South Boston, VA (May 31, 2008): Ken Schrader Racing’s Jamie Hayes and Ricky Carmichael got off to a strong start at South Boston Speedway in Saturday night’s NASCAR Camping World Series East race, but accidents marred their finishes and both drivers walked away frustrated with the untapped potential. Carmichael set fast time and earned his first career Coors Light Pole Award, but got caught up in a 16-car pileup twenty-five laps before the races scheduled conclusion. Hayes had to go to a backup car after getting collected in a three-car incident in practice.

“It is what it is, but I wish we could have brought home a better finish for these guys. They work so hard,” said Carmichael, driver of the #4 Monster Energy Drink Chevrolet. “I’ve been racing for a long time though and I know how to rebound.”

Carmichael’s qualifying lap of 16.043 seconds around the tight ˝-mile oval was the fastest of the day, and the excitement on the part of the team was evident.

“I can’t believe it,” Carmichael said. “It proves how well this team works together. We had a good lap and it felt good. The competitiveness in this series runs deep so to come here and win a pole in such a short time is a testament to these guys on this crew.”

Brian Ickler took the lead away from Carmichael at the drop of the green, but the former motocross racer remained a mainstay in the top-10 throughout most of the event. Following a restart at lap 127, Carmichael got mixed up in a pile-up in turn three that was the result of a three-wide battle in front of him. Carmichael went several laps down in the pits before finishing the race in the 26th position.

“We might have had a top-10 or 15, but we were tight. I think that’s why we qualified so good because I think I had so much forward bite and everybody else was set up loose,” he said. “We learned how to qualify and now we have to work on our race program. We just have to keep working and keep moving forward.”

Carmichael ended the day with a 26th place finish.

Hayes was fifth fastest in practice before he got caught up in an accident on the frontstretch. The damage to his #52 JL Hendrick Chevrolet was extensive and the team was forced to go to a backup car.

“A car spun in turn four and I just had nowhere to go,” explained Hayes. “We had such a good car. This is part of racing though and you have to take the bad with the good.”

The team was able to make it back out for the second practice session and Hayes was able to lay down a lap that put him 11th on the speed charts. He backed it up with the 13th fastest qualifying lap.

Once the green dropped on the 150-lap event, however, the car tightened up.

“It was just a bad day. Once we fell back we just came in and tried to adjust on it, but it didn’t help. That was our backup car and it wasn’t as good as our primary one,” he said.

Hayes, too, got caught up in some of the carnage that brought out 15 caution periods for a total of 77 laps, but the Norlina, NC-native was able to stay on the lead lap and finish the race with a 16th place finish.

Hayes and Carmichael will return to action at Watkins Glen International road course on Sunday, June 8th. For more information on Ken Schrader Racing, Ricky Carmichael, or Jamie Hayes, visit www.schraderracing.com