Bowmanville, Ontario – Scott Steckly and his Canadian Tire/Sylvania Dodge team headed to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for the first race in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 with hopes of a strong start to defend their 2013 championship.

 

The Steckly team were a little off during the first practice run on Saturday posting the 10th quickest time but Steckly along with crew chief Randy Steckly and car chief Greg Gibson met to discuss changes they felt would help the car manouevre the 2.459-mile, 10-turn course better. Those changes seemed to work as the Canadian Tire Dodge speed and performance improved moving them up to third quickest overall during the final practice session. In qualifying later in the afternoon, Steckly was shown on the board in 10th. “Not quite the qualifying run we hoped for,” said Steckly. “But I think we have a car that will race well over the 51 laps tomorrow.”

 

At the drop of the green flag for the Pinty’s presents the Clarington 200, Steckly quickly moved up several positions from his 10th place starting spot and their race strategy was falling into place. A lap 12 caution would see the 22 Racing crew make pit stops for fuel and tires and it was then up to the driver to make his moves to the front. Steckly was pushing for a top five spot at the mid-point of the race and over drove into corner three. The ensuing spin and contact by other cars proved to be the end of the day for the Canadian Tire/Sylvania Dodge team and a 25th place result was recorded.

 

“I just got too aggressive and impatient out there today,” said a disappointed Steckly after the race. “I was following a couple of other drivers who were a bit slower and I attempted to go into the corner a little deeper under braking. This car today was probably one of the best I have ever driven at CTMP. I can’t thank my crew enough as they work so hard to get this car to give me a great car every week and all of our great sponsors who support us.”

 

The second event on the 2014 schedule will be at Autodrome Chaudiere in Vallee-Jonction, QC on Saturday June 14th. This will be the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series inaugural visit to this quarter mile oval track.

 

The Pinty’s presents the Clarington 200 from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park will air May 25 at 12:30 p.m. ET on TSN and June 13 at 10:30 p.m. on RDS2

 

Scott Steckly is supported by the following companies: Canadian Tire Corporation, Osram Sylvania, Mobil 1, Erb Group of Companies, AW Millwrights, Reefer Sales and Metrocom Canada.

 

Fans can follow Scott Steckly through his website at 22racing.ca or on Twitter @ScottSteckly22 or you can Like the 22RacingTeam fan page on Facebook. For all at track updates during race weekends for Scott and the other 22 Racing Team entries follow us on Twitter @22RacingTeam.