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Andrew Ranger in #22 Great Clips Dodge for Nationwide Race

Guest · 2008-07-31T23:49:49Z

Ranger hopes to challenge Carpentier, Villeneuve at NASCAR Nationwide raceMONTREAL — Stock car prospect Andrew Ranger has nudged his way into what was supposed to be an all-Quebec showdown between Patrick Carpentier and Jacques Villeneuve at the NAPA Auto Parts 200.The 21-year-old from Roxton Pond, Que., is a late addition to the NASCAR Nationwide series race to be held Saturday at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where he'll be driving the No. 22 Fitz Motorsports Dodge.That's the same car Carpentier used to launch his NASCAR career a year ago on the same track, where he took pole position and finished second in the inaugural Montreal race. The former Champ Car and IRL pilot had test driven a stock car for the first time less than a week earlier."We got a great opportunity," Ranger said Thursday as cars were unloaded from their rigs and pushed to their garages. "NASCAR Canada helped."They said no one was available to drive the No. 22 car and they called us to see if we were interested. It's unbelievable to have that drive. I'm so proud. I'll do my best. To finish in the top 10 would be great for us."The Nationwide series is one step below the Sprint Cup circuit, but some drivers compete in both.Ranger, who grew up in open wheel racing, at least has a season and a half of experience in stock cars, having won the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series as a rookie last year. He'll drive in both the Canadian Tire and Nationwide events on Saturday.Carpentier turned last year's performance into a full-time ride in the Sprint Cup with Gillett-Evernham team, owned by Montreal Canadiens owner George Gillett. Due to his road racing experience and familiarity with the challenging Montreal track, he will be among the favourites.Villeneuve joined the fray recently when he found sponsorship to take over the No. 32 car for Braun Racing for this event only."It was great news for the event," said Francois Dumontier, vice-president to promoter Normand Legault. "Jacques still has a lot of fans and it will create a battle between Patrick and Jacques."And now Andrew Ranger has been added so there's a three-way local battle."The son of former Ferrari driver Gilles Villeneuve, for whom the track is named, was CART and Indy 500 champion in 1995 and Formula One champ in 1997, but left the F1 circuit two years ago to pursue a career in stock cars.It hasn't worked out quite as planned however. Villeneuve did seven Craftsman Truck Series events and two in the Sprint Cup, but hasn't found sponsors or a team willing to take him on full time.Some see him as yesterday's man, and there are concerns he is too much ingrained in F1's European style and culture to fit in with the good old boys from NASCAR.Mike Hillman Jr., his crew chief for this race, thinks Villeneuve will do just fine."They tested this car before we came up here and they ran very well compared to the other cars that were there," Hillman said. "This is Jacques' home town and he's got a lot more road course experience than these guys do."We all try to win in our home towns and to bring a home town guy to Montreal is really neat."Carpentier and Villeneuve, both 37, will likely be the main focus for the crowd, expected at least to match the 68,000 that turned out for last year's inaugural NAPA Auto Parts 200. A total of 129,000 attended the two days of racing.But there are other well known drivers in the field, including Carl Edwards, the series winner in 2007, Greg Biffle, David Reutimann, Scott Wimmer and Marcos Ambrose, although last year's race winner Kevin Harvick is not entered.Some will fly out to Pocono to race in a Sprint Cup race on Sunday.There are also some accomplished road racers, including veteran Ron Fellows of Toronto in his No. 5 GoDaddy Chevrolet and former CART racers Max Papis and Scott Pruett. NASCAR races mostly on ovals, but there are a few road races on the schedule.The Nationwide series leader after 23 of 35 races is Clint Bowyer, followed closely by Brad Keselowski and Edwards.There are two practice sessions on Friday, with qualifying and the race on Saturday afternoon. The race begins 3:30 p.m. ET,There are concerns over the weather - rain is forecast for Saturday - and the state of the track, which crumbled in places during the Canadian Grand Prix F1 race in June.Dumontier said parts of the track have been patched with a compound recommended by NASCAR, but resurfacing will have to wait until after this week's event. They hope to resurface the entire track.The teams have grooved tires and can race if its wet, but in the case of a major storm, the event can be postponed to Sunday morning.The promoters have one year remaining on their contract for the Nationwide race, but hope next year to get a weekend in which there is no Sprint Cup event in order to draw more big names. The long-term goal is to land a Sprint ...

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DWfan4ever

Aug 02, 2008 7:44 pm

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If the ticker from TSN was right it showed Dj 27th and Ranger 28th once the race was officially called.

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CanadianRacingOnline

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Aug 02, 2008 10:51 pm

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1 6 5 Ron Fellows Chevrolet GoDaddy.com 190/5 48 Running
2 4 9 Patrick Carpentier * Dodge Subway 170/0 48 Running
3 3 59 Marcos Ambrose Ford STP 175/10 48 Running
4 12 33 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet Camping World / RVs.com 160/0 48 Running
5 7 25 Boris Said Ford No Fear / Team Smithfield / Advance Auto Parts 155/0 48 Running
6 18 60 Carl Edwards Ford CitiFinancial 150/0 48 Running
7 14 38 Jason Leffler Toyota Great Clips 146/0 48 Running
8 16 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M 142/0 48 Running
9 29 2 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet BB&T 138/0 48 Running
10 8 66 Steve Wallace Chevrolet 5-Hour Energy 134/0 48 Running
11 17 29 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet Holiday Inn / Holiday Inn Express 130/0 48 Running
12 28 88 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet U.S. Navy 127/0 48 Running
13 30 6 David Ragan Ford Discount Tire 124/0 48 Running
14 19 4 Landon Cassill * Chevrolet Miccosukee Resort & Gaming 121/0 48 Running
15 11 7 Mike Wallace Toyota GEICO 118/0 48 Running
16 5 32 Jacques Villeneuve Toyota L'Equipeur / Ganotec 120/5 48 Accident
17 10 20 Joey Logano Toyota GameStop 112/0 47 Accident
18 32 99 David Reutimann Toyota NAPA AUTO PARTS 109/0 47 Running
19 25 1 Mike Bliss Chevrolet Miccosukee Resort & Gaming 106/0 47 Running
20 2 64 Max Papis Chevrolet Atreus Homes & Communities 103/0 47 Running
21 9 27 Brad Coleman Ford Scott Towels / Kleenex 100/0 47 Running
22 1 40 Scott Pruett Dodge Fastenal 102/5 47 Running
23 23 111 Jason Keller Chevrolet America's Incredible Pizza Company 94/0 47 Running
24 26 47 Kelly Bires Ford Clorox 91/0 47 Running
25 21 30 Stanton Barrett Chevrolet NOS Energy Drink 88/0 47 Running
26 24 198 Alex Garcia Chevrolet Dixien / OmniSource Corp. 85/0 47 Running
27 22 81 D.J. Kennington Dodge Mahindra Tractors 82/0 47 Running
28 15 22 Andrew Ranger Dodge Supercuts / Tide / Wal-Mart 79/0 47 Running
29 37 52 Scott Gaylord Ford Means Racing 76/0 46 Running
30 20 24 Brian Simo Chevrolet Long John Silver's 73/0 44 Running
31 27 28 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet Reel Deal "Card Games" on Phantom EFX 70/0 42 Electrical
32 38 0 Wheeler Boys Chevrolet SponsorDavis.com 67/0 37 Brakes
33 13 10 Justin Marks Toyota Future Electronics 64/0 19 Transmission
34 43 01 Trevor Boys Chevrolet SponsorDavis.com 61/0 13 Transmission
35 31 05 Burney Lamar Ford 31-W Insulation / CertainTeed 58/0 8 Ignition
36 35 331 Jeff Fuller Chevrolet GrandStay.net 55/0 7 Vibration
37 41 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet Racing With Jesus 52/0 7 Handling
38 34 162 Brandon Whitt Ford Specialty Racing 49/0 7 Brakes
39 42 161 Stan Barrett Chevrolet INTERUSH.net 46/0 7 Brakes
40 39 90 Don Thomson Jr. Chevrolet MSRP Motorsports 43/0 2 Ignition
41 36 91 Scott Steckly Chevrolet MSRP Motorsports 40/0 2 Transmission
42 40 84 Dale Quarterley Chevrolet Mike Harmon Racing 37/0 2 Handling
43 33 149 Derrike Cope Chevrolet Jay Robinson Inc. 34/0 1 Brakes

Canadian Racing Archive Project.
http://www.canadianracingarchives.com/

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CanadianRacingOnline

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Aug 02, 2008 11:03 pm

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I will comment on a couple of things. Collecting a pay cheque is nice but it would have been nice for them to try and show that they can drive even if it was to put on a show for their fans here in Canada. I guess at their time has passed to make it to the big leagues.

I was waiting and waiting, Ranger moves up and breaks the top 10 and no mention until he was in 6th place. I think I would try and make a better effort to mention some other Canadians as the race was in Canada.

Way to go Ranger good showing, you can race with the best of them and you gained another fan as you went out to show what you got and not just for a pay cheque.

What happened to Ranger as I saw him in 6th then he was near the back I missed it.

Canadian Racing Archive Project.
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Mobil1fan

Aug 02, 2008 11:16 pm

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I will comment on a couple of things. Collecting a pay cheque is nice but it would have been nice for them to try and show that they can drive even if it was to put on a show for their fans here in Canada. I guess at their time has passed to make it to the big leagues.

It's not exactly their fault they didn't go the distance. The cars they were in never had intentions of going the distance.

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CanadianRacingOnline

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Aug 02, 2008 11:30 pm

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So the cars came out and said were not going to try so quite after 2 laps?

It was about the Paycheck, if you know you don't have a car to go the distance you don't enter. I was thinking this as soon as I heard some of these guys were entering the NNS race that it was to get a paycheck your already here why not collect 30,000+ just to start and run a couple laps. Well it goes to show that Ranger is the real deal as he went out there to try and win and made it up to 6th place. I didn't want to say a thing as I thought people would jump all over me for saying this and didn't want to sound like I didn't like Canadian drivers.

I knew the reason Ranger entered and that was to get noticed and I applaud him for that as, he did just that. He made Rusty sound like a fool as he had no idea who Andrew was.

Do your home work Rusty. ???

It's not exactly their fault they didn't go the distance. The cars they were in never had intentions of going the distance.

Canadian Racing Archive Project.
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