WHITLOCK DENIED GOOD FINISH WHEN RACE CALLED DUE TO RAIN

Wyoming, ON, Wednesday Oct. 1, 2008: Saturday’s running of the Dodge Dealers of Ontario Dodge Ram 250 at Kawartha Speedway was called after 174 of the scheduled 250 laps due to rain. Whitlock and his No. 39 Dickies/NMT/PRCRFC Dodge Avenger team played the pit strategy card and lost as they were one of only a handful of teams who pitted early.

The final event of the 2008 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series season took the green flag under cloudy skies with a light mist of rain falling. Whitlock started from the tenth position and was able to run in the top ten even as high as sixth before the crew made the call to pit early on lap 103.

The strategy was to have them in position that when the remainder of the lead lap cars pitted later, they would all return to the track behind the No. 39 Dodge of Whitlock. However the rain started to get heavier and after running over 20 caution laps the cars were brought down pit road under red flag conditions.

Much to the disappointment of the No. 39 Dickies team, NASCAR made the decision to call the race official after only 174 laps of the schedule 250 laps. “This was definitely not the way we wanted to finish the season,” stated Whitlock after the race. “The car was decent and the guys made an adjustment when I came in for tires and fuel and we were running great. Only two or three cars ahead of us had pitted yet, so when the other ten came in we would have been running in the top three.” Whitlock was officially scored as twelfth at the conclusion of the race event.

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series crowned Scott Steckly driving the No. 22 Dodge as the 2008 Champion on Saturday night. Dodge won the Manufacturers Cup for the second year in a row and congratulations go out to all the competing Dodge teams who helped make that possible.

The Dodge Dealers of Ontario Dodge Ram 250 from Kawartha Speedway will air on TSN on Sat. Oct. 11 at 11 a.m. EST