Canadians 1-2 in Montreal rain

Ron Fellows won his 4th career Nationwide race

"Rain man" Ron Fellows took advantage of pit strategy and an early end to Saturday’s NAPA Auto Parts 200 to score the fourth NASCAR Nationwide Series victory of his career — and his first at a track other than Watkins Glen International.

In the first NASCAR points race on rain tires — tires constructed in 1999, no less — Fellows, a road course specialist and a two-time class winner in the rain at Le Mans, held the lead when NASCAR called the race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve 25 laps short of its scheduled distance of 74 laps.

Fellows, 48, had pitted early on Lap 22 and gradually worked his way to the front, taking the lead when Jacques Villeneuve pitted on Lap 42.

"That was difficult," Fellows said as he climbed from the No. 5 Chevrolet fielded by Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports. "We’ve had a little bit of that over in France with the Corvette at Le Mans.

"But this was good fun. Now I’ve got to make Dale Jr. let me run next week (when the NASCAR Nationwide Series goes to Watkins Glen)."

Earnhardt is scheduled to race in the No. 5 Chevy in the NASCAR Nationwide Series next week. Fellows will drive the No. 01 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Inc. in the Sprint Cup race.

Patrick Carpentier, a native of Quebec, finished second for the second straight year at the 2.709-mile road course. Carpentier gained ground after NASCAR red-flagged the race on Lap 8 because of rain and required all cars to change from slicks to rain tires that featured a tread pattern designed to push water away.

"The rain tire — everybody had questions about it, but it worked," Carpentier said. "I don’t know if I would have wanted to be out there on dry tires that were nine years old, but the (rain) tires held up very well."

Third-place finisher Marcos Ambrose led a race-high 27 laps, but a penalty for speeding on pit road deprived him of the chance to win.

"I feel a little jinxed," Ambrose said. "I felt like I dominated the race. I feel really disappointed. I felt like it was our race today."

Ron Hornaday Jr. ran fourth, followed by Boris Said, Carl Edwards, Jason Leffler, Greg Biffle, series points leader Clint Bowyer and Scott Wimmer.

With the skies getting darker and visibility becoming a major problem, NASCAR called a halt to the proceedings after cars started wrecking under caution. Villeneuve was running sixth when he sustained severe damage to the front end of his Toyota, and minutes later, Joey Logano lost a fourth-place finish when he ran into the lapped car of Alex Garcia.

Notes: Legendary Hollywood stunt man Stan Barrett, who hadn’t competed in a NASCAR race since 1990, qualified 42nd and finished 39th, 14 positions behind his son, Stanton Barrett. That marked the first time since June 30, 2002 — when Tim Sauter and sons Jay, Johnny and Tim raced together at the Milwaukee Mile — that a father and son competed in the same NASCAR Nationwide Series race. Barrett, 65, was the first person to exceed the speed of sound in a land vehicle (739.666 mph in 1979). … Under the third caution of the race, Edwards drove with one hand, and with the other, used a Swiffer to wipe the rain off his windshield. The No. 60 Ford team opted not to mount a windshield wiper when the crew changed to rain tires under the first caution.

Results

FIN

ST CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR PTS/BNS LAPS STATUS
1 6 5 Ron Fellows Chevrolet GoDaddy.com 190/5 48 Running
2 4 9 Patrick Carpentier * Dodge Subway 170/0 48 Running
3 3 59 Marcos Ambrose Ford STP 175/10 48 Running
4 10 20 Joey Logano Toyota GameStop 160/0 48 Running
5 12 33 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet Camping World/ RVs.com 155/0 48 Running
6 5 32 Jacques Villeneuve Toyota L'Equipeur / Ganotec 155/5 48 Running
7 7 25 Boris Said Ford No Fear / Team Smithfield / Advance Auto Parts 146/0 48 Running
8 18 60 Carl Edwards Ford CitiFinancial 142/0 48 Running
9 14 38 Jason Leffler Toyota Great Clips 138/0 48 Running
10 16 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M 134/0 48 Running
11 29 2 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet BB&T 130/0 48 Running
12 8 66 Steve Wallace Chevrolet 5-Hour Energy 127/0 48 Running
13 17 29 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet Holiday Inn / Holiday Inn Express 124/0 48 Running
14 28 88 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet U.S. Navy 121/0 48 Running
15 30 6 David Ragan Ford Discount Tire 118/0 48 Running
16 19 4 Landon Cassill * Chevrolet Miccosukee Resort & Gaming 115/0 48 Running
17 11 7 Mike Wallace Toyota GEICO 112/0 48 Running
18 32 99 David Reutimann Toyota NAPA AUTO PARTS 109/0 48 Running
19 25 1 Mike Bliss Chevrolet Miccosukee Resort & Gaming 106/0 48 Running
20 2 64 Max Papis Chevrolet Atreus Homes & Communities 103/0 48 Running
21 9 27 Brad Coleman Ford Scott Towels / Kleenex 100/0 48 Running
22 1 40 Scott Pruett Dodge Fastenal 102/5 48 Running
23 23 111 Jason Keller Chevrolet America's Incredible Pizza Company 94/0 48 Running
24 26 47 Kelly Bires Ford Clorox 91/0 48 Running
25 21 30 Stanton Barrett Chevrolet NOS Energy Drink 88/0 48 Running
26 24 198 Alex Garcia Chevrolet Dixien / OmniSource Corp. 85/0 48 Running
27 22 81 D.J. Kennington Dodge Mahindra Tractors 82/0 48 Running
28 15 22 Andrew Ranger Dodge Supercuts / Tide / Wal-Mart 79/0 46 In Pit
29 37 52 Scott Gaylord Ford Means Racing 76/0 46 Running
30 20 24 Brian Simo Chevrolet Long John Silver's 73/0 44 In Pit
31 28 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet Reel Deal "Card Games" on Phantom EFX 70/0 42 Running
32 38 0 Wheeler Boys Chevrolet SponsorDavis.com 67/0 38 In Pit
33 13 10 Justin Marks Toyota Future Electronics 64/0 20 In Pit
34 43 01 Trevor Boys Chevrolet SponsorDavis.com 61/0 14 In Pit
35 31 05 Burney Lamar Ford 31-W Insulation / CertainTeed 58/0 9 In Pit
36 35 331 Jeff Fuller Chevrolet GrandStay.net 55/0 8 In Pit
37 41 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet Racing With Jesus 52/0 8 In Pit
38 34 162 Brandon Whitt Ford Specialty Racing 49/0 8 In Pit
39 42 161 Stan Barrett Chevrolet INTERUSH.net 46/0 8 In Pit
40 90 Don Thomson Jr. Chevrolet MSRP Motorsports 43/0 2 In Pit
41 36 91 Scott Steckly Chevrolet MSRP Motorsports 40/0 3 In Pit
42 40 84 Dale Quarterley Chevrolet Mike Harmon Racing 37/0 3 In Pit
43 33 149 Derrike Cope Chevrolet Jay Robinson Inc. 34/0 2 In Pit