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[/media-credit]Following a dramatic conclusion to the 300 lapper at Barrie Speedway, it’d be Pete Shepherd making his way to victory lane after slipping past both J.R. Fitzpatrick and Steve Mathews in the closing laps. It marks the third career NASCAR Canadian Tire Series victory for the Brampton, Ontario part-timer after winning at Kawartha Speedway in 2010 and Saskatoon last year.
“Having three years in a row where we’ve gotten wins, it’s really special to us,” Shepherd says. “The National Exhaust Dodge is always fast.”
It was a battle for Shepherd as he had fallen two laps down following problems on pit road when the jack broke.
“We always know that we’re able to win these races, and the car was strong,” Shepherd comments. “We always had good line-ups on restarts and made the most of every lap and ended up in victory lane today.”
When the jack broke, there was a moment that could’ve changed the outcome as NASCAR was ready to penalize Shepherd for too many people over the wall. However, they overturned the call when they noticed someone from another team jumped over to attempt to help without being asked or noticing the people count.
“We didn’t ask anybody for help – I saw the guy that actually came over to help,” Shepherd explains. “He put his hands inside the car and tried to lift it, nothing happened. They made a great call. It just shows the level of professionalism they have just by rethinking what happened and understanding what happened. They were very fair on that decision and I have to applaud them on that.”
As the race neared its conclusion, it looked as if Scott Steckly would pick up the victory as he had almost a straightaway lead on Mark Dilley while Shepherd ran just outside the top five. However, a caution with 22 laps to go for Ron Beauchamp Jr. having a flat tire would change everything.
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[/media-credit]The finish was setting up to feature defending series champion Steckly and last year’s race winner Dilley dueling for the win. However, Dilley would have a driveline failure under caution and would be out for the rest of the race. In turn, it’d be pole sitter Steve Mathews starting on the outside of Steckly for the restart.
After cleaning up the debris from Beauchamp Jr.’s flat tire and pushing Dilley off of the track, the restart would come at lap 293 with seven laps to go.
Steckly and Mathews would run side-by-side for a whole lap, before Mathews would send Steckly for a spin in turn four. Dave Connolly would make contact with Steckly after the fact, causing heavy front end damage to Steckly’s dodge. As a result, Mathews would take control of the lead while Steckly would restart at the back of the field for the green-white-checkered.
On the green-white-checkered restart, it’d be Mathews side-by-side with Fitzpatrick for the lead. Coming out of turn four, contact beween Fitzpatrick and Mathews would send Mathews up the track, causing contact with the outside wall. Meanwhile, Shepherd would make the move three-wide, slipping past both of them for the lead.
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[/media-credit]Shepherd would take control of the final lap and take the victory while Mathews spun Fitzpatrick in turn four. Andrew Ranger and Noel Dowler would both get by Mathews and Fitzpatrick to finish second and third. The second place finish for Ranger allowed him to gain points on points leader Kennington, who finished 21st.
“Actually, it’s always interesting to come here to Barrie,” Ranger says. “Those races are really exciting. Probably not the fastest car on the track, but the 27 team proved they could be fast and finished second. I was trying to save my stuff to the end and when the caution came out, I was very excited, thinking I had a start there. I saw the 15 and 84 sideways on the back there so I put my nose on the inside. J.R. came close to me and I should’ve lifted, but Barrie is so close. It was such a close finish.”
The third place finish for Dowler marks his best career Canadian Tire Series finish.
“We started off with a very fast car at the start of the day,” Dowler says. “Got spun around, came back from that. Got a lap down, came back from that.”
Mathews would get credited with fourth while Dexter Stacey rounded out the top five.
Fitzpatrick would get sixth, followed by Beauchamp Jr., Jason Hathaway, Steckly and Larry Jackson.
Points leader D.J. Kennington would finish 21st in the race after spending numerous laps on pit road after stalling on the track on lap 153. As a result, Kennington only leads by 14 points over Ranger and 18 over Fitzpatrick with two races remaining.
