuff doing that, that could possibly turn a head,” Schendel said. “Maybe they would see you and have you in their car. It would be a lot easier to drive for someone else. That’s been a goal of mine for a long time. I will keep trying to make a name for myself until that happens. All the time it seems to be getting closer and closer.”
Jeff Brown can be reached at (608) 791-8403, or e-mail at jbrown@lacrossetribune.com
