Trois-Rivieres: Dave Whitlock race notes

WHITLOCK'S DAY ENDS EARLY IN TROIS RIVIERES

TROIS RIVIERES, QC, Sunday August 16 2009: The No. 39 Whitlock Motorsports/Dickies Dodge Avenger of Dave Whitlock had a promising day turn bad when the rear gear overheated and the car started smoking with about 15 laps remaining in the GP3R 100 on Sunday resulting in a 21st place finish.

Whitlock and his team worked hard on the Dickies/NMT Dodge Avenger on both Friday and Saturday fine tuning it for Sunday's race. After qualifying, Whitlock was unhappy with the braking system and they went back to the drawing board and made a lot of changes to the car to get it better for their driver.

Under hot sunny skies and in front of thousands of enthusiastic race fans, the engines fired Sunday afternoon for the 100 km, 43 lap race. Whitlock would run as high as 14th and was continuing to move up in the field when the No. 39 started to show signs of smoke. NASCAR informed crew chief Warren Jones to have him come to pit road for inspection. When that was complete it was determined to be terminal and the team were done for the day. "We thought this was going to be a good day for us," stated Whitlock after the race. "We want to thank all the fans and event organizers here in Trois Rivieres for their hospitality. The whole town is behind this event and it shows from the number of fans in attendance and all the events going on around the city all weekend. We really enjoy coming here. I just wish we could have brought the Dickies Dodge Avenger home with a better finish."

Andrew Ranger won for the fifth time this season with No. 95 Anthony Simone in hot pursuit. D. J. Kennington finished third with Jacques Villeneuve and Ron Beauchamp Jr. crossing the line fourth and fifth. Whitlock was officially scored 21st.

-credit: wm