Rain fellow: Fellows captures Nationwide win at rainy Montreal
By Lee Montgomery - Associate Editor
Monday, August 04, 2008
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David Griffin / NASCAR Scene
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).
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