Submitted by TL Sports & Entertainment
June 6, 2011 - Promising young western Canadian racer Noel Dowler Jr. made his debut in the #5 EMCO Dodge in round two of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series this past weekend at Circuit ICAR north of Montreal, Quebec. With only a few laps in the race car the 18 year old from Sherwood Park, Alberta showed maturity and a thirst for information.
Prior to the weekend race schedule Dowler participated in a racing school conducted at Circuit ICAR to become familiar with the course layout and how full size cars would feel on it. “It definitely helped” said Dowler. “I’m used to running Karts and to get a taste of what the #5 EMCO Dodge would feel like made a lot of sense” he added.
Throughout practice the team looked to address how the car was handling based on Dowler’s feedback and make adjustments accordingly. “Everybody was so helpful and enthusiastic” said the driver. “The whole DJK Racing team worked so hard all weekend to make the car better and to repair any problems when they came up. It gave me a boost to see us making progress every time out and I wanted to keep doing better” he stated.
During qualifying Dowler took a cautious approach but also wanted to push the #5 EMCO Dodge as his comfort level had grown considerably through the practice sessions. “We shaved a lot of time off our laps during the day and when we qualified mid pack in 20th that was a pretty good result” said Dowler.
Knowing this was his first ever NASCAR event Dowler looked to be patient at the start of the race with the #5 EMCO Dodge for the race Sunday afternoon. Other drivers in the field however weren’t necessarily using the same practice. On the opening lap with cars battling for position Dowler made contact with the #90 damaging the right front tire and suspension. Noel managed to limp the car back to pit lane but after the team assessed the damage was too severe to continue.
While not even close to the race result Dowler had hoped for in the #5 EMCO Dodge there are a lot of positives to be taken from their first weekend of NASCAR Competition. “We just got caught up in a racing incident” explained the driver. “I’ve got to thank everyone at Apollo Motorsports and DJK Racing for all the hard work put in to get ready and for this weekend. We learned so much together this weekend and that will make an enormous difference when we race again in a few weeks. I can’t wait to get back in the car again” he added.
The next event of the 2011 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series schedule for Noel Dowler is the road course event at Mosport Raceway the weekend of June 24 & 25.