J.R. Fitzpatrick scores fifth NCAT Canadian Tire Motorsports Park victory
J.R. Fitzpatrick had the right pace throughout the entire race and played the right strategy en route to winning the Pinty’s presents the Clarington 200. It marks Fitzpatrick’s 10th career victory and his fifth at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
“It was a pretty good day,” Fitzpatrick commented. “The car was off all weekend but we kind of battled back and got it to where it was decent. The track was different with the ratio rubber that the truck guys were putting down, so its what it is. At the end, there was oil down as well and in three and four, I hit it and Jeff was able to close the gap. I figured if I hit again on the last lap, he was going to get me. All in all, a pretty good day.”
As a result of his performance, he remains second in points, now 19 points behind L.P. Dumoulin with two races left in the season.
Jeff Lapcevich tried to close on Fitzpatrick in the final laps when Fitzpatrick got sideways in some oil that was laid down on the track, however wasn’t able to, therefore having to settle for second. It marks Lapcevich’s third second-place finish in his last four starts at CTMP after finishing second to Dumoulin last August, and second to Fitzpatrick in May.
“It’s frustrating,” Lapcevich said. “We work very hard and second place is a not a finish to be disappointed about, but it’s one step down from where we want to be. We’ll go back and work at it again. I know I have to blame myself a little bit as I got a drive-thru penalty, which set us back and we only took two tires. That was a good call to get two-tires to get the track position back after the penalty. All in all, the Tim Hortons Dodge was fast and struggled just as much as J.R. with the rubber; he fought loose, we fought tight, but it all worked out.”
Marc-Antoine Camirand would round out the podium for his career best finish in his sixth career start, topping a sixth at CTMP last September.
“It’s a good finish for White Motorsports,” Camirand said. “We deserve it as we’ve shown the speed, but have had bad luck before. Had a good solid today. First podium for the team – really, really happy for them.”
Dumoulin posted a solid fourth-place finish as he looks to hold on for his first series championship, followed by Scott Steckly. Gary Klutt finished sixth, followed by D.J. Kennington, Robin Buck, Brad Graham and Joey McColm.
Alex Tagliani was looking for a good run after debuting a new livery for the weekend, however would finish 20th after making multiple stops on pit road with the hood up for mechanical issues. He wasn’t the only driver with mechanical issues as Andrew Ranger led the majority of the beginning of the race, however saw his afternoon go south as a result of motor issues, finishing 29th. Jason Hathaway would finish 30th behind him after blowing the motor while running inside the top-five.
Just In Time: Kahne Wins at Atlanta, Clinches Chase Berth
When you’re pushed into a corner and need to win a race (or completely out-perform your rivals), can you do it? That was the question for Kasey Kahne, as he was the only Hendrick Motorsports driver not in the chase. He answered with a thrilling victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday night.
“Yeah, we are locked in, and I hate that it comes down to this Atlanta or Richmond just about every year for me,” Kahne said after the race. “Sometimes we are in, sometimes we are out. But thankful that now at HMS (Hendrick Motorsports), I’ve been in all three years now. We have the pressure all the way to Richmond, but we made it again, thankful for that.”
Kahne entered the race 33 points behind Greg Biffle, and based on the way Biffle has been running all season, a couple of top three finishes could have done it for Kahne. But the driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS wanted to do it the right way, by winning.
The first 300 laps were admittedly uneventful and saw Stewart-Haas Racing driver Kevin Harvick lead 195 laps. It looked as if the No. 4 team would get their fourth win of the year and put Harvick’s name at the top of the Chase grid. But on a late restart with 24 laps to go, Kahne was able to not only get around the dominate Harvick, but pull away to almost a full second lead before a caution involving Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. resulted in the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish.
During the pit stops, Matt Kenseth and Paul Menard took two tires and lined up in first and second for the restart. Harvick lined up fourth, and Kahne lined up fifth. Throughout the entire night, the outside lane just wouldn’t go on restarts, and it showed again in the first attempt at a green-white-checkered. Menard spun his tires and Harvick plowed into the back of him, causing a multi-car accident with Harvick taking most of the damage. He would finish the day in 19th.
This set things up for a second attempt at a green-white-checkered finish, this time with Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth on the front row, and Kasey Kahne and Danica Patrick behind them. On the final restart, Hamlin tried his best to hold off Kahne into turn one but Kahne, on four fresh tires, sailed past the No. 11 of Hamlin. Off of turn two, Kahne nearly cleared Kenseth, but Kenseth hung on to Kahne’s rear quarter panel and was able to stay side-by-side into turn three.
But two tires just wouldn’t cut it at Atlanta, and Kenseth’s car wiggled off of turn four, allowing Kahne to clear him and go on to win the Oral-B USA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, clinching his spot in the chase. Kenseth also officially clinched a spot with his second place finish on points which means all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers, and all three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers will be part of the 16-driver Chase grid.
Denny Hamlin finished in third place followed by Jimmie Johnson in fourth and Carl Edwards in fifth. Danica Patrick was sixth, capturing the best finish of her Sprint Cup career. Ryan Newman, Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola and Greg Biffle round out the top 10 finishers at Atlanta.
Jeff Gordon remains the leader in the Sprint Cup standings with Dale Earnhardt Jr. 21 points behind in second place. Kenseth (-78), Joey Logano (-81) and Brad Keselowski (-90) are in third through fifth respectively.
Also of note, Tony Stewart made his return to racing at Atlanta since missing three events after being involved in a sprint car accident that took the life of Kevin Ward Jr. on August 9. Stewart started in 12th and ran as high as fourth in the early stages of the race.
Unfortunately, Stewart’s night came to an early end after a restart on lap 123 when Kyle Busch made contact with him, causing damage to both cars. Although Stewart’s team was able to make repairs, a blown tire on lap 172 resulted in more extensive damage and sent him to the garage. Stewart ended the night with a 41st place finish.
Next week the series travels to Richmond International Raceway for the final race of the regular season. With only two spots remaining on the Chase grid, it will be the last chance for drivers such as Kyle Larson, Clint Bower, Paul Menard and Tony Stewart to race their way in on points or to secure a spot by winning. No matter what happens, it’s sure to be a fun ride.
Go to nascar.com for the complete results. http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series/standings/results/2014/oralb-usa-500.raceResults.results.html
Ryan Blaney Edges out Quiroga to Win Chevrolet Silverado 250 at CTMP
German Quiroga gave it all that he had, but it’d be Ryan Blaney edging him out at the line by 0.049 seconds to score the victory in the Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Sunday afternoon.
It marks the first victory of the 2014 season for Blaney and the third victory of his career. It also marks the second straight win for Brad Keselowski Racing after Brad Keselowski won at Bristol Motor Speedway last Wednesday.
“That was a lot of fun racing with German,” Blaney commented post-race. “We raced really hard and really clean, and that’s how racing should be. It was so much fun racing with him. I felt in the back of my mind that we were going to be close on fuel and I kept watching my fuel gauge the last seven laps or so and it would bounce to red every now and again but luckily I held on to it and Chad did a good job calculating fuel mileage. We didn’t qualify really good, but great call and strategy as it paid off in the end. That was a lot of fun. We had a good truck here last year but unfortunately broke and weren’t able to really run up there. This year to be able to win is really cool. We only get to run one road course a year and it was so much fun. It’s a fun course to run and a great win.”
The caution flew with 14 laps to go for Alex Tagliani spinning. Blaney would get a good restart, but Quiroga would stay close right on his tailgate. Blaney would make a mistake in turn one, allowing Quiroga to close the gap even further. As the pair raced around the 11-turn course, Quiroga was able to make his move in turn eight to attempt to make the pass. Blaney would then pull the crossover, before out drag racing Quiroga to the line.
Quiroga’s second place finish marks his ninth top-10 finish of the year as he continues to search for his first career victory. At one point, fans were predicting a repeat of the last lap contact with Ty Dillon and Chase Elliott last year.
“You never know what could happen,” Quiroga commented. “I like to race guys hard and clean. I really enjoyed that battle. I didn’t want to wreck him.”
Erik Jones would out-duel Gray Gaulding in the final laps as the pair traded third back and forth multiple times while Quebec native Andrew Ranger rounded out the top-five.
“It was a good battle,” Jones commented post-race. “We fell off there at the end. I don’t know if I burned my stuff up there trying to run down German, or the pressures were just too low and didn’t come back up. It was a tough battle to hold him off there at the end. To be able to hold him off at the end is great for a good finish, and helps get us turned around after a rough deal past couple of weeks in the owner’s standings.”
Matt Crafton finished sixth, followed by Brennan Newberry, Johnny Sauter, Cole Custer and Timothy Peters. Sauter now leads Crafton by seven points
Pole sitter Alex Tagliani would finish 16th after spinning Cole Custer out with 19 laps to go, before going for a spin by his lonesome and stalling the truck with 14 laps to go.
