RACE INFO:
Event: NAPA Auto Parts 200
Date/Time: Aug. 18/2:30 p.m. ET
2011 winner: Marcos Ambrose
2011 polesitter: Jacques Villeneuve
Distance: 74 laps/200.5 miles
Track Length: 2.709 miles
Turns: 13
Track Shape: Road Course
EXPRESS NOTES:
Montreal Preview: The FedEx Racing colors will return to Canada this weekend for Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Michael McDowell will pilot the #18 FedEx Express Toyota in the 74-lap, 200-mile event on the 2.7-mile permanent street course. McDowell — a Phoenix native — has recorded four top-10 finishes in four Nationwide starts this season, including a season-best runner-up result at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., in June. McDowell is making his fourth Series start at Montreal on Saturday. His best finish of third came in last season’s event after starting fifth.
Race Series Date Start Finish Laps (Led)
NAPA Auto Parts 200 Nationwide Aug. 30, 2011 32 11 76/76
NAPA Auto Parts 200 Nationwide Aug. 29, 2010 12 37 34/77
NAPA Auto Parts 200 Nationwide Aug. 20, 2009 5 3 74/74
Averages/Totals 16.3 17.0 81.1%
FedEx Freight Driver Wins National Title: Don Logan, a FedEx Freight driver from Topeka, Kan., was named the National Grand Champion at the 2012 National Truck Driving Championships last weekend in Minneapolis. Logan is a six-time Kansas state champion who has exceeded the two-million-mile accident-free mark during his 25-year driving career. It marks the third time in nine years that a FedEx driver has earned the competition’s highest honor.
McDOWELL CONVERSATION — MONTREAL
What are your chances for a victory at Montreal this weekend?
“This weekend presents a great opportunity for me to get a win and I just have to go for it. This is my fourth trip to Montreal and I get more and more comfortable each year at the track. It’s tight and narrow and there are walls everywhere. If Watkins Glen is the superspeedway of road course races, Montreal is the indoor go-kart track of road course races. The biggest thing is to make sure you manage your brakes and get yourself in position on restarts. It’s high intensity, for sure.”
