WHITLOCK TAKES DICKIES DODGE CHARGER TO SECOND IN ATTO 300

BARRIE, ON: It has been a hard struggle this year for Dave Whitlock and his No. 39 Dickies/Hamilton Tiger-Cats/NMT Dodge Charger team. It sometimes seems that anything that can go wrong will go wrong but they put that behind them on Saturday night with a second place finish in the Atto 300 before another sold out crowd at Barrie Speedway.

In the first practice session Whitlock posted the second quickest time but on the last lap of the second practice session, the Dickies Dodge Charger got out front under Whitlock in the tricky turn three/four area and the back of the car made contact with the wall. The team took over and make quick repairs and while Whitlock qualified back in the field in fifteenth they knew the car would be good for the race.

The green flag for the Atto 300 fell at 8:45 and pole sitter Kerry Micks moved out to the front of the field where he would remain for the early part of the race. Whitlock's strategy was to just post some laps and get comfortable in the car. By lap seventy the Dickies Dodge Charger had moved into the top ten and late into the first hundred laps he moved into the top five.

A long green flag run ensued and Whitlock just kept moving up and by the time the caution fell again on lap one hundred ninety-five he was in second place. A quick entrance to pit road to the attention of his crew and Whitlock would bring the No. 39 Dickies Dodge back on track in third position. On lap two hundred thirty-nine Whitlock moved to the front. On a late race restart the No. 17 of D.J. Kennington nosed past Whitlock to take the lead.

While the No. 39 could catch Kennington he just didn't have enough to get past him. In post race technical inspection it became apparent why they could not get past Kennington at the end of the event. Early on in the race an incident with a lapped car had severely damaged the left side steering.

"We were so lucky to finish this race," stated a happy Whitlock after the event. "The left front suspension took a huge hit early in the race when a lapped car got into me. We knew it was damaged as I was having to over steer the car in the turns, but this Dickies/Hamilton Tiger Cats/NMT Dodge Charger hung in there all night. I think we would have had something for D.J. if not for that problem."

Finish 1. No. 17 D. J. Kennington 2. No. 39 Dave Whitlock 3. No. 4 Don Thomson Jr. Heading into the final two events of the 2007 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series season, No. 27 Andrew Ranger holds an eighty-seven point lead over second place Kennington, while Whitlock moved back into the top ten in the standings.

Event number eleven on the season is this weekend at the recently upgraded Riverside Speedway in Antigonish, Nova Scotia - Saturday Sept. 15th. Whitlock looks forward to returning to Riverside where he raced several years ago with much success. This one-third mile high banked oval is noted to be very fast and the fans in Eastern Canada are likely in for another great race from the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series teams.