April 3, 2007
Josh Butler Looks Forward to Continued Successes in 2007 Race Season


MATTHEWS, N.C. - Josh Butler had a great season in 2006 and has already started improving on last year's results, with sights set on the Allison Legacy Series championship for 2007.

"I think we started pretty good," the Matthews teen said about last year: "In the first race, we were running pretty good but we crashed. Compare that to the end of the season last year - we got head and shoulders better." He credits a change in setup at mid-season with the improvements. "We started out with one setup and about halfway through the year we switched setups, he explained. "I think that sparked a turnaround in our season that really changed us for the better."

The new season started for Butler with a fifth-place finish at Orange County Speedway's season-opener for the Allison Legacy cars. "I think that the confidence we started building up through the last races in the season really helped and has carried over to the beginning of this season. The first race, we finished fifth and I think it's just going to get better from there," he said confidently.

"I think we accomplished our goal," for improvements from last year. "We qualified better. We started sixth, and we finished fifth, which was, overall, our goal.

"We wanted to have a top five finish. I think that just set us up to have a good season," he added. "The way we started shows that we're going to be in contention for the season and we're just looking forward to how the rest of the season goes."

The next race for Matthews' young race driver is this weekend at Hickory Motor Speedway, where he ran twice last year, with a top-ten and a DNF (did not finish) in the two races. "Our first race we started eighth and we finished ninth," he recalled. "We were battling for eighth. I was battling Brandon McReynolds and another car was coming up on us pretty quick because we were side-by-side so I just decided to drop back in hopes that I could get him again. They called the race early because the race was running too long and they were crashing too many cars."

After qualifying fourth in the second race, his clutch began to fail and he pulled in, rather than risk damage to the race car.

"We are really looking forward to this weekend, says the young racer. "We think that we have a great chance of winning, based on how good I was there last season. I really think we have a great chance to do something there."

Butler credits his family and crew chief with his success, saying that his crew chief, Blake Harris, "did a great job all last year. We've moved the car over to his house and he looks over it. He tinkers with it all week when he's not working and he just has such a good feel for how to set up the car. All the things that he brings to our team just can't be replaced."

Butler's father, Chris, gets credit as the team spotter and money- raiser. "My dad has just done a great job as well. He is a great spotter. If someone's at my door, he makes sure I don't crash it. He has a great balance of aggression. It works out really good for us when he spots for us," Butler concluded.

Watch for big results as Butler continues to contest the Allison Legacy Series championship for 2007.

Butler is being helped in his career by grooming from the Future Stars in Racing Academy; learning how to conduct sponsor presentations, media interviews, how to conduct himself on and off the track and even how to conduct interviews as the interviewer rather than the interviewee.

Future Stars in Racing is the exclusive driver development partner with the ASA Late Model Series and provides members with practical experiences in dealing with sponsors, the public, media, other drivers and promoters. Founded by Rolfe Schnur, the Academy features a stellar board of advisors with decades of experience in all aspects of motorsports.