Cole Powell finished second in the Rankin Construction 200 Saturday evening at Jukasa Motor Speedway near Brantford. The event was the second event of the year for the NASCAR Pinty’s series and the first oval event of the season.
A solid qualifying run led to a third-place starting position in the event. As the race got underway Cole quickly got up front leading a number of laps. When the competition caution came out, the team chose to pit to investigate a vibration Cole had noticed which sent him back to eighth position. By lap 119 he climbed back up to the top five.
“I really didn’t want to come in to pit,” said Cole. “But we had to. I had a big vibration in the car and I was just waiting for that right front to blow. I thought it would be blistered and it wasn’t: that kind of screwed us on track position”.
The final pit stop was the turning point in the race. With fresh tires Cole was able to cut his way towards the front getting around Alex Tagliani’s #18 to second-place with five laps to go. On the restart, Tagliani was able to pass Cole. When the caution came out Cole would be set to restart in third in a green-white-checker scenario. Cole battled hard to the finish, getting around Tagliani and pushing hard to catch Kevin Lacroix’s #74 in the final turn. In the end Cole had to settle for second-place.
“I just didn’t have enough on that last restart. I spun the tires a bit on the last restart,” Cole said after the race. “Second place, I hate losing, but it’s our second race together with EHR racing and myself. I think we’re going to be a threat this year.”
The next race event for the NASCAR Pinty’s Series is an oval race at Autodrome Chaudiere in Chaudiere, Que on Saturday, June 30 at 8:00 pm.
Results:
1 74 Kevin Lacroix
2 3 Cole Powell
3 18 Alex Tagliani
4 22 Marc-Antoine Camirand
5 27 Andrew Ranger
6 17 D.J. Kennington
7 47 L.P. Dumoulin
8 46 Brett Taylor *
9 79 Peter Shepherd III
10 97 Connor James *
11 28 Jason White
12 19 Adam Martin
13 95 Anthony Simone
14 56 Brad Graham
15 4 J.F. Dumoulin
16 24 Donald Theetge
17 1 Joey McColm
18 2 Kerry Micks