UNB! NETWORK STAFF REPORT
This past weekend in the NASCAR racing world had a happy ending for two drivers. One of them took the points lead in the Truck Series to go along with his win. Another won in his home state.
Paul Menard, a Wisconsin native, managed to save fuel and win the Road America 180 Fired Up by Johnsonville at Road America this past Saturday, and he seemed really grateful for this XFINITY Series victory.
"This is a track that I've spent a lot of time at as a kid riding around on ATVs, finding these little trails," Menard said. "Indy, Milwaukee and Road America are the three tracks that are really close to me and now I've been able to win at all three. I'm a pretty lucky guy."
During a mid-race pit stop, Menard was told that he needed to save two gallons of fuel without stopping again on the Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin road course.
Menard would have to hold off Ryan Blaney on a late race restart around the 4.048 mile track.
"These road races are hard to win and a lot of strategy goes into it," said Danny Stockman Jr., Menard's crew chief, after the race. "We didn't have the best car. We had a fourth or fifth place car, I felt like. But we had this on our calendar that we wanted to win and you have to take risks. Paul did an excellent job. We had another lap of fuel in the car."
"I was saving fuel. Caution laps were our friends," Menard said about a six-lap caution period that was followed by a restart with four laps to go.
Menard and Blaney began to separate themselves with about two laps to go. "We had a good car all day. We had a shot at the end," Blaney said. "We just didn't get quite close enough to Paul to make a move."
Menard actually began to wonder if Blaney wpuld shove his var out of the way so that Blaney could make the pass, which is famously known as a bump and run.
"The thought crossed my mind, but he's not going to burn any bridges where he doesn't have to," Menard said. "He was bumping me for sure. For him to have moved me would have been kind of a Hail Mary and he knows that would have come back to bite him in some capacity in the future. He came up to me in victory lane and I told him thank you for racing me clean."
The following day, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series raced at Canadian tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario in Canada. Erik Jones would not only win, but he would grab the points lead.
"It was a blast," Jones said about racing with Alex Tagliani. "It was nerve-racking. It's a little intense when you've got a guy like that running you down for 15 laps.
"We had a pretty long talk about racing people the way you want to be raced. I've never been one to want to move somebody to win a race, and he hasn't either. It's nice to see that respect, especially from a veteran like that to me. It's not something he had to do. It means a lot to me that he did."
"It shredded completely," Tagliani said about a broken gear that his truck had suffered, which gave him a fifth-place finish. "It was pretty much good all race. I felt a couple of times it was kind of scratchy on the downshift, but no sign it was going to be bad. As soon as I put third gear on the backstraight, it just went. I put it in fourth, and it just kind of limped all the way back home."
Tagliani won a Champ Car race at Road America in 2004.
Jones would beat Matt Crafton to the checkered flag by 1.655 seconds around thr 2.459-mile road course.
The win was Jones' 5th-career Truck Series victory in the 32-career Truck Series starts that he has made.
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| Local driver Paul Menard held off Ryan Blaney to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Road America this past Saturday. (AP Photo/Andy Manis) |
Paul Menard, a Wisconsin native, managed to save fuel and win the Road America 180 Fired Up by Johnsonville at Road America this past Saturday, and he seemed really grateful for this XFINITY Series victory.
"This is a track that I've spent a lot of time at as a kid riding around on ATVs, finding these little trails," Menard said. "Indy, Milwaukee and Road America are the three tracks that are really close to me and now I've been able to win at all three. I'm a pretty lucky guy."
During a mid-race pit stop, Menard was told that he needed to save two gallons of fuel without stopping again on the Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin road course.
Menard would have to hold off Ryan Blaney on a late race restart around the 4.048 mile track.
"These road races are hard to win and a lot of strategy goes into it," said Danny Stockman Jr., Menard's crew chief, after the race. "We didn't have the best car. We had a fourth or fifth place car, I felt like. But we had this on our calendar that we wanted to win and you have to take risks. Paul did an excellent job. We had another lap of fuel in the car."
"I was saving fuel. Caution laps were our friends," Menard said about a six-lap caution period that was followed by a restart with four laps to go.
Menard and Blaney began to separate themselves with about two laps to go. "We had a good car all day. We had a shot at the end," Blaney said. "We just didn't get quite close enough to Paul to make a move."
Menard actually began to wonder if Blaney wpuld shove his var out of the way so that Blaney could make the pass, which is famously known as a bump and run.
"The thought crossed my mind, but he's not going to burn any bridges where he doesn't have to," Menard said. "He was bumping me for sure. For him to have moved me would have been kind of a Hail Mary and he knows that would have come back to bite him in some capacity in the future. He came up to me in victory lane and I told him thank you for racing me clean."
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| Erik Jones celebrates after winning the Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Sunday. (PHOTO: John Walker) |
"It was a blast," Jones said about racing with Alex Tagliani. "It was nerve-racking. It's a little intense when you've got a guy like that running you down for 15 laps.
"We had a pretty long talk about racing people the way you want to be raced. I've never been one to want to move somebody to win a race, and he hasn't either. It's nice to see that respect, especially from a veteran like that to me. It's not something he had to do. It means a lot to me that he did."
"It shredded completely," Tagliani said about a broken gear that his truck had suffered, which gave him a fifth-place finish. "It was pretty much good all race. I felt a couple of times it was kind of scratchy on the downshift, but no sign it was going to be bad. As soon as I put third gear on the backstraight, it just went. I put it in fourth, and it just kind of limped all the way back home."
Tagliani won a Champ Car race at Road America in 2004.
Jones would beat Matt Crafton to the checkered flag by 1.655 seconds around thr 2.459-mile road course.
The win was Jones' 5th-career Truck Series victory in the 32-career Truck Series starts that he has made.
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