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| GARY GRANT PHOTO |
June 27, 2011. In just his second NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race behind the wheel of the #5 EMCO Dodge at Mosport International Raceway, Noel Dowler Jr. of Sherwood Park, Alberta faced plenty of adversity and put in a strong showing and demonstrated plenty of poise and maturity.
Dowler’s first event in the #5 EMCO Dodge ended early with contact. Knowing that getting as much time in the seat was essential the team hoped to use both practice sessions and qualifying to allow the young man to get as comfortable as possible in his first trip to the challenging course near Bowmanville, Ontario.
Rain sprinkles hampered the first practice session on Saturday afternoon and during the second round of practice Dowler made a mistake that countless drivers before him have also made. “I got a little bit wide in corner two and got the wheels onto the grass” explained Dowler. The result because of the wet grass was that the car slid into the tire barrier and caused significant right side damage to the #5 EMCO Dodge. “I hate it for the team because there’s a lot of repair work to be done” he added.
With Dowler himself helping wherever possible the #5 EMCO Dodge team stayed very late Saturday to complete repairs. Further rain showers cancelled the qualifying session and Dowler would have lined up 13th for the race, but due to the nature of the repairs Dowler would forfeit his starting spot and move to the tail end of the field.
Prior to the start of the race Dowler listened to some very good advice from his Crew Chief. “He told me to try and just complete laps” said the driver. “If I just finish the race that would be like a win. It’s hard to drive that way, it goes against your natural instincts but I understood the point he was making” said Dowler.
Knowing he still has plenty to learn in his jump up to full size stock cars Dowler heeded the advice and drove the #5 EMCO Dodge cautiously from the start. “It really felt good to finally spend some time on the track trying to improve with each lap” said Dowler.
Dowler would continue to work hard throughout the afternoon and his lap times in the #5 EMCO Dodge continued to improve. So did his position during the race. “After a while we were inside the top twenty and things were going pretty well” said Dowler.
The #5 EMCO Dodge team and Dowler’s progress continued to improve for the rest of the afternoon along with his position and Dowler accepted the checkered flag and was scored a satisfying sixteenth place result. “We finished the race which was the first goal, we were on the lead lap, and I just found out my last lap was my quickest of the day” said Dowler. “I can’t thank all the guys enough for all their hard work to get the car repaired. We definitely took a step forward today and that was important for everyone” he added.