After winning the championship last season, this year hasn’t gone according to plan as struggles have been found for Scott Steckly at each turn. However, the tide looks to be turning as the Milverton, Ontario native scored the victory in the National 250 at Autodrome St.-Eustache.
“The car was just awesome,” Steckly said. “I was just patient the whole night and didn’t abuse the car. We’ll just take the win and move on.”
Leading the majority of the laps, Steckly put his No. 22 Canadian Tire/Sylvania Dodge out front for the final time at lap 219, leading the rest of the event at the flat 0.4 mile oval.
“I just like coming here,” Steckly said. “It’s a real tight flat oval, and we usually have a good setup coming to this track.”
Last year’s rookie of the year Alex Guenette finished second for the second straight year in a row as he continues to search for his first career victory.
“I pushed real hard to try to pass Scott [Steckly], but I finished second to him again this year,” Guenette said. “Hopefully, soon enough we will be able to pull a win.”
L.P. Dumoulin finished third to extend his points lead to 17 points over J.R. Fitzpatrick.
“It’s awesome for us,” Dumoulin said of his third place finish after the team struggled a bit earlier in the day. “We’ve had a really good season so far and we want to keep it that way.”
Anthony Simone snapped his bad luck with a fourth for his first top-five of the year, followed by Jeff Lapcevich. Lapcevich’s fifth place finish marks his second top-five in four starts thus far this year. Noel Dowler finished sixth, followed by Mark Dilley, Andrew Ranger, D.J. Kennington and J.R. Fitzpatrick rounded out the top 10. Riding a wave of solid oval finishes, Jason Hathaway wouldn’t have the finish that he wanted in finishing 11th after a pit road speeding penalty.
Rookie Alex Labbe won the pole in his seventh start, though found himself out of the race before the end as a result of suspension issues.
Fans can catch on the National 250 on TSN on Sunday August 3rd at 11 a.m. EST. The Canadian Tire Series will be back on track on August 9th and 10th for the JuliaWine.com Le 50 Tours at Circuit de Trois-Rivieres.
NCATS St-Eustache 7/26/14 Unofficial Results
| Fin | Str | Car | Driver | Team | Laps | Points | B/Points | Status |
| 1 | 2 | 22 | Scott Steckly | Canadian Tire/Sylvania Dodge | 250 | 48 | 5 | Running |
| 2 | 4 | 39 | Alex Guenette | Motos Illimitées Dodge | 250 | 43 | 1 | Running |
| 3 | 14 | 47 | L.P. Dumoulin | WeatherTech Canada/Bellemare Dodge | 250 | 42 | 1 | Running |
| 4 | 12 | 95 | Anthony Simone | Innovative Plumbing & Mechanical Dodge | 250 | 40 | Running | |
| 5 | 11 | 76 | Jeff Lapcevich | Tim Hortons Dodge | 250 | 39 | Running | |
| 6 | 6 | 5 | Noel Dowler | Empire Mechanical Chevrolet | 250 | 39 | 1 | Running |
| 7 | 10 | 02 | Mark Dilley | Johnsonville/Leland/Bluemer Ford | 250 | 37 | Running | |
| 8 | 9 | 27 | Andrew Ranger | Mopar/Exide Dodge | 250 | 36 | Running | |
| 9 | 7 | 17 | D.J. Kennington | Castrol Edge/Mahindra Tractors Dodge | 250 | 35 | Running | |
| 10 | 3 | 84 | J.R. Fitzpatrick | Equipment Express Chevrolet | 250 | 35 | 1 | Running |
| 11 | 15 | 3 | Jason Hathaway | Princess Auto/Rockstar Energy Drink Chevrolet | 249 | 34 | 1 | Running |
| 12 | 5 | 18 | Alex Tagliani | EpiPen/Dicom Express Dodge | 248 | 32 | Running | |
| 13 | 13 | 97 | Hugo Vannini | VTI Motorsports Ford | 245 | 31 | Running | |
| 14 | 16 | 24 | Ray Courtemanche Jr. | La Cité de Mirabel Inc./Blackshape Dodge | 244 | 30 | Running | |
| 15 | 17 | 56 | Matthew Scannell * | OMVIC/K&B Auto Service Dodge | 243 | 29 | Running | |
| 16 | 1 | 72 | Alex Labbe * | Lou’s BBQ/VR Victoriaville Dodge | 101 | 28 | Suspension | |
| 17 | 8 | 25 | Joey McColm | Canada’s Best Store Fixtures Dodge | 36 | 27 | Accident |
