Carpentier still trying to get used to Cup cars

Patrick Carpentier

The “foreign invasion" is a big story this NASCAR season, and Patrick Carpentier, one of the newest, from Montreal, did pretty well Sunday at Phoenix in his first oval track NASCAR run.

“You have to be so smooth that it’s almost impossible," Carpentier said. “You have to go in hard and then get off the throttle. You abuse the car … and then as soon as you do that for 10 laps you are done. The car just slides.

“Every time they put new tires on, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is good. Oh, I got it. I get the picture.’ Then 10 laps later I was back to battling the car."

Kenny Schrader is coaching Carpentier for car owner Ray Evernham.

“Kenny said if you do 310 laps, you’ve achieved a really good weekend, so we did it," Carpentier said. “I just want to be nice with the guys. I didn’t want to be in anybody’s way. I gave a lot of hand waves to go by, and that is important for future races." Winston Salem Journal