Category: Featured Other Series

The wait is finally over for Canadian NASCAR fans. NASCAR officially released the 2014 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series schedule today.

Overall, the schedule is pretty solid and mostly a repeat of last year. However, there are some slight changes include two new venues to replace two tracks that have fallen off the schedule.

“The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series’ blend of exciting ovals and top-shelf road courses from Alberta to Nova Scotia with several stops in between continues to provide race fans across the country a high level of competition,” George Silbermann, NASCAR vice president, regional and touring series, said. “The two new additions to the calendar along with the extremely successful second date at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park set up another thrilling championship battle.”

As the same with previous seasons, the eighth season for the Canadian Tire Series will kick off as part of Victoria Day Speedfest on May 18th at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. The 2.459-mile road course provides the perfect challenge to drivers with tight turns and elevation changes.

The series will then make their inaugural trip to Autodrome Chaudiere on June 14th. The high-banked .25 mile asphalt oval opened up in 1992 as a dirt track, before being paved in 2005. The track hosts some of the biggest late model events throughout the summer, including the PASS Late Models, so this marks no surprise. Autodrome Chaudiere replaces Canadian Tire Motorsports Park’s oval as the oval was tore up for a driver development track.

Chaudiere will be followed by a second Quebec stop – in the form of Circuit ICAR on July 6th. This year will mark the series’ fourth appearance at the exciting 2.113 mile road course in Mirabel, Quebec.

Motoplex Speedway in Vernon, British Columbia will no longer be part of the schedule in 2014. In exchange, the series will begin their western swing at Edmonton International Raceway on July 11th. The quarter-mile oval joins the schedule as a result of it’s long-standing membership as part of NASCAR’s Whelen All-American Series Late Model program.

The second half of the western swing will be the same with a stop at Auto Clearing Speedway on July 16th in Saskatchewan. The 0.333 mile has sold out every Wednesday night the past five years.

After a successful trip to Autodrome St. Eustache last year, the series will return to the 0.4 mile flat oval on July 26th. The location is optimum for Quebec fans as it’s located just minutes from Montreal.

The final Quebec date of the season will be at Circuit de Trois-Rivieres on August 18th.

The NCAT competitors will then head east for their annual trip to Riverside International Speedway in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The high-banked 0.333 mile oval will play host to the series on August 16th.

The series will then complete their 2014 season with three dates in Ontario.

The first is scheduled for August 31st in a return trip to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park’s road course as they will race alongside the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

They will then head to Barrie Speedway on September 6th, for some beating and banging on one of the tightest 0.333 mile oval.

The season will then finish off at Kawartha Speedway on September 20th once again.

As the schedule was revealed, fans were disappointed to learn that Delaware Speedway will not be hosting an event in 2014. There is also speculation as to whether Sunset Speedway will land a date on the schedule in the future.

Last year saw an action packed season with the championship coming down to the final laps of the event at Kawartha Speedway. With a talented list of drivers that includes last year’s champion Scott Steckly, two-time champion D.J. Kennington, Jason Hathaway, Alex Tagliani and Andrew Ranger, look for the same result this year.

With Barracuda Racing looking for a new direction in 2014, Alex Tagliani was left without a ride and with only a month left before the 2014 IndyCar Series season, the Quebec native has yet to secure a ride.

Toronto Sun reporter Dean McNulty reported earlier this week that Tagliani will have a change in scenary for next year – racing in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series for D.J. Kennington’s team DJK Racing.

Tagliani is expected to make the news official next Friday on February 7th at the 2014 Canadian Motorsports Expo. The CME at Toronto, Ontario’s International Center serves as the kick-off to the 2014 Canadian racing season.

Taking place from February 7th to February 9th, the show captivates the entire motorsports landscape into one weekend, from drag racing to NASCAR to short track action. With Ryan Newman appearing on February 8th and Mike Skinner & Richard Petty appearing on February 9th, this show promises to be the best yet.

Tagliani made 13 starts last year for Barracuda Racing, scoring a best finish of 10th twice. He has made 16 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series starts over the years, scoring a win in 2008 in Edmonton.

As ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards teams continued to prepare for the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, three teams headed to Talladega Superspeedway to test – Ken Schrader Racing, Mason Mitchell Motorsports and Cunningham Motorsports.

Cunningham Motorsports had both Tyler Reddick and Tom Hessert on track yesterday and Hessert felt that the test went well.

“It really started at the Daytona test so today’s test is really all about fine-tuning a couple things,” Hessert commented. “We’ve got both our crew chiefs down here – Paul Andrews and Chad Bryant – so those two are exchanging a lot of ideas back and forth, and that’s a good thing.

“We unloaded pretty good and have made incremental gains. My teammate Tyler Reddick and I are exchanging notes, so, all in all, it’s been a really productive day. I’m really looking forward to Daytona.”

Meanwhile, Clay Campbell was behind the wheel of the chevrolet for Ken Schrader Racing.

“I absolutely love this place,” Campbell said. “I love to go fast and there is no faster track in the world than Talladega. I ran here two years ago and someone asked if I got it out of my system. The answer is ‘no’ and I am ready to go it again. It is just fun.” 

The 54-year-old president of Martinsville Speedway plans to run both Daytona and Talladega this year in the ARCA Racing Series for KSR.

“I think with Ken’s equipment we have a really good opportunity to run well here at Talladega,” Campbell said. “It makes me feel good for Ken to have confidence in me to put me behind the wheel of his car. We are looking forward to coming back in May.” 

Last year, Kurt Busch made racing headlines when he tested an IndyCar for Andretti Autosport at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Busch, at the time, expressed desires about possibly running the Indianapolis 500.

Now that we’re in 2014, Busch is talking about those desires once again saying that it’s 70% that they’re going to do it.

“We just have to balance everything that comes to it – the sponsors, the team and my commitment’s there,” Busch said. “We don’t have to second guess that, but I need to train harder if I want to be ready for 1100 miles in one day.”

Busch said that there’s two possible deals in the works with two different teams and sponsors. 

“The intrigue is there for me is for something to tackle on life, but on the business sense, it has to make sense,” Busch commented. “I’m starting to push the business sense aside and just go do it, have the fun and just being able to say I ran Indianapolis. It’s grabbing traction and I have the blessing of Gene Haas and Tony Stewart to go and do it.”

Busch stated that he is not ready to make a definite decision on it until he sees what the NASCAR schedule is with relation to practice and qualifying on Fridays.

“We need to keep the time out of the Cup car limited if we’re going to do this Indy thing,” he commented. “Then we need to determine where we’re going to test so we’re better prepared for that month of May at Indianapolis. Chevy – their backing is there. The teams with who we’re talking to is there. The intrigue is there and the candle is burning strong.”

Busch could partner with Andretti Autosport, which switched to Toyota power in 2014, as he tested Ryan Hunter Reay’s car last year. He could also partner with one of the Chevrolet teams to have the same manufacturer across the board with NASCAR and IndyCar, including Team Penske or Chip Ganassi Racing.

Fastline Motorsports announced earlier this week that Tim Hortons will once again sponsor Jeff Lapcevich in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. It marks the 25th season that Tim Hortons has partnered with the Grimsby, Ontario native.

“I can’t express how honored I am to once again have the support of Tim Hortons,” Lapcevich said. “They’ve supported our team for the last 24 seasons, I’m sure our 25th year together is going to be a great one.”

Lapcevich had a solid season in 2013, finishing in the top 10 in six of his seven starts. The season was highlighted by Fastline Motorsports announced earlier this week that Tim Hortons will once again sponsor Jeff Lapcevich in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. It marks the 25th season that Tim Hortons has partnered with the Grimsby, Ontario native.a podium finish in both the season opener at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and the season finale at Kawartha Speedway.

Graham Rahal won the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2011 and received the coveted watch that the winner receives – but has yet to wear it. Rahal put it up in a case and has left it there ever since.

“It’s signed by my team owners and co-drivers,” he said. “That will never leave its box, but maybe if I get a second I’ll wear it.”

In the season finale of the IndyCar Series season at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, Justin Wilson was involved in a six-car incident that resulted in “non-operable pelvic fractures and a small pulmonary contusion.”

Three months later, Justin Wilson says that he is healed up and ready to go for the 2014 season.

“I can’t wait,” he said. “I mean, the recovery went well. I was back walking five and a half, six weeks after the accident, so I was very fortunate the way my pelvis broke, it healed fast. Didn’t need any surgery. I had some good doctors, good advice.”

Wilson has yet to be in an IndyCar since the injury, but has been back racing as he took part in practice for the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona two weeks ago.

“I felt great when we tested here two weeks ago for the Roar Before, and it was good to get back in the car,” he said. “I’m looking forward to getting back to competition. Hopefully it’s going to be a good 24 hours for us, and nothing would please me more than repeating what happened after my injury in 2011 and winning the Daytona 24 Hours the following year.”

In 2011, Wilson fractured a bone in his back following an incident in Saturday morning practice ahead of the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. He was sidelined for the rest of the season and the first race back was the 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona, where he took home the win.

“I think it’s great,” Wilson said of the Rolex event. “I mean, it’s the perfect way to start out your year and get seat time when there’s not a lot happening in IndyCar. The teams are just prepping, getting things ready, and you come here and get plenty of seat time, get some good racing in, and some really good competition. The thing that attracts me is nothing else is going on this time of year so you don’t have to worry about you’re missing something else, and you’re racing against some of the best guys from all over the world, and you come here and try something different out.

“It’s really a test of everything:  Your patience, trying to deal with the traffic, timing, getting through that traffic. There’s so many things that can go wrong that stop you from winning this race, and you’re just trying to not make any of those mistakes, fall down any of those traps.

“It’s just, like I said, the perfect way to get up to speed, blow off the cobwebs and get ready for the new season.”

Wilson will be competing in this year’s race once again with Michael Shank Racing.

“It’s great to keep that relationship going,” he commented. “I think it works really well together. Everyone is comfortable around each other. We’re not ‑‑ we all want to be the quickest on the team, but we’re not going to risk damaging the car to get that. We try and do everything we can to try and get the most out of ourselves and the equipment without taking any risks.

“Mike has a fantastic race team, great people, all pulling in the same direction, and it’s always a pleasure to be part of that and come down here and try and help them out. I feel very privileged to have built these relationships with some great people, now great friends. Like I said, hopefully we can repeat what we’ve done before. We’ve been on the top step. We’ve been second, been third. We want to get back to the top step again.”

Wilson will be looking to get some testing in before the IndyCar season though as he will once again race for Dale Coyne Racing in 2014. Current plans have his first pre-season test being February 3rd.

“I’m looking forward to getting back in the IndyCar,” he said. “I’ve got a new engineer this year, Michael Cannon, and Bill Pappas left at the end of last year, went to Rahal Letterman, but looking forward to working with Michael, and hopefully we can gel quickly and do what we need to do, and hopefully we can win some races.”

There were some discussions that Wilson may not be back with Dale Coyne in 2014, but plans changed after some conversations.

“He promises me he’s going to get a couple of critical people in the right places and allow us to be more consistent and make life easier,” Wilson explained. “I think we had some good performances last year, but definitely felt like we need to work on that consistency and try and execute a little bit more in every aspect, not just the team, but the strategy, my driving, pit stops.”

The 2014 IndyCar season will kick off in March with the St. Petersburg, Florida street course.

“It’s a very challenging track,” Wilson commented. “You’re on the airport runways and then you go out to the city streets. It’s a really cool combination, and I think it’s a good event.

“I enjoy it. I’m looking forward to that, and hopefully we can be competitive. Last year was actually my worst year at St. Petersburg competitive‑wise. Before that I’ve always run really well. But we seemed to miss the setup last year and had a slow start to the year. But we recovered well after it.

“I’d like to think we’ve learnt a lot since then and can come back this year and be near the front again.”