Road-course ace Fellows wins Montreal race on grooved rain tires
MONTREAL -- Carl Edwards used a squeegee to clean his windshield while he drove under caution.
It certainly was a history-making day at rainy Circuit Gilles Villeneuve -- right down to the winner, Canadian road-racer
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.
"It's very dangerous," Fellows said minutes before the race was called.
After just eight laps on the 2.71-mile, 14-turn road course, rain and lightning forced an eight-minute delay. The cars returned to the track with the grooved Goodyear tires and many also had a single windshield wiper.
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| Ron Fellows celebrates his fourth road-race win in 13 starts in the Nationwide Series. (AP) |
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.
After averaging about 90 mph on the regular slick tires before the rain arrived, the leaders' average speed dropped to about 75 mph on the grooved tires.
"That was different," Fellows said. "This is incredible."
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 Jr. was fourth, followed by Boris Said, Edwards, Jason Leffler, Greg Biffle, series leader Clint Bowyer and Scott Wimmer.
