Steckly Sticks With It After Slow Start
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 22, 2013) – Slow starts can be the death of a championship run, but perseverance can save the day.
After a pair of finishes outside the top 20 to open the 2013 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 campaign, Scott Steckly (No. 22 Canadian Tire Dodge) has rallied with back-to-back victories in his last two starts to pull within just five points of the lead in the championship standings.
The season has a different look for the two-time series champion out of Milverton, Ont. In his two title-winning seasons in 2008 and 2010, Steckly got off to a quick start and established himself at the top of the standings.
“We didn’t have a great start – that’s for sure,” said Steckly. “We weren’t about to quit, though. We just decided that we were going to really dig down and win as many races as we (could).”
The season opened for Steckly with an early accident on the road course at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park near Bowmanville, Ont, that resulted in a 24th-place finish – followed by mechanical problems at Delaware (Ont.) Speedway, which led to a finish in the 21st position after a start from the pole.
“We could have won those first two races. We had good cars,” Steckly said. “Those are just things that happen. It hasn’t been about poor performance. It’s just been bad luck. Hopefully, we’ve gotten all that out of the way for the season.”
Despite his superb results out west, Steckly is looking forward to a return to Autodrome St. Eustache (Que.) where he picked up a July 2008 win en route to his first Canadian Tire Series title to go along with a July 2009 triumph.
“We’re definitely looking forward to going back to St. Eustache,” said the 13-time race winner. “We’ve won there in the past and always like going there.”
In four starts on the .4-mile Quebec oval Steckly has two other top-five performances in addition to the two victories.
Race: National 250
Place: Autodrome St. Eustache (Que.)
Date: Saturday, July 27
Time: 8:05 p.m. ET
TV Schedule: TSN, Sun., Aug. 4, 11 a.m. ET; RDS2, Sat., Aug. 24, 11 p.m. ET; RDS, Sun., Aug. 25, 10 a.m. ET
Track Layout: .4-mile oval
2012 Winner: Event Not Held
2012 Pole Sitter: Event Not Held
Event Schedule: Practice Noon-12:30 p.m.; Final Practice 1-1:30 p.m.; Qualifying 4:15 p.m.; On-Track Autograph Session 6:45 p.m.; Driver Introductions 7:35 p.m. ET
Track Contact: Jason Labrosse, (450) 472-6222, info@autodrome.ca
Track Twitter: @AutodromeASE
Event Twitter Hashtag: #National250
EVENT SCHEDULE & ENTRY LIST
FAST FACTS
The Race: This is the seventh event of the 2013 season for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 and the fifth of eight oval-track events on the schedule. This is the series’ fifth visit to the track and first since July 2010.
The Procedure: The starting field is 22 cars, including provisionals. The first 19 cars will qualify through two-lap time trials. The remaining three spots will be awarded through the provisional process. The race will be 250 laps covering 100 miles.
The Track: The Autodrome St. Eustache racing complex, located northwest of Montreal, consists of a .4-mile flat oval, a 1.7-kilometer road course and a .125-mile drag strip. There is also a karting track on the premises. The track was founded in 1965 as Fury Speedway de Fabreville, and the current configuration has been hosting various types of racing since 1970. The track was purchased by Alan Labrosse prior to the 2008 race season.
The Records: The one-lap qualifying record for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series at the track is 17.210 seconds (83.672 mph), set by D.J. Kennington on July 12, 2009. The 250-lap race record was established on July 3, 2010 by Kennington at 1 hour, 37 minutes, 21 seconds for an average speed of 61.633 mph.
ST. EUSTACHE NOTES
On The Lookout: D.J. Kennington (No. 17 Castrol Edge/Mahindra Tractors Dodge) won in the series’ last St. Eustache outing in 2010 and the two-time series and defending series champ is looking for his first trip to Victory Lane in 2013.
In A Bunch: Four drivers – Kennington, Scott Steckly (No. 22 Canadian Tire Dodge), Louis-Philippe Dumoulin (No. 47 WeatherTech Canada/Bellemare Dodge) and Jason Hathaway (No. 3 Snap-on Tools/Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge) – are separated by just six points atop the championship point standings with six races remaining on the schedule.
East Follows West: With the two-race swing through Western Canada in the books, the Canadian Tire Series now turns its attention to the eastern part of the country. The visit to St. Eustache is followed by another Quebec trip to Trois-Rivieres followed by the easternmost event on the docket at Riverside International Speedway in Antigonish, N.S.
LAST TIME OUT: Velocity Prairie Thunder 250 presented by Bayer CropScience
Hanging Around: Jason Hathaway may prove to be the X-factor in this year’s title hunt. With a third-place finish in Saskatoon, the Dutton, Ont., driver, finished on the podium for the second consecutive race. On the season Hathaway has four top-five efforts in six outings.
Fitzpatrick Foiled: With two straight starts from the pole J.R. Fitzpatrick (No. 84 Equipment Express Chevrolet) would like to have more to show for it than just one top-10 finish. The Ayr, Ontario, driver led a race-high 144 laps at Auto Clearing Motor Speedway, but a Lap 226 spin left the championship contender with a finish in seventh.
Hayley Homecoming: NASCAR K&N Pro Series West top performer and Calgary, Alberta, native Cameron Hayley made his first NASCAR starts north of the border on the western swing. He followed up a seventh-place effort at Motoplex Speedway with a ninth-place finish in the Velocity Prairie Thunder 250.
NEXT TIME OUT: JuliaWine.com 100
The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 returns to Quebec and road-course racing for its eighth event of the season at Circuit de Trois-Rivieres for the JuliaWine.com 100. Quebecer Andrew Ranger has dominated at the 1.530-mile street course by winning four of the six series races held there. Only Kerry Micks (2007) and Robin Buck (2011) have been able to beat the two-time series champion in his home province.
