Montreal, Canada (Aug. 30th, 2009) – Jean-Francois Dumoulin’s No. 23 Mahindra Tractors Chevrolet was beaten, battered and blowing smoke as it crossed the finished line in Sunday’s NAPA Auto Parts 500 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada.
However, the damage to Dumoulin’s car did not tell the entire story. Dumoulin made it through the race which featured rain, 11 caution periods and an early incident which heavily damaged the front end of the No. 23 car. Even with all that excitement, the Canada native continued to fight his way around the 2.71-mile course and finished seventh. It was the best finish of the year for R3 Motorsports in the season’s 25 Nationwide Series events.
“I had a lot of fun out there today,” said Dumoulin. “It was really a wild race. The rain made things difficult, especially on those last restarts. I want to thank everyone at R3 Motorsports and Mahindra Tractors. They gave me a great car and I was glad to give them a top-10 finish.”
The race featured three restarts in the final 11 laps. Carl Edwards passed Marcos Ambrose down the final straightaway after Ambrose made a mistake going into turn 14. Andrew Ranger, Jacques Villeneuve and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top five.
“Those last few restarts were crazy,” continued Dumoulin. “Guys were beating and banging on each other. Plus, the track was still wet in some places which made it even crazier. I made it through that last wreck somehow, but the car was really torn up. I’m just glad we could finish the race and grab the top-10 finish.”
Robert Richardson Jr. will be back behind the wheel of the No. 23 Mahindra Tractor’s Chevy when the Nationwide Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for Saturday’s Degree V12 300. ESPN2 will provide television coverage of the event beginning at 6:30 p.m. (ET).
Car: #23 Mahindra Tractors Chevrolet
Chassis Facts: Chassis No. 37
Contact: Blair Minton | bminton@carolina.rr.com | 704-560-9118
R3 Motorsports Media Relations – 704-857-6223 – r3motorsports@hotmail.com