May 18 2014. Robin Buck was behind the wheel of his familiar #66 Quaker State Dodge for round number one of the 2014 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series this past weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park near Bowmanville, ON. Buck used an improvised strategy to capture a third place finish at the challenging road course.
Through practice and qualifying the #66 Quaker State Dodge was remarkably consistent as Buck continued to run lap after lap and remain near the top of the time sheets. Following the Saturday qualifying session Buck would post the 7th quickest time and line up on the inside of row four.
With the drop of the green flag Buck was of course eager to move the #66 Quaker State Dodge forward but also knew that patience would be necessary to preserve the car for the entire race, on this day even more so than usual. The scheduled pit stop for fuel went smoothly, however a miscue on the second stop had the team altering strategy.
“If we’d pitted again for tires we would have given up an enormous amount of track position” explained Buck. “So the decision was made to stay out on the same tires for the entire race”.
The choice forced Buck to maintain his smooth style and not push the car too hard while trying to gain positions. A lengthy late race red flag period for track clean up may have worked in the #66 Quaker State team’s favor.
When the race resumed it would be a green, white, checkered shoot out to the finish. On the restart Buck moved quickly up the inside of the #47 to capture the position and claim a third place finish.
“I think the red flag allowed the tires to cool down and bit and I was able to gain another spot” said the driver. “The whole team worked really hard this weekend and our thanks to Quaker State for their continued support, hopefully we can do even more in the future” he added.
