Cole Powell brought home a solid sixth-place finish in the #73 Tricar Group Dodge at Saturday’s “Visit New Hampshire 100” at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The event marked the Mt. Brydges, Ontario driver’s return to NASCAR Pinty’s Series competition for the first of two events with DJ Kennington Racing. He will return for the season finale at Jukasa Motor Speedway next Saturday.
Powell’s qualifying effort, a 31.397 second lap, beat his previous year’s qualifying time that landed him on the pole position last year and also gave him the track record for the NASCAR Pinty’s Series at New Hampshire. This year, however, drivers in the series had picked up the pace. His time would see him begin the event mid-pack with a tenth place starting spot. Throughout the weekend it was clear the team was battling with a loose race car.
“Finishing sixth after being away from these type of cars isn’t horrible,” said Powell. “But I know we could have been a lot better. We just fought with the car all weekend; it didn’t seem to respond to anything we threw at it.”
In spite of this, Powell pushed forward securing the sixth-place finish in the twenty-car field. Now, the team has one more event, at Jukasa Motor Speedway. With top-quality equipment from DJ Kennington Racing, expectations are high.
“Heading into Jukasa, we know DJ Kennington Racing seems to run pretty good there,” he explained. “So, I would think we’ll unload a pretty good car and just make small adjustments to get the car where we need it to be. One more kick at the can to win this year, and I have nothing to lose heading into Jukasa.”
The Pinty’s Fall Brawl at Jukasa Motor Speedway near Hamilton, Ontario is the next event up for Powell in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series on Saturday, September 28. Tickets for that event are available at jukasamotorspeedway.com.
Results
Pos # Name
1 27 Andrew Ranger
2 36 Alex Labbe
3 17 D.J. Kennington
4 7 Peter Shepherd III
5 22 Marc-Antoine Camirand
6 73 Cole Powell
7 18 Alex Guenette
8 75 Mathieu Kingsbury *
9 47 L.P. Dumoulin
10 1 Anthony Simone
11 4 Brandon White
12 74 Kevin Lacroix
13 28 Julia Landauer
14 7 J.F. Dumoulin
15 64 Mark Dilley
16 2 T.J. Rinomato *
17 3 Jason Hathaway
18 21 Dexter Stacey
19 46 Brett Taylor
20 24 Donald Theetge
Qualifying:
Pos # Time Name
1 74 31.040 Kevin Lacroix
2 17 31.061 D.J. Kennington
3 27 31.136 Andrew Ranger
4 24 31.152 Donald Theetge
5 36 31.158 Alex Labbe
6 7 31.327 Peter Shepherd III
7 18 31.368 Alex Guenette
8 4 31.371 Brandon White
9 22 31.390 Marc-Antoine Camirand
10 73 31.397 Cole Powell
11 28 31.436 Julia Landauer
12 75 31.593 Mathieu Kingsbury
13 3 31.623 Jason Hathaway
14 47 31.624 L.P. Dumoulin
15 46 31.797 Brett Taylor
16 1 32.073 Anthony Simone
17 64 32.139 Mark Dilley
18 21 32.218 Dexter Stacey
19 7 32.283 J.F. Dumoulin
20 2 35.387 T.J. Rinomato