Barrie, Ontario-Team 3 Red/EHR with Jason Hathaway behind the wheel of the #3 Snap on Tools Dodge returned to action on the ovals this past Sunday evening on the tight 1/3 mile oval of Barrie Speedway for the third round of racing in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. Team 3 Red/EHR took their #3 Snap on Tools Dodge to the track with high hopes of picking up the momentum they enjoyed off the top of the season with their 7th place finish at Cayuga Speedway in late May.
Under the watchful eye of Crew Chief Giulio Montanari the team practiced their car in two practice sessions on Sunday. As the sessions went on the car got better and at the conclusion of practice, Hathaway was sitting 3rd in the practice times.
"The car felt pretty good and got better and better each time we went out. It was neutral and I could do what I wanted with it and that is pretty good on a track as tough as this one!" said Hathaway after the afternoon practice sessions.
The qualifying session did not go as well as planned for the Team. With cool tires and only two laps to get the quickest time in the field, Hathaway put in a disappointing 15th place time of 14.248 sec on the 1/3-mile oval.
The green flag flew on the MOPAR 300 at 8:45 pm and the cars roared to life for the gruelling 300 lap event. Off the start Hathaway was able to capitalize and started his progression to the front of the pack. By lap 100 Hathaway was up to the 7th running position in a tough field of cars. A hard fought battle with the #25 car of Jim Lapcevich combined with some great driving placed Hathaway in the 2nd running position by lap 131. He also earned 5 bonus points for a leading a lap of the 300 lap event!. Running behind the leader, Hathaway got caught up in a mid race caution and suffered some fiberglass damage and restarted at the rear of the field. Hathaway made his way back up through the field and at lap 200 was back up to 7th place.
On lap 213, under caution, a mystery penalty administered by NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Officials pulled Hathaway out of 7th place that he earned and relegated him to the back of the field. Now, deep in the pack with tons of "beating & banging" going on Hathaway had no choice but to hold on for the remaining 79 laps and bring his car home in one piece.
A disappointed Guilio Montanari reflected on the night's event. "What a brutal way to end this race. The guys worked so hard in the pits and this is pretty disappointing. We had a great race going, the car was handling well and Jason and Duane worked awesome together. Spotting in the stands, Duane got him through a whole bunch of chaos on the track...he has great eyes up there and it saved the car I don't know how many times."
"On the track tonight there were tons of accidents out there and we missed so many of them. Duane did a great job getting me through the traffic and helping to keep the car in one piece. We had a great car tonight and it was fun to drive. It is pretty disappointing that we were penalized and couldn't show what this team was capable of achieving." said Hathaway after climbing out of his damaged racing machine.
Team 3 Red/EHR will head to beautiful Vernon, British Columbia for their event next scheduled event at Sun Valley Speedway July 15th. The Team will finish up their western swing with their second appearance at the Edmonton Grand Prix in Edmonton, Alberta July 20th & 21st.
Team 3 Red/EHR is proud to be associated with their great sponsors and supporters. Team 3 Red/EHR thanks Snap-on Tools, Super 8 Motels, Advantex Freight Forwarders, Fast Eddie Racewear and Choko Motorsports, Briggs & Stratton, Castrol, Napoleon Fireplaces & Barbeques, Xilarate Sports Fluid and The Busted Knuckle Garage. For more information on our sponsors please visit our website at
www.team3red.com.
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