Delaware race report

DELAWARE, ONTARIO, CANADA (September 3, 2000)- The CASCAR CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 lived up to its title as 'The Great Canadian Race' as a record crowd of 13,783 witnessed CASCAR veteran Al Turner win the oldest and richest stock car race in Canada Sunday afternoon at Delaware Speedway Park, just outside London, Ontario, Canada.

Driving his Blue Streak-sponsored Dodge Intrepid, Turner, of Barrie, ON, started on the outside of the front row for the CARQUEST 300 and drove to the front on lap 210 of the 300 lap race. He dominated the remainder of the race and earned his second CASCAR checkered flag of the season at the London, ON area half-mile oval, his fourth CARQUEST win of the 2000 season.

It was an emotional victory for Turner after the race as he was joined atop the CARQUEST winner's podium by his son James, who underwent emergency surgery for a large tumor in his back in late July.

Finishing second to Turner was hometown favorite Steve Robblee, CASCAR's all-time winningest driver. Robblee started near the back of the 39-car field and fought his way forward, battling intense heat inside his car in the caution-filled race. Robblee had qualified 11th for the start, but was bumped to the back for being late for the mandatory pre-race drivers' meeting.

Three-time CASCAR Castrol Super Series National champion Dave Whitlock took the third and final CARQUEST podium position.

The challengers for the CASCAR National Championship were all involved in incidents that knocked them out of contention for the race victory. A broken motor under the hood of Peter Gibbons' Chevy wasn't enough, however, to deny him of his second consecutive and career Super Series National title. Gibbons' car lost power on lap 219, leaving the Stouffville, ON-racer 30th in the final rundown. But that was enough to maintain a 21 point gap over Don Thomson Jr., who had mechanical troubles of his own, and could only muster a 26th. Kevin Dowler and Carl Harr were also involved in wrecks, which left them unable to make up any ground on Gibbons.