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Rain fellow: Fellows captures Nationwide win at rainy Montreal

By Lee Montgomery - Associate Editor

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Article Rating: 3.0
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David Griffin / NASCAR Scene

Canadian Ron Fellows celebrates in victory lane after winning the rain-shortened NAPA Auto Parts 200 Nationwide Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.

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MONTREAL – The fans gathered at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve may have gone home soaking wet, but they left with a smile on their face. Canadian Ron Fellows survived NASCAR’s first wet-weather race, taking advantage of early strategy to win the rain-shortened NAPA Auto Parts 200 Nationwide Series race.
 
The race was run on Goodyear rain tires for the first time in the history of the sport, as rain moved over the 2.709-mile track after seven laps of the scheduled 74-lap event. But NASCAR called the race after 48 laps because conditions were simply too treacherous.
 
Fellows pitted for fuel and tires on lap 22, falling to 26th. But he steadily moved forward, getting the lead on lap 44 after the other top cars pitted for fuel.
 
Fellows had a 43-second lead at the time of the final caution but would need to pit for fuel within 10 laps. That pit stop never came, and Fellows and his crew received word that the race would be made official while he sat in the No. 5 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.
 
Canadian drivers finished first and second, as Patrick Carpentier ended up second for Gillett Evernham Motorsports.
 
Marcos Ambrose dominated the race, but for the second year in a row came up short. Last year, an incident with Robby Gordon ended Ambrose’s chance at a victory.
 
This time, Ambrose was easily the best in the rain, pulling out to a lead as big as nine seconds.
 
But on lap 41 while coming in for a pit stop, Ambrose didn’t see the pit entrance line and was hit with a speeding violation. After serving the pass-through penalty, Ambrose came out in third place, though far behind Fellows. And a few laps later, the race was over.
 
Ron Hornaday Jr. (Kevin Harvick Inc.) finished fourth, with Boris Said (Team Rensi Motorsports) fifth. Sixth through 10th were Carl Edwards (Roush Fenway Racing), Jason Leffler (Braun Racing), Greg Biffle (Roush Fenway), Clint Bowyer (Richard Childress Racing) and Scott Wimmer (RCR).

Average Rating: 3.0

Comments

7 responses to "Rain fellow: Fellows captures Nationwide win at rainy Montreal"
  1. 1
    Donnie Sessions said:
    Aug 2, 2008 at 5:01 PM

    Congratulations to Ron Fellows, but you call that a race? Drivers were put in danger every lap, some not being able to see much past the hood!! Still, better than that debacle they called the Brickyard 400 last week...

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  2. 2
    Bill said:
    Aug 2, 2008 at 6:18 PM

    Congrats to Ron Fellows and the crew. I thought that was a good call with that pit stop.It put you in the right spot when they called the race. The race I thought was pretty good once the drivers had confidence in the tires and the track.Nascar did the right thing when the rain got too heavy to race.

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  3. 3
    Mark Koop said:
    Aug 2, 2008 at 8:15 PM

    I thought that was a good race to watch. Guys like Felloews, Ambrose and others showed great skill to drive so well. Each of the drivers that were interviewed seemed to enjoy racing in the rain. It was only at the end that it became dangerous for them. Drivers are in more danger every lap at Talladega than they were in this race. Congrats to Ron.

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  4. 4
    Mark Ernst said:
    Aug 3, 2008 at 8:12 AM

    AWESOME RACE!!!!!

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  5. 5
    Rob Murray said:
    Aug 3, 2008 at 10:21 AM

    Once again Nascar robs Marcos of a win in Montreal. To say he dominated the competion is an understatement. No one in that field was able to compete with him. So it wouldn't be too far of a stretch to suggest that the officials "handicapped" him by issuing the pit lane penalty. By handing the win to a Canadian Diver they achieved the "fairy tale" finish they strive for each and every week.

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  6. 6
    Rose Sweeney said:
    Aug 4, 2008 at 2:19 PM

    Congrats to Ron. This was the most I've enjoyed any Nascar race. It was interesting to see the cars run on rain tires & the cup drivers did a pretty decent job under the circumstancs and KB didn't win this one.

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  7. 7
    Mark Koop said:
    Aug 7, 2008 at 7:48 AM

    Ron Fellows would have won the race even if Marcos didn't get the penalty. When Marcos came out of the pits before the penalty he was in second place behind Fellows. The penalty put him back to third. Fellows won on good pit stategy. If the race had gone the full distance it might have been a different story. But it didn't. Fellows did not get the win handed to him. He earned it.

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