He’s a jolly good Fellows
Carl Edwards used a squeegee to clean his windshield while he drove under caution. Jacques Villeneuve and Joey Logano wrecked with the yellow flag flying. And rooster tails flew off the grooved – yes, grooved – back tires.
It certainly was a history-making day at rainy Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal – right down to the winner, Canadian road-racer Ron Fellows.
In the first NASCAR points race run on grooved rain tires, Fellows splashed his way to victory – his fourth road-race win in 13 Nationwide Series starts – in the event that ended 26 laps early because of heavy rain and poor visibility.
“Visibility was the big, big problem,” said Fellows, the first Canadian winner in a major NASCAR race in Canada. “At over 70 mph, there was just so much spray.”
The 48-year-old Ontario driver took advantage of Marcos Ambrose’s pit-road speeding penalty to take the lead, and had about a half-minute advantage over fellow Canadian Patrick Carpentier when the NAPA Auto Parts 200 was red-flagged.
Grooved tires also were used in 1999 during a Craftsman Truck Series practice on the road course at Watkins Glen. In 1997, rain tires were used in practice and qualifying for an exhibition race in Japan.
Fellows, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports, led the final seven laps. Ambrose finished third after leading a race-high 27 laps.
Ron Hornaday was fourth, followed by Boris Said, Edwards, Jason Leffler, Greg Biffle, series leader Clint Bowyer and Scott Wimmer.
Final practice rained out
The final practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., was rained out.
The 43 starters will have to make do with Friday’s hour practice in preparation for today’s Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500. The race-day forecast called for sunshine and a high of 72 degrees.
Hamilton takes pole
Lewis Hamilton took a big step toward winning his third straight Formula One race by claiming the pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest, Hungary.
The McLaren driver set a fastest lap of 1 minute, 20.899 seconds for his 10th career pole and second straight at the twisting Hungaroring track. Hamilton was more than two-tenths of a second faster than teammate Heikki Kovalainen to give McLaren a 1-2 front row for today. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa will start from third ahead of Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber.