For some drivers, its about going for the wins while for others, its accomplishing those smaller goals. For Jarrad Whissell, he accomplished the lather of the two as he scored a best career finish of twelfth at Mosport International Raceway near Bowmanville, Ontario this past weekend.
“With all the little issues we had this week twelfth would seem like a pretty good finish, but when you’re running tenth and fighting for another spot or two it’s a bit frustrating too,” he explained.
The Calgary, Alberta native struggled in practice with his No. 44 SMS Equipment/Komatsu Ford with mechanical issues as the team worked on diagnosing an engine miss.
“One of the fuel lines to the carburetor wasn’t hooked up properly,” Whissell explained. “We expected to be better in qualifying but never got the opportunity to try things out.”
Qualifying wouldn’t be an issue as it was rained out with the field lined up according to NASCAR rule book, which set Whissell in the 23rd starting position. Whissell knew he had to begin his march early, though ran into more mechanical issues.
“The car had a pretty bad vibration right from the start of the race,” he said. “We made a couple of pit stops and the team figured out it was a wheel bearing. Unfortunately we lost a lap while they made repairs.”
The problems would continue throughout the race as, “The car was a handful to drive throughout the race. The power steering would come and go as the wheel was turned and post race we found a loose tie rod end.”
Though Whissell would continue to work his way through and a caution came out, which allowed Whissell to get back on the lead lap, with another quick caution bunching the field up so he could try to gain more positions. Whissell kept working his way up through the field, though a battle with Howie Scannell, Jr. slowed his progress.
“I got a run on him and was looking to make the pass up the inside but he kind of pushed me onto the grass,” he explained after the race. “Instead spinning him out I gave way. When I tried again on the final lap he came across the nose of my car and to avoid him I spun and couple of cars got by me so we wound up finishing twelfth.”
Jarrad Whissell will be ready to tackle the next Canadian Tire Series race next weekend on July 9th at Exhibition Place in Toronto.
For more information on Whissell, check out www.jarradwhissell.com and follow him on twitter, @jarredwhissell. All of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series races will once again be shown on TSN.
