Boris Said has finally won his maiden NASCAR race at NAPA Auto Parts 200 after a dramatic race in the circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Said edged right in the finish line Max Papis while local driver Jacques Villeneuve finished just behind in 3rd place topping his Dollar General No. 32 Braun Racing Toyota among the Canadian participations. Villeneuve had a sequence of strong duels for the lead during the whole race in front of his beloved French-Canadians fans who were hoping for his victory in the circuit that brings his father's name, the legendary Gilles Villeneuve. After the race, the winner, Boris Said who had been a road course tutor for the most of NASCAR Cup drivers commented:
"It’s unbelievable. I’ve been trying so long and this race is so tough. It was just awesome. It was good racing, really clean racing. Max is a great guy... I don’t think we had the fastest car today but we definitely had the smartest race strategy with Scott Zipadelli as the crew chief -- the first time I ever worked with him. We had great communication, he called a great race, and it was really about managing the race track, managing your brakes.
I’m shocked … overwhelmed. I thought I was going to cry, but I didn’t. My wife would have made fun of me. But I was pretty happy."
The race was another dramatic NAPA Auto Parts 200 and started with the french version of "Drivers, start your engines". It was a rather wild breathtaking road course race with 4 cautions in the first 24 laps while pole sitter Marcos Ambrose started early his duels with Jacques Villeneuve for the lead.
The worst caution came on Lap 12, when five cars, including Robby Gordon and Joe Nemechek, crashed between Turn 6 and 7, bringing out the third caution of the race.
On Lap 19, Ron Fellows tagged Steve Wallace going into the hairpin, which led to the fourth caution of the race after Wallace spun around and broke the motor in his Toyota two laps later. That, in turn, sent leaders Ambrose and Villeneuve down pit road, rejoining 14th and 15th, respectively.
Gordon, who had made several pit stops to repair damages, became surprisingly the new leader, followed by Boris Said on the Lap 25 restart. Gordon held the point until Lap 29, when Edwards took over the top spot.
Villeneuve finally managed to overtake Ambrose in the traffic in a move hat looked victorious if he could hold the Australian behind, but Ambrose managed to take advantage of slower cars as well and by Lap 34, he climbed up to to second, about two seconds behind Edwards. In the next lap, Villeneuve who continued to experience traffic issues, ran into the back of Said after losing the braking zone as the two dueled for 4rth place. Said resulted wounded and spinning, but both continued without problems with Villeneuve taking the place. An incident that proved crucial for the final race winner.
Ambrose's pace put him back in the lead but soon he started complaining of losing voltage, allowing Edwards to close on him and eventually get by him and back up front on Lap 41. At that point, Edwards appeared headed for an easy victory.
With 30 laps to go, Villeneuve moved into second place and Ambrose pitted for a new battery, effectively dashing the Australian driver’s hope for victory. Ambrose’s day went from bad to worse when a broken heim joint knocked him out of the race after leading 25 laps of the race. Canadian Patrick Carpentier also fell out because of suspension troubles.
Michael Annett smacked the wall with 9 laps to go, bringing out a caution flag. Yet, under the yellow, Edwards broke a track bar, ending his race. Between them, Edwards and Ambrose led 54 laps, but neither ended up in contention to win.
With the yellow out, Villeneuve pitted for fuel and tyres late on lap 66 hoping for an extension of the race due to consecutive green-white-checkered restarts, with Gordon in the lead. Gordon led, followed by Max Papis, Brad Keselowski, Boris Said, Jason Leffler, Trevor Bayne and Villeneuve.
On the restart, the field went three-wide, with Papis going off road briefly, with Leffler, and Trevor Bayne making contact with Villeneuve, and Colin Braun and Tayler Malsam getting their cars wrecked in the process. The chaos in the narrow track just brought out another yellow caution.
Gordon led Said, Papis and Villeneuve to the green with three laps to go. Villeneuve tried to catch Papis at the casino turn but lost grip and his position by Keselowski. Eventually the Canadian ace regained quickly his position just before Leffler lost his engine oiling down the track, sending the race first to a yellow and then to a red flag caution. That set up a green-white-checkered finish. Οn the restart Said jumped into the lead ahead of Gordon, who eventually ran out of gas, elevating Papis into second ahead of Villeneuve. But as a matter of fact if Gordon had pitted before the restart, he woulnd't had been a moving obstacle ahead of Villeneuve who was squezzed trying to pass through Gordon and Papis on the first turn losing his momentum and his good chances for the victory. But the Canadian didn't give up and tried even harder for a good result.
On the final lap, Said pulled away, after another duel between Villeneuve and Papis but the Italian kept his position and caught again Said while Villeneuve was following just behind. Papis and Said edged each other through the 14th and final turn on the 2.71-mile road course. But as they both accelerated out of the corner named "Wall of Champions" or "Bienvenue au Quebec" onto the front straight. But Papis just lost a fraction of a second there when he hit the rev limiter in second gear letting Said to edge his nose ahead, with his Zaxby’s-sponsored No. 09 Ford crossing the line just .012-seconds ahead of Papis’s No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet. It was another dramatic breathtaking finale in Montreal but proved to be Said’s first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory.
