Hamilton, ON, Monday May 26, 2008: Dave Whitlock driver of the No. 39 Dickies/NMT Nitrex Dodge Avenger made a late race dash back to the front after a flat tire, resulting in a seventh place finish in the Crown Jewel 200 from Cayuga Speedway on Saturday night.
The Whitlock Motorsports team struggled throughout practice to get any speed out of the No. 39 Avenger and their qualifying effort came up short as well with Whitlock being relegated to a fifteenth place starting position.
"We just struggled all day with the set up on the car," stated Whitlock. "The team worked hard and after practice we made a bunch more changes and while our qualifying wasn't where we wanted to be, I knew the car would get better with the drop in temperature during the evening race."
The No. 39 Dickies Avenger moved quickly into the top ten in running order in the Crown Jewel 200 and were in third place when the caution flew just before the half way point signaling a trip to pit road for tires and fuel.
A bad fuel can caused the team a long delay on pit road while they attempted to get enough fuel in the car to finish the race, putting them well back in the field to start the second half. With the new tires and the adjustments the team made, Whitlock quickly started mounting a charge back to the front, when a flat right front tire sent him back to the pits to the attention of his crew.
He would restart from fourteenth position with less than fifty laps remaining. When the checkered flag waved Whitlock was on the outside passing a group of three competitors but he would have to settle for seventh.
"We basically started near the back three times tonight from our qualifying position, a fuel problem on pit road and a flat tire, so all in all I am very pleased we were able to rebound to a seventh place finish" stated Whitlock. "The car was really good as it got cooler during the race. We are also glad to get the season off to a better start than 2007. I also want to thank the management and staff of Cayuga Speedway. They worked around the clock this spring to get the track and the whole racing facility looking fantastic. Our hats off to them for a great job."
Dodge Avengers topped the charts with five of the top seven finishing positions going to the manufacturer. 1st. No. 22 Scott Steckly 2nd. No. 02 Kerry Micks 3rd. No. 60 Ron Beauchamp Jr. 4th. No. 9 Mark Dilley 5th. No. 1 Peter Gibbons 6th. No. 77 Derek Lynch and 7th. No. 39 Dave Whitlock.
The Crown Jewel 200 from Cayuga Speedway will be broadcast on TSN, Friday May 30th at 12 midnight ET.
The No. 39 Dickies/NMT/Prostate Cancer Research Foundation of Canada (PCRFC) Dodge Avenger team are seventh in the point standings after race one. They now prepare for race two, Saturday May 31st at Autodrome St. Eustache. This is the first appearance at this facility for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, however many of the competitors are very familiar with the track from the previous CASCAR series days. For complete details on this event including directions, ticket info and schedule please visit www.autodrome-st-eustache.com.
Whitlock Motorsports would also like to thank all their associate and product sponsors including Prostate Cancer Research Foundation of Canada, CRS Trucking, Wendell Chrysler Jeep Dodge, BOC Gases and Lugfasts.
For more information on Dickies Canada please visit www.dickiescanada.com
For more information on the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series please visit www.nascar.ca
For more information on Whitlock Motorsports please visit www.whitlockmotorsports.com
From Linda Jones // Wide Open Motorsport Solutions
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