This weekend’s race on June 5th marks the second race of the season for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, though the first ever visit for the series to Circuit ICAR in Mirabel, Quebec.
While the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series drivers only visit two or three road courses a year, the Canadian Tire Series competes on a number of different road courses across Canada. The 2.113 mile course marks the sixth different road course, joining Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Circuit de Trois-Rivieres, Edmonton City Centre Airport, Mosport International Raceway and Toronto’s Exhibition Place.
The series has competed on road courses for a total of 17 times, with only four drivers accounting for wins – Andrew Ranger (9), J.R. Fitzpatrick (5), Kerry Micks (2) and Alex Tagliani (1). With all four entered into this weekend’s race, it’s no question that it’s going to be a fight down to the checkered.
Ranger is the driver that most fans focus on when it comes to choosing a winner as he has nine road course wins, including three last year at Montreal, Toronto and Trois-Rivieres. He knows how to compete well in the series as he is a two-time series champion and has won eight of the last 10 Canadian Tire Series road course races that he has ran. Ranger has experience beyond the Canadian Tire Series as he won a K&N Pro Series West race on a road course and won the ARCA New Jersey Motorsports Park road course race earlier this month.
Meanwhile, a lot of people believe that Fitzpatrick is a stronger oval driver, however some would argue that his stats showcase him as a better road course driver. He has six wins in the series to date, in which five of those have come on road courses – Mosport, Edmonton and Montreal. He is also very consistent as he has finished in the top five nine times in his 16 Canadian Tire Series road course starts, with four of those starts coming from the pole position. He also has experience beyond the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series level as he scored two top 10s last year for JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series on road courses.
Though one of the most talked about drivers coming into this weekend is Alex Tagliani after he qualified on pole for the Indianapolis 500 last month. The Quebec born driver has had a good season to start as he currently sits ninth in IZOD IndyCar Series Championship points and look to continue that success this weekend. He has made eight Canadian Tire Series road course starts, with one lonely win coming at Edmonton City Centre Airport in 2008.
The last past road course winner to watch is Kerry Micks, who is a driver with probably the most experience. He is one of seven drivers who has competed in all 52 series races to date and has two wins, eight top-fives and 12 top-10s in 17 starts on the road courses. He also was one of the most consistent drivers last year on the road courses as he finished inside the top five in four of the five events and has top 10s in six of his last eight starts dating back to last year.
Beyond those who have tasted champagne at a road course before, eyes will also be on Scott Steckly, who won the race at Mosport last weekend and currently leads the point standings, 15 points over Pete Shepherd III. Like Micks, Steckly has ran all 52 races in series history and in 17 road-course starts, he has nine top-fives and 11 top-10 finishes.
While the race is set to be run on Sunday, practice and qualifying will be run on Saturday. The race will be shown on TSN on June 12th at 11 a.m. ET while live updates will be available through http://hometracks.nascar.com.
