ATLANTA, GA (March 19) – Making his first start of the 2005 NASCAR Busch Series season behind the wheel of the No. 5 Lowe’s / Hitachi Power Tools Chevrolet, driver Blake Feese scored a 23rd-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday.

After qualifying eighth earlier in the day, Feese and his Hendrick Motorsports crew fought a tight handling condition on the No. 5 Team Lowe’s Racing entry throughout the 312-mile Busch Series race.

Feese came to pit road on five different occasions throughout the race to allow his team to make chassis and tire pressure adjustments in an effort to remedy the handling issues.

“For some reason or another we just couldn’t get any front grip in the car,” Feese said. “We’d be good for a few laps and we’d start pushing. I give (crew chief) Jim Long and the guys credit for staying after it and making a lot of changes for me, but I just never felt completely comfortable all day.”

There were a number of positives the young driver took away from the day.

“I stayed on the lead lap, raced every lap and brought the car home with all four fenders on it,” Feese said. “In that respect, it was a good day. I’m just a rookie driver trying to learn more about racing stock cars, so to stay out of trouble and finish the race is a good thing. The more seat time I get, the better off I’m going to be.

“I’m just a little frustrated that I wasn’t able to get a better finish for the Lowe’s employees and the Hitachi Power Tools employees who were with us at the race today, but we’ll see what we can do at Bristol.”

Feese’s next start in the No. 5 is scheduled to come in the April 2 Busch Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Feese and the crew will test at the track known as “Thunder Valley” on Tuesday, March 22.

The No. 5 team then heads to Nashville, Tenn. site of the sixth race on the 35-race Busch Series schedule. Boston Reid is scheduled to drive the No. 5 Lowe’s / Spectracide Chevrolet in the Pepsi 300, which will air live from Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday, March 26, at 3:30 p.m. EST on the FX Network and MRN Radio affiliates.