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Tag: Canadian Tire Motorsports Park

  • Crunching The Numbers: Atlanta

    Crunching The Numbers: Atlanta

    After three nights of battling in the bullring that is Bristol Motor Speedway last weekend, the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series head to Atlanta Motor Speedway for Labor Day weekend and more racing under the lights on the fast 1.5 mile speedway. With a track surface that is old and worn, having not been repaved since its reconfiguration in 1997, the track has gotten rave reviews from drivers who enjoy slipping and sliding around on the worn out asphalt. The Sprint Cup Series will have their shot at the track on Sunday night, while the Nationwide Series takes to the track the night before for their race.

    NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – Advocare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway

    Only two races remain until the cut-off for the Chase for the Sprint Cup and the points standings heading into this weekend’s race are still as tight as they were prior to Bristol. After having a 77 point lead just two weeks ago, Jimmie Johnson’s points lead has shrunk to 18 points over second place Clint Bowyer after finishes of 40th and 36th in the past two races. Both Johnson and Bowyer are locked into the Chase and with his win last weekend at Bristol, Matt Kenseth locked himself into the Chase as well. Several drivers are fighting for the remaining Chase berths, with only 24 points separating Kasey Kahne in eighth with defending champion Brad Keselowski in 11th. Two other former Sprint Cup champions, Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon, are lurking just behind Keselowski, only six and 11 points back, respectively. The fight to make the Chase is going to come right down to the wire and how these drivers perform at Atlanta will go a long way in helping their Chase fortunes.

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Jimmie Johnson 21 3 11 13 0 440 8.6 11.1
    Jeff Gordon 39 5 16 25 2 1280 12.3 11.9
    Dale Earnhardt Jr 25 1 8 11 2 632 16.2 12.5
    Matt Kenseth 24 0 8 14 0 253 21.6 12.7
    AJ Allmendinger 7 0 0 2 0 1 27.9 14.4
    Carl Edwards 15 3 8 10 0 345 10.3 15.1
    Greg Biffle 18 0 3 9 1 291 12.5 16.0
    Denny Hamlin 13 1 2 5 1 314 13.4 16.2
    Brian Vickers 15 0 1 7 0 8 16.2 16.4
    Jeff Burton 35 0 8 14 0 104 25.3 16.5

    Who To Watch: After two dismal finishes in the past two weeks, Jimmie Johnson has to be happy to be heading to Atlanta this weekend since his stats at the 1.5 mile track are tops in the series. In 21 starts, Johnson has three wins, 11 top fives, 13 top tens, 440 laps led, and an average finish of 11.1.

    Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr., fall in second and third with their stats at Atlanta. Gordon has 39 starts, with five wins, 16 top fives, 25 top tens, two poles, 1280 laps led and an average finish of 11.9. In 25 starts, Earnhardt Jr., has one win, eight top fives, 11 top tens, two poles, 632 laps led, and an average finish of 12.5.

    Besides the Hendrick Motorsports contingent, others who run well at Atlanta include: Five-time winner in 2013, Matt Kenseth, with eight top fives, 14 top tens, 253 laps led, and an average finish of 12.7 in 24 starts; A.J. Allmendinger, with two top tens, one lap led, and an average finish of 14.4 in seven starts; Carl Edwards, with three wins, eight top fives, 10 top tens, 345 laps led, and an average finish of 15.1 in 15 starts; and Greg Biffle, with three top fives, nine top tens, one pole, 291 laps led, and an average finish of 16.0 in 18 starts. 

    NASCAR Nationwide Series – Great Clips/Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway

    With 10 races remaining in the Nationwide Series schedule, the points standings remain tight after Bristol with just 39 points separating the top five in points and the gap for Sam Hornish, Jr. over second place Austin Dillon sitting at just six points. None of the top five in points has been able to win at Atlanta heading into this weekend, so if any of the championship contenders find themselves in Victory Lane or find trouble on Saturday night, the points standings could be shaken up once again.

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Austin Dillon 1 0 0 1 0 0 9.0 6.0
    Joey Logano 2 0 0 2 0 0 10.5 6.0
    Cole Whitt 1 0 0 1 0 0 12.0 8.0
    Kevin Harvick 11 1 6 8 0 376 8.2 8.5
    Justin Allgaier 4 0 1 2 0 15 20.0 10.2
    Kasey Kahne 11 0 4 7 1 95 10.5 10.6
    Sam Hornish Jr 2 0 0 1 0 1 5.5 12.0
    Kyle Busch 9 0 5 6 3 490 3.4 13.9
    Michael Annett 4 0 0 1 0 0 23.5 16.2
    Brian Scott 3 0 0 0 0 0 21.3 17.0

    Who To Watch: With the points lead up for grabs, Austin Dillon has to be happy to be at Atlanta this weekend since he has the best stats of the series at the track. In his lone start at Atlanta last season, Dillon started ninth and finished sixth.

    Sprint Cup regular Joey Logano, driving the dominant No. 22 Ford this weekend, falls in just behind Dillon with two top tens in two starts, giving him an average finish of 6.0.

    Others to keep an eye on include: Cole Whitt, with an eighth place finish in one start at the track; Kevin Harvick, with one win, six top fives, eight top tens, 376 laps led, and an average finish of 8.5 in 11 starts; Justin Allgaier, with one top five, two top tens, 15 laps led, and an average finish of 10.2 in four starts; Kasey Kahne, with four top fives, seven top tens, one pole, 95 laps led, and an average finish of 10.6 in 11 starts; and points leader Sam Hornish, Jr., with one top ten, one lap led, and an average finish of 12.0 in two starts.

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park

    With the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series headlining at Atlanta, the Camping World Truck Series heads to Canada for their inaugural race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park near Toronto, which also is the first race for the series outside of the United States and marks the return to a road course for the first time since 2000. This race is basically a toss-up since only one driver in the field, Ron Hornaday Jr., has previous Truck Series road course experience, so this will be an interesting race to see who will become the inaugural race winner. The Trucks will take to the track for their race on Sunday afternoon, prior to the Sprint Cup Series race from Atlanta later that night.

  • Bryan Silas Goes Back to School During Truck Series Off Week

    Bryan Silas Goes Back to School During Truck Series Off Week

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Bryan Silas may have the weekend off from racing, however, he is taking full advantage of the time to go back to school. The T3R2 racer will be testing almost daily, from a road course in Virginia to a dirt track in New York.

    Silas hit the road course at Virginia International Raceway earlier this week in preparation for the Truck Series road course event later in the fall at the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.

    “This is actually a fun type of school and is much better than sitting in a school doing paper work,” Silas said. “I’ve been on a couple road courses but most of them have been very flat.”

    “I needed some experience on a road course with some elevation and VIR was one of those places that had some of that,” Silas continued. “I need to get that experience because the track we are going to, Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, apparently that place is just wild.”

    “There are a lot of elevation changes and it’s a road course that thinks it’s a super speedway.”

    So, what did the young driver learn on the VIR road course?

    “If you are going downhill to a corner, you can’t brake as late as you can going uphill,” Silas said. “This is the stuff I’m learning.”

    “And also going into a corner where you can’t see the exit and trusting that, going 110 mph, that you will make it through,” Silas continued. “That was a learning experience.”

    “I remember a couple of times there was a straightaway where you went uphill and the downhill and I felt my stomach get light a couple of times,” Silas said. “It just makes it that much more fun.”

    During the VIR road course test, Silas rode with the BMW Racing School and was most impressed with the horsepower of those vehicles.

    “There were four or five cars in line and I followed one of the BMW instructors,” Silas said. “They would show me where to lift and following the instructor who has done a million laps around the place was definitely a good learning experience.”

    After some wild road course testing, Silas will head to New York later in the week to do some dirt track testing, all in preparation for the upcoming Inaugural Mudsummer Classic set for July 24th at Tony Stewart’s track, Eldora Speedway.

    The 25 year old racer will be the guest of four-time dirt champion Bryan Holland for this test.  Silas will also experience the racing hands-on by working with the crew and then having his own private test session following that.

    “I have a total of four races under my belt on dirt, all in ARCA,” Silas said. “My dad is telling me that he thinks there will be 50 trucks showing up for the Eldora race.”

    “So, I have to get some dirt experience before I go there and make a fool of myself,” Silas joked. “So, I’m going to some track in New York and jumping into a late model the day after the race there to turn a bunch of laps.”

    “There will be a couple people there helping me get ready for Eldora,” Silas said. “I think my biggest challenge there will be trying to figure out the best line to get around the place.”

    “The issue will be learning how the track will change during that race.”

    Silas feels that his whole racing season to date in 2013 has been all about learning. Unfortunately, the racing gods have not been with Silas in his student phase.

    “Overall, I’ve learned a lot from last year and I’ve been able to use that this year,” Silas said. “Not only have the cars gotten better but I’ve gotten better with these Trucks.”

    “We’ve just had crappy luck,” Silas continued. “Daytona, we got wrecked out. Martinsville, we ended up blowing a drive shaft.”

    “And in Kansas, we were going to get a top 17 easy and we got caught in the wreck with Todd Bodine,” Silas said. “Our vehicles are heading in the right direction but we need to catch a little bit of luck and then we’ll be alright for Charlotte.”

    For Silas, though, his season really is all about learning and he is most eager to do so. But the best way to learn in his mind is to be there on the race track as much as possible.

    “I know I still have a lot to learn, but I’m eager,” Silas said. “I’d rather be on the race track.”

    “At this point in my career, I need as much testing as possible because I can learn so much,” Silas continued. “You look at the Cup racers and they are on track every week or if they do have an off week, they are racing somewhere else.”

    “So, it’s really hard to catch up, but I plan to,” Silas continued. “And I just have to keep learning and going to school.”

  • Ron Fellows: It’s a Privilege To Be Apart of the Ownership Group

    Ron Fellows: It’s a Privilege To Be Apart of the Ownership Group

    [media-credit id=4 align=”alignleft” width=”262″][/media-credit]During the 2012 racing off-season, it was announced that the ownership of Mosport Raceway had changed hands. Canadian Racer Ron Fellows, along with partners Alan Boughton and Carlo Fidani purchased Mosport from the previous ownership.

    “It’s really enjoyable to be a part of it. Mosport has been a big part of my life,” Fellows said last weekend at the Canadian Motorsports Expo. “I went to the first race in 1969 as an 11 year old kid and that’s where I got bitten by the bug to go racing for myself and have had a lot of firsts at Mosport in terms of big wins for me so the place has meant a lot to me. For me, to get an opportunity to be part of the ownership team with Carlo Fidani and Alan Boughton, it’s pretty special.”

    The interest to get in the ownership side began while out one day with Boughton and Fidani.

    “We were down at my performance driving school just west of Las Vegas and I had the two partners – Carlo Fidani and his two sons and Alan Boughton,” Fellows tells the story. “We were talking about owning a race track and Carlo basically said ‘What about Mosport? I heard it’s for sale’ and I said, ‘I know who to call’. So we got in touch with the previous ownership group and it started from there.”

    Fellows went to say that this is a good deal to be involved in as both Boughton and Fidani have business experience to lend to the venture in trying to improve the facility and run it.

    Immediately, the ownership group began making changes to the facility to upgrade it to improve it for drivers, fans, media and track staff.

    The first change they made was adding a new tunnel above turn nine to therefore improve the infrastructure of the track and allow people to be able to get around easier. They took out what Fellows called the “mouse tunnel” and put in a tunnel wide enough for two tractor trailers to fit through side-by-side.

    To improve the experience for the fans, they’ve done grading to improve the sight lines, created some new areas for camping, and there’s a road that connects all the facilities together now so fans don’t have to go on to the public road to get from one end to the other.

    There are also plans to put in a new registration centre and a new event centre, which will feature a media centre, timing and scoring and administration.

    It was announced at the Canadian Motorsports Expo that Mosport Raceway had formed a partnership with Canadian Tire. The deal marks a long-term partnership between the two parties and will see the track change names, now known at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. The newly named track will host the season opener for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series in May.

    “For the Canadian Tire Series to do their season opener at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park is absolutely ideal scenario for us,” Fellows said. “And then having a marketing partner like Canadian Tire, we feel its going to grow Mosport and create a lot more auto racing interest.”

    Through his years of racing at Mosport, Fellows has had a lot of accomplishments there. Some of these accomplishments include winning in a Ferrari back in 1997 and first TransAm win in 1989.