Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Sunday Sept. 21, 2008: Scott Steckly looked like he was going to have another dominating performance on Saturday night in the Atlantic Dodge Dealers 300 when motor failure took him out of the hunt with less than thirty laps to go in the 300 lap event resulting in a thirteenth place finish.
Steckly was at the top of the practice charts early in the day on Saturday and he followed that up with a 12th quickest qualifying effort.
The No. 22 Racing team driver would not stay in twelfth for long once the green flag dropped for the start of the 300 lap event. By lap 50 the Tow Truck in a Box/Erb Group Dodge Avenger was up to fifth. Just after the 100 lap mark Steckly brought his car to his crew for left side tires and fuel.
A later caution on lap 180 would see him back on pit road for right side tires and they would be good to make their final charge to the front. Steckly lined up in third for the restart at lap 186 and on lap 192 he took the lead. Steckly cruised in front of the field for the next 43 laps until a miss developed in the motor. The Tow Truck in a Box Dodge steadily fell off the pace as Steckly nursed it for the next forty laps.
On lap 275 it was all over as the motor expired on the front stretch, sending the No. 22 team to a thirteenth place finish. “This is a big disappointment for us no doubt,” said Steckly when asked about the motor problem after the race. “My team gave me another great car to drive today but it started to overheat and I was trying to nurse it to the end but we came up a bit short. We won at Kawartha last year so we are confident that we’ll have a good run again this year so we can hold onto the points lead. I guess this makes it more exciting for the fans.”
Don Thomson Jr. closed the gap on points leader Steckly by winning the Atlantic Dodge Dealers 300 followed by his teammate J. R. Fitzpatrick. Ron Beauchamp rounded out the podium finishers with Mark Dilley and Dave Whitlock in fourth and fifth.
Steckly will now take an unofficial 67 point lead into the season finale of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series next Saturday Sept. 27th at Kawartha Speedway. For more information on the event please visit www.kawarthaspeedway.com
The Atlantic Dodge Dealers 300 will air on TSN on Saturday Oct. 4th at 11 a.m. EST.
22 Racing is supported by a large group of associate & product sponsors including: Erb Group of Companies, A. W. Millwrights, D. H. Jutzi Ltd., Willride Transportation, Reefer Sales, Mr. Transmission (Guelph), Milverton Garage, Groeneveld, Commercial Babcock, Classy Collectables, Generation 2 Filtration, Twin City Graphics, Motorsport Design, Glasvan Great Dane Trailer Sales Inc., Wix Filters, Chris Root Precision Machine, Camions International West Island Inc., IRL International, Wilcan Electronics Canada Ltd and Royal Distributing.
For more information and complete race results please visit www.nascar.ca .
From Linda Jones // Wide Open Motorsport Solutions
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