TheRecord.com - Sports - Cambridge's Fitzpatrick blames Canadian legend for poor result at Glen
Cambridge's Fitzpatrick blames Canadian legend for poor result at Glen
David Bebee/Record staff
J.R. Fitzpatrick's front driver's side wheel catches some air as he comes around the bus stop corner hotly pursued by Paul menard at the Watkins Glen on Sunday.
David Bebee/Record staffJ.R. Fitzpatrick's front driver's side wheel catches some air as he comes around the bus stop corner hotly pursued by Paul menard at the Watkins Glen on Sunday.
David Bebee/Record staffJ.R. Fitzpatrick's front driver's side wheel catches some air as he comes around the bus stop corner hotly pursued by Paul menard at the Watkins Glen on Sunday.
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August 08, 2010
By Jeff Hicks, Record staff WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — J.R. Fitzpatrick searched for his lost sunglasses.
Just one more glaring annoyance for the Cambridge NASCAR driver after Saturday's frustrating 11th-place finish in the Zippo 200 at The Glen.
No shades. No squinting on the bright side of an impressive race against top-notch stock car competition for the 22-year-old driver of the No. 7 Chevy.
"We were a seventh-place car and we kind of got screwed by the 32 team," said Fitzpatrick of his second of three Nationwide series starts under the Dale Earnhardt Jr. banner this summer.
The driver of car No. 32? That would be legendary Montrealer Jacques Villeneuve.
With seven laps to go around the 2.45-mile road course, Villeneuve and Fitzpatrick jousted for seventh.
Villeneuve, the 39-year-old one-time Formula One world champ, made a move to pass Fitzpatrick, a car-crazy kid who grew up on a farm between Cambridge and Ayr.
Fitzpatrick caught the grass, spun out and slid to 13th.
Villeneuve finished 8th as Tasmanian Marcos Ambrose cruised to victory.
Fitzpatrick tagged Villeneuve as the villain of the S-turn twist-up.
"It was real cool to race with him but he definitely screwed us," Fitzpatrick said. "He dive-bombed in there and shoved me up."
The diminutive Villeneuve said there was nothing dastardly about his pass.
"I'm not sure why he spun because we didn't touch," Villeneuve said. "I think his spotter told him maybe a little too late that I was on the inside. I saw him turn in, then he saw me and moved out."
Fitzpatrick aimed for a top 10 finish on Saturday but had difficulty handling the unfamiliar Chevy No. 7, also being driven by Danica Patrick on select Nationwide races this season.
Villeneuve was making his first appearance at The Glen, where his late father Gilles won an F-1 Grand Prix event in 1979.
Both Villeneuve and Fitzpatrick will race a Nationwide stop in Montreal Aug. 28-29.
"We definitely learned a lot for Montreal," said Fitzpatrick who finished seventh at Road America in Wisconsin in June.
"A lot of it has to do with me trying to get used to the car and getting used to how it feels."
jhicks@therecord.com
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