August 31, 2008. For the fifth time this season Don Thomson Jr. and the Home Hardware Chevrolet team started a NASCAR Canadian Tire series (NCATS) event from the pole position. Round number ten this past Saturday at Cayuga Speedway would prove to be roller coaster ride for the team.
The drama began for the Home Hardware Chevrolet team right from the drop of the green flag as Thomson was ruled by NASCAR to have jumped the start and would be forced to serve a drive through penalty. “Not to highlight that as how our day went but I didn’t feel the ruling was consistent with some of the others made this year but we had no option but to serve the penalty” said the driver.
On the upside the Home Hardware Chevrolet did not do down a lap as the caution flag flew just after Thomson served the penalty and he then set about battling back to the front. The progress of the Home Hardware Chevy would then be hampered by a mechanical issue.
The horsepower that was demonstrated earlier in the day as Thomson turned his practice and qualifying laps earlier in the day was absent from the car. The Home Hardware team knew that the car was not working at anywhere near full power.
The Home Hardware team would conduct a series of pit stops as caution periods allowed looking to diagnose the problem. “It turned out to be a bad plug wire” said Thomson. “We weren’t eve sure we’d be able to fix it. But we got the chance late in the event. A great job by the team to orchestrate the pit stops and make the repairs, they got the plug wire back on, we had no air cleaner on, we were running around with just a carb at the end but it was awesome work by the team to get that plug wire fixed”.
With time winding down and the Home Hardware team focused on making the repairs, other planned service had to be sacrificed. “We made some calls trying to set up for the end, having to make several stops to fix that plug wire we didn’t get tires on the car or we might have been able to come out a little better”.
With the Home Hardware Chevrolet back at full power Thomson would climb his way forward to a seventh place finish. “We had a little shoot out at the end with the green, white, checker finish, we were up to fourth briefly but it’s chaos out there, I ended up three wide going down the back stretch so I had to lift and lost a couple of spots, but we bounced back to seventh, all things considered the Home Hardware team had a pretty good night. A big thanks to the team for all their hard work”.
Now with seven top-ten finishes this season Don Thomson sits fourth in the overall championship standings.
The 2008 NCATS schedule has expanded to thirteen events this year run on ovals, road courses and temporary street circuits across Canada. Teams will be back in action this coming Saturday, September 6th at Barrie Speedway. You can watch all thirteen races this season on TSN. For information about the NCATS including schedule, results and more, log onto www.nascar.ca.ca
Photo: Home Hardware Chevy on track at Cayuga Speedway // Photo Credit: Rod Andrews of www.canadianracer.com // This release prepared by TL Sports & Entertainment
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