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Steckly Claims Tide 250 Victory

St. Eustache, Que. – Defending NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 champion Scott Steckly isn’t quite ready to surrender his crown. He won the Tide 250 at Autodrome St. Eustache on Sunday afternoon.

Steckly, out of Milverton, Ont., led 43 of the final 44 laps in his No. 22 Canadian Tire/Tow Truck in a Box Dodge, but still had to withstand a challenge from DJ Kennington on a restart with six laps to go. Steckly was able to hold on and beat Kennington to the line by .319 seconds.

It was Steckly’s first win of the season and first carrying the Canadian Tire colors, his new primary sponsor this season. Overall, he extended his own series career win record to six. His last win came at Barrie (Ont.) Speedway on Sept. 6, 2008. He won a record four races en route to the title a year ago.

Steckly, who was forced to serve a drive-through penalty after jumping an early restart, was able to overcome the error and make his way back to the front.

“The restart thing was my fault and that just made it harder,” said Steckly. “It is great to get back to Victory Lane. I wish it wouldn’t have taken four races, but we’ll take it.”

Steckly also made good on an implied promise made during his sponsorship negotiations last winter.

“Canadian Tire wanted to win some races,” he said. “To be able to do that was important. I was starting to think we weren’t going to be able to do it even though we’ve had a fast car in every race.”

Kennington, meanwhile, would have preferred a win, but keeping the No. 17 Castrol/Mahindra Tractor Dodge in one piece and getting a solid finish was satisfying.

“If you can’t win, then I guess this is the next best thing,” said the driver out of St. Thomas, Ont. “It was a good points day and we don’t have to put a car back together with the long trip west this week.”

Kennington may have been happier for his teammate Joey Hanssen, who logged his first series top-10 finish coming off his very hard collision with a retaining wall at Mosport International Raceway on June 14.

“That was a hard crash back at Mosport,” Kennington said. “I’m glad he is totally healthy and had a great run here.”

Barrie, Ontario-based John Gaunt, competing for just the second time this season, finished third which equaled his series career-best effort. The No. 12 Hy-Tech Drilling Dodge team is focusing on its oval program this year. Additionally, Gaunt wants to spend more time at home due to a little change there.

“The guys really worked hard on the car over the winter. We needed to get better than we have been the last couple years, so we decided to just focus on our oval stuff instead of splitting our efforts with a road-course program. Oval racing is where my heart is, anyway,” said Gaunt. “Plus, I’ve got an eight-week-old baby girl at home and I like to be with her as much as I possibly can.”

Local favorite Andrew Ranger finished fourth followed by Dave Whitlock, winner of this year’s season opener in St. Eustache on May 23, in fifth.

Kerry Micks, Brad Graham, Jason Hathaway, Andre Coursol and Hanssen rounded out the top 10.

Ranger, in a brand new race car sporting a NASCAR spec engine under the hood, controlled the early portion of the race, but was hounded by Kennington and Micks for much of the way. After the race, he was complimentary of his new car that performed very well despite an incident in Turn 3 that left him spinning out of contention.

Former Formula One champion and Indy 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve made his series debut much to the delight of the crowd, but the joy was quickly doused after an accident on the first lap. Starting the race on the inside lane left him with no where to go as cars stacked up in front. The crew tried to make repairs but to no avail. He finished 22nd.

The veteran Villeneuve took the short day in stride.

“It was very frustrating, but I’ve been in racing long to know that these things happen,” he said.

The race was slowed due to caution 12 times for a total of 64 laps.

Earlier in the day, Kennington set a track record in qualifying besting the record of Don Thomson Jr. set on July 5, 2008. Kennington recorded a time of 17.210 seconds compared to Thomson’s time of 17.219 seconds on the .4-mile flat oval.

Unofficially in the point standings, Ranger assumes the lead from Ron Beauchamp Jr. Kennington is second, 17 points behind Ranger. Beauchamp slipped to third in the standings after finishing 12th.

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 begins its three-race swing to western Canada next Saturday at SunValley Speedway in Vernon, B.C. for the A&W Cruisin’ The Dub 300.
 

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS | LAP-BY-LAP RECAP 
SCOTT STECKLY POST-RACE VIDEO  |  DJ KENNINGTON POST-RACE VIDEO  |  JOHN GAUNT POST-RACE VIDEO
JACQUES VILLENEUVE POST-RACE AUDIO  |  SCOTT STECKLY POST-RACE AUDIO  |  DJ KENNINGTON POST-RACE AUDIO  |  JOHN GAUNT POST-RACE AUDIO