Caisse and Lia showing extra drive

LOUDON, N.H. - While their colleagues are at New Hampshire International Speedway to compete in the support races for tomorrow's Sylvania 300 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series event, Busch East Series driver Sean Caisse, of Pelham, N.H., and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour points leader Donny Lia, of Jericho, N.Y., are here to pull double duty.

Caisse, 21, and Lia, 28, will attempt to qualify for their NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debuts in today's New Hampshire 200.

"I'm really excited," said Caisse, who will have spotter help from his Busch East car owner, Andy Santerre. "It's really cool to be able to do a doubleheader weekend, and to pick a track like Loudon and be in front of my friends and family is really cool for us. I'm excited and we'll see what happens."

Caisse said his first practice yesterday "went pretty good," after he ended up 16th fastest (126.496 miles per hour) in a session led by series regulars Terry Cook (128.710), Ron Hornaday Jr. (127.992), the Truck Series points leader, and Brendan Gaughan (127.765). Caisse came back in the "Happy Hour" session and was ninth fastest (128.057).

"We're running pretty close to a similar setup in the truck as we do in the [Busch East] car," Caisse said. "The only difference is, running with that front splitter, it's just a little bit different on the front entry. If that splitter hits a little bit, it sends it up the racetrack. We'll get it better, but the main focus is to come into this race and put on a good show for Germain [Racing]. They've given me a really big opportunity. I'm not trying to prove anything to anybody; I just want to get comfortable in the truck."

That was a struggle Lia waged in making the transition from the open-wheeled Modified cars to the Truck Series.

"It reacts and feels different than a Modified in every way, shape, and form," said Lia, who was 32d fastest (125.265 m.p.h.) out of 37 drivers in the morning practice session. "It's definitely a big learning curve for me. We're just trying to creep up on it, little by little. Hopefully, we'll be somewhere close at the end."

Like Caisse, Lia improved in Happy Hour when he went about 2 miles per hour faster (127.705) to finish practice among the top 15.

"It's a great opportunity for me; the best opportunity I'm going to get," Lia said. "It's something that doesn't come along often and you've got to make the most of it."

What's in a number?

While fans of Dale Earnhardt Jr. are disappointed he will no longer be driving the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet next season, Kyle Busch said he had no feelings about parting ways with the No. 5 Chevrolet he drove in four seasons with Hendrick Motorsports. Busch, who will drive the No. 18 Toyota Camry next season for Joe Gibbs Racing, said he didn't expect it would be strange to see his number campaigned by another driver, after Hendrick announced recently Casey Mears would be moving from the 25 to the 5. "It doesn't bother me," Busch said. "It was probably weird for Terry [ Labonte] to be sitting at home and watching his racecar going around the track and him not being in it after being in [the 5] for so many years. Bobby Labonte had the same thing; he pretty much made the 18 and he's moved on. There's been some guys who've made some changes the last few years and have gone on to bigger and better things elsewhere." . . . Busch said he did not have second thoughts about joining Joe Gibbs Racing when he learned the team was thinking about leaving Chevrolet to join ranks with Toyota. At the time Gibbs was courting him, Busch said, "There was some talk about it, but not much. I knew that whatever they were going to do that it was going to be the right move for their company. I didn't think a switch was going to hinder their performance." . . . Contrary to the popular belief they'll be fighting like cats and dogs when they become teammates next season, Busch, Tony Stewart, and Denny Hamlin put their best foot forward during Thursday's media blitz. "We all got a pretty good relationship built up," Busch said. "We're pretty good friends and stuff like that. Denny, I bum rides from him all the time; I'm his right hip, you know? If I lived in his neighborhood, I'd be driving with him [to work], too."

Franchitti isn't saying

With rumors swirling that he intended to leave Andretti Green Racing to fill the vacancy in the No. 40 of Chip Ganassi's NASCAR Nextel Cup team, Dario Franchitti was mum about the future when pressed by ABC's Jack Arute on if Franchitti planned to return next season to defend not only his 2007 Indianapolis 500 title but also his IndyCar Series title, which he won last Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway after race leader Scott Dixon ran out gas in the final corner. Asked if he'd welcome the influx of more open-wheel racers to NASCAR, Stewart, a former Indy Racing League champion, said: "I'm not the gatekeeper; I'm not the official spokesman for these [open-wheel] guys, I'm not the official ambassador. It's a free world; get a ride, get an opportunity. It's the No. 1 series in North America." . . . The World Motor Sports Council issued McLaren a record $100 million fine and expulsion from this year's Formula One constructors' championship after the International Automobile Federation (FIA) implicated McLaren world champion driver Fernando Alonso and test driver Pedro de la Rosa with exchanging confidential information via e-mail on Ferrari's cars, setups, and even race strategy. The WMSC said it had documents showing the exchange between the drivers and McLaren's then-chief designer, Michael Coughlan, who was caught at his home in July with a 780-page tecnhical dossier on Ferrari cars that was supplied by a fired Ferrari mechanic, Nigel Stepney. Lewis Hamilton, Alonso's rookie teammate and main competitor in the world championship, was not implicated.

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com; material from the Associated Press was used in this report.