Scott Steckly driving the Canadian Tire/Sylvania Dodge followed the game plan and was up to fifth when an overzealous driver punted him from behind, spinning the 22 Racing entry and forcing him to the back of the large field of cars. This was event number seven of the eleven race NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 at Grand Prix de Trois Rivieres.
Thirty three cars were registered and took to the track on Saturday and when the second practice was complete Steckly hand moved the Canadian Tire Dodge up into the ninth quickest.
Qualifying took place at 5 p.m. and when completed Steckly was eleventh quickest which will line him up in row six on the inside. “There are a lot of cars here racing for the win on Sunday,” said Steckly. “We are going to try to be patient during the first half of the race and just bide our time and see if we can’t be close to the front at the end.”
Steckly started the race from eleventh but feel back a couple of positions early in the race. “I wasn’t worried about dropping back a bit at the start,” said Steckly. “Our plan was to just run our race with consistent lap times and go for it near the end.”
The Canadian Tire Dodge settled in and started to gradually pick off the cars in front of him and was running solidly in fifth place at the half way point. Shortly afterward one of the cars in the field who doesn’t race the series and was only looking for the win tagged Steckly in the rear spinning him around. There were several late race cautions and the 22 Racing Dodge was continuing to pick off cars and move up when a major event occurred in front of him. The #72 of Xavier Coupal was send spinning and the car barrel rolled down the track. Steckly got collected in the melee and after a long red flag to remove Coupal from the car and transport him to the medial care facility, NASCAR called the race official giving Steckly a 16th place finish on the day. “We are very frustrated at the guys who come into the series for one race and their attitude is win or wreck,” said Steckly looking at his badly damaged race car. “We work hard and so do all the guys who run this series and make this our living. That being said I have a terrific team and fantastic sponsors and I would like to thank them again for all they do. And I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the terrific fans here at GP3R – they are so enthusiastic and we always love coming here.”
The JuliaWine.com Le 50 Tours from Circuit de Trois-Rivieres will air TSN – Sat., Aug. 16, 3 p.m. ET on TSN and Sunday August 10th LIVE at 3 p.m.on RDS.
Scott Steckly is supported by the following companies: Canadian Tire Corporation, Osram Sylvania, Official Oil Supplier to 22 Racing, Mobil 1, Erb Group of Companies, AW Millwrights, Reefer Sales and Groupe CLR.
Fans can follow Scott Steckly through his website at 22racing.ca or on Twitter @ScottSteckly22 or you can Like the 22RacingTeam fan page on Facebook. For all at track updates during race weekends for Steckly and the other 22 Racing Team entries follow us on Twitter @22RacingTeam.
