DELAWARE, ON – Penalties plagued Ron Beauchamp Jr. and his crew over the weekend at the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series EMCO 200. #60 had a solid qualifying start but two technicalities dropped him in the rankings despite driving a strong and consistent vehicle throughout the race.
Beauchamp and his crew had a solid practice with his #60 Mopar Parts/Mobile 1/Exide Batteries Dodge. They had more to work with than last week when they chased the setup a little bit. “We made some changes during the week and made some significant gains,” Beauchamp said after practice. After some fine-tuning during the final practice, Beauchamp qualified well and earned the 5th starting position.
“The car continued to feel good,” Beauchamp said. We knew it would be consistent throughout the race.
Just as he predicted, #60 had a formidable start to the race. He showed consistent lap times and maintained position in and around the top five. The Mopar Parts/Mobil 1/Exide Batteries Dodge held strong, but during a scheduled pit stop, Beauchamp lost ground due to a technicality. The car’s nose was sitting just outside the pit box, and the team was forced to serve a penalty.
“It’s really tight and cramped on the pit road and I guess we were just outside the pit box,” Beauchamp said following the race. “Even with the penalty, we still expected to have a good finish.”
#60 charged on with the race, but shortly after he suffered a flat left rear tire. Beauchamp headed in for a tire change, but the crew made a mistake and changed the left front tire – in addition to the flat rear. Changing the front tire is against the rules, and the team suffered a second penalty of the race. Regardless of the penalties and tire issues, #60’s Mopar Parts/Mobil 1/Exide Batteries Dodge continued to run with power, and was still as fast as the leaders, despite being out of contention for a top finish. Beauchamp persisted and narrowly missed a top 10 finish, concluding the race in 11th place, dropping down six spots from his 5th place qualifying.
“We know this is a fast race car and we won’t make mistakes like that again,” Beauchamp said after the race. “We’ll reevaluate and next time be able to put ourselves in good position.”
Ron Beauchamp Jr. and the #60 Mopar Parts/Mobil 1/Exide Batteries Dodge team will head to western Canada for the next three events beginning July 14 at Motoplex Speedway near Vernon, BC. For more information about the #60 Mopar Parts/Mobil 1/Exide Batteries team log on to www.beauchampmotorsports.com and www.mopar.ca
From Todd Lewis at TL Sports & Entertainment
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