Craig Stanton Two-For-Two With Homestead Win

HOMESTEAD, FLA., March 28, 2004 � Californian Craig Stanton's love-affair with Florida race tracks continued today with an overall win in the Grand-Am Cup 250 here at Homestead-Miami Speedway (HMS). Stanton has now won the two opening rounds of the 2004 Grand-Am Cup season. The Long Beach-resident qualified the No. 44 TheRaceSite.com Racing Porsche 996 on the outside of the front-row for the three-hour/ 250-mile event, and took the Grand Sport (GS) and overall lead on lap 40, one hour and ten minutes into the event. Stanton drove the Porsche to a comfortable lead before handing the driving chores over to his co-driver, Terry Borcheller of Gainesville, Ga. at the one hour, 37 minute mark, lap 56, of the race. Borcheller was able to maintain the lead through the end of the race completing 105 laps at the end of three hours. The Grand-Am Cup 250 victory gives Stanton and Borcheller a perfect start to the Grand-Am Cup season and extends their points' lead. The duo will try to add a third victory to their Daytona International Speedway and HMS titles on April 9 at Phoenix International Raceway. Craig Stanton: about his race: “We're two-for-two but that doesn't mean it will go that way the rest of the year. We are very optimistic for Phoenix but anything can happen. The 91 car lost all of its vital fluids right in front of me up in NASCAR three and four [turns three and four of the oval portion of the track] but we saved it somehow. With all the restarts we thought we would come in early for fuel so I had to fight my way back up to the front without burning up the tires or the brakes so Terry would have a great race car at the end. I was able to do that and TheRaceSite.com crew only changed the rear tires when Terry and I made our driver change. That made a big difference. The restarts were exciting because you'd build-up a comfortable lead and then you'd have to fight your way back up through a lot of really good competition.” about the team's race strategy: “We knew that we wanted a two-stop deal so we wouldn't have had to stop for a splash of fuel at the end. We ended-up stopping for a splash anyway for insurance but I don't think we needed to. I think Terry could have made it.”about the Nonnamaker family-owned No. 44 Porsche: “The Nonnamakers have a great organization. The teamwork starts at the family and they set the tone. All the other crew guys and gals just follow suit. They are passionate racers. They want to win as much as Terry and I do. It's really exciting. The person who gets the drive of the day was Wayne. He had to come back a little and worked his way back up to fourth. If the yellow hadn't come out at the end, I think he would have been up on the podium with us.” Since moving from moto-cross/super-cross to automobiles in 1986, Stanton has positioned himself as one of the premier drivers in sports car racing. A desire to win in all kinds of machines has led to drives in closed and open cockpit sports cars, sedans, NASCAR stock cars, open wheel formula cars and midgets and in off-road competition. He has won three championships and a Driver of the Year award in Sports Renault and is the 1997 Speedvision Cup Rising Star Award winner. Stanton began competing in the top echelon of sports car racing in 1999 and has class wins in both the Grand-Am and ALMS. He takes his fitness training very seriously with the goal of being the fittest race driver in the world and has competed in 27 triathlons in his career. For more on Craig Stanton please visit www.craigstanton.com. For more on TheRaceSite.com Racing team, please visit www.theracesiteracing.com. For more on AASCO Motorsports' Rolex Series effort, please visit www.aascomotorsports.com . ###