Barrie II: Mark Dilley race notes

DILLEY FINISHES FIFTH AT HOME TRACK BARRIE

Barrie, ON, Monday September 8, 2008: Mark Dilley brought his No. 9 Dodge Avenger across the finish line in fifth on Saturday night in the Pizza Pizza 300 at Barrie Speedway, event eleven in the thirteen race NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.

During the afternoon practice session the No. 9 driver had his team make some adjustments to the car that got him near the top of the speed charts. When qualifying was over Dilley was scored as the third quickest, which lined him up in the second row on the inside for the start of the Pizza Pizza 300 later in the evening.

At the drop of the green flag Dilley quickly moved up into second behind leader and pole sitter Don Thomson Jr. They would run in this order for the first 70 laps before Dilley dropped back to third. He ran in third until a lap 132 caution sent him to pit road for left side tires. Upon returning to the track Dilley would find himself in the ninth position. The next caution flag at lap 158 had him coming back down pit road for right side tires. When all pit stops had cycled through the No. 9 Dodge Avenger would restart from the seventh position. It was a battle for the second half of the race on this tight tri-oval track with Dilley running as high as fifth and as far back as eighth. "We had hoped for a better finish than fifth, but we got held up by a lead lap car for the last 20 laps who was slower than the pack behind him but it is real hard to pass here," said Dilley after the race. "You don't want to bump somebody out of the way but we'll take it. We are looking forward to Antigonish in two weeks as we won that one last year."

-credit: wm