September 1, 2013- Sherwood Park, Alberta’s Noel Dowler had claimed top ten finishes in three of the last four events in the #5 EMCO/Rheem Dodge. The driver and his team looked to continue that consistent kind of performance during round ten of the NASCAR Canadian Tire series this past weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Unfortunately that would not be the case.
During the first practice session the #5 EMCO/Rheem Dodge ran smoothly and the changes the team made for the final practice session helped them improve five positions. Dowler was able to manage only a 23rd starting spot for the 200km feature event.
“We weren’t too concerned about the starting spot, we always work more on race set up and thought we would be strong during the race” said Dowler.
As the green flag waved in front of a huge crowd Dowler looked to move forward in the #5 EMCO/Rheem Dodge.
“Our car was fast and it was actually pretty fast all weekend” he stated. “I just tried to be patient and get ourselves set up for the late part of the race.”
There were a record-tying six caution periods for the track and that kept the field bunched up and allowed Dowler to continue making progress forward.
“We just tried to keep out of trouble and pick up some positions wherever we could and things looked to be shaping up pretty well” explained Dowler.
Late in the race a multi-car collision required a lengthy clean up and due to time constraints the race was ended on lap 42 instead of the scheduled 51.
“That hurt our finishing result for sure” said Dowler. “We could see there was some attrition and expected there would be more in the final laps and we’ve been successful gaining a lot of positions late in race.”
“We just didn’t get the opportunity to do that today” he added.
Dowler would gain four positions from his starting spot and finish 19th.
After ten events Noel Dowler sits seventh in the overall season championship standings.
The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series consists of 12 events from coast to coast in Canada. The next race is at Barrie Speedway this coming Saturday September 7th. For more information about Noel Dowler and the #5 EMCO Dodge/Rheem team log onto www.apollomotorsports.ca and follow him on twitter, @noeldowler.
This release prepared by, TL Sports & Entertainment, todd@tlsportsent.com (239) 961-2618
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