Team press release
TROIS RIVIERES, QUEBEC, Monday Aug. 8, 2011: Mark Dilley driver of the No. 9 Exide/Rheem/Farwell Racing Dodge was sixth quickest in practice, and posted the ninth quickest time in qualifying. Dilley had visibility and electrical problems and finished the GP3R 100 in 19th.
In practice Dilley was sixth quickest. The team made several adjustments to get the car where they wanted it, and after practice Dilley commented, “Man we have a fast car, it feels really good and with the changes I think we can get more out of it.â€Â
For qualifying, the cars were sent out in two groups, according to their practice times, and each group was given fifteen minutes to tour the track and post their best times. Dilley was ninth quickest out of a 33 car field, posting a time of 1:09.232 with an average speed of 79.559 miles per hour.
Before the race Dilley commented that, “We’ve only raced once in the rain so it should be pretty wild. The biggest issue were going to have today is going to be our visibility out there, but were going to try to stay out of trouble and get a good finish.â€Â
As the field took to the track for the warm up laps, NASCAR brought the competitors to pit road so the teams could prepare the cars to race in the rain.
With the drop of the green flag, Dilley picked up positions and settled into sixth and on lap two picked up another position putting the No. 9 in fifth place. After moving into fifth, Dilley came on the radio and told his team, “I can’t see a thing out here.†After which he started to drop back a few positions trying to increase his visibility, but nothing was working. When the full course caution came out on lap 11, Dilley had moved back in to the eighth position.
By lap 25, visibility was a huge issue and Dilley had dropped back to 14th, eventually going down a lap to the leader Robin Buck. The second caution came out on lap 35 and Dilley was running in 15th when he had an electrical issue and had to come to pit road. While under caution the team was able to make repairs and get the No. 9 Exide/Rheem Dodge back out on the track.
The restart was a green, white, checkered finish and Dilley was able to pick up three positions after the white flag to bring the No. 9 Exide/Rheem Dodge home in 19th place.
After the race Dilley commented, “What can I say, just a very frustrating day for the whole Exide/Rheem team, we were running in fifth early on and I just lost all visibility and couldn’t see a thing. We had such a good car this weekend and it would have been nice to have some dry conditions. We could have been in contention for a top five finish, but we’ll get them in Montrealâ€Â
The GPR3 100 aired on TSN on August 7th at 3:30 p.m. EST., and the replay will air August 17th at 1:30 p.m. EST.
Dilley is currently seventh in the NASCAR point standings. The next stop for Dilley and the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will be in two weeks’ time when the teams head to Quebec again for the NCATS Montreal at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Photo by Joe Hamilton
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