Ford Quality Care / Apollo Motorsports (Dowler) : Montmagny Report

Ford Quality Care / Apollo Motorsports

For immediate release / August 14, 2002

Dowler fourth in the race, and points, at Montmagny
Ford Quality Care Taurus racer improves 12 positions in 200 laps

MONTMAGNY, QC - Kevin Dowler's first visit to Autodrome Montmagny, near 
Quebec City, was a successful one. Although the Ford Quality Care Taurus 
driver didn't qualify in the top half of the field for Sunday's 200-lap 
CASCAR Super Series outing, the Edmonton, AB driver had a strong race, and 
progressed through the majority of the field, to post a hard-fought 
fourth-place finish.
	"This was a great day for the Ford Quality Care Taurus team," said Dowler, 
after the event at the one-third-mile oval, located just east of Quebec 
City. "I can leave Quebec with a good fourth-place result and feel good 
that we're proving to everyone that we can race on oval tracks, as well."
	"We just didn't have it in qualifying, whether it was the driver or the 
car, I don't know. But we just stuck to our strategy and that was to save 
the car for the end. We were really good around mid-race... really strong. 
And we made a call to come in and put a tire on it, and that made the 
difference. That was with about 50 laps to go, at the end, that's exactly 
what we needed."
	In the closing laps, the action among the top three drivers was furious, 
and nearly resulted in a pile-up as the trio exited turn 4, on lap 198. "I 
didn't want to get too close to the front guys because they were three-wide 
at times," continued Dowler, who is heading to the penultimate race of the 
season in fourth place in the CASCAR Super Series points.
	Commenting on the progress he made from his 16th-place starting spot on 
the starting grid, Dowler joked, "If we got points for passing the most 
cars out there, we would have made a big jump in the points." In terms of 
the point standings, Dowler finished behind the only three drivers who are 
ahead of him, as the season approaches its climax.
	"We didn't lose any big points to the leaders. We're still chasing Donnie 
[Thomson], DJ [Kennington] and 'Whit' [Dave Whitlock]."

NEXT RACE: The Ford Quality Care Taurus team will be back in action this 
coming weekend (Sunday afternoon, August 18) at Kawartha Speedway, near 
Peterborough, Ontario. Dowler is looking forward to the race. "We were 
doing OK last year, the first time CASCAR raced there, but we were bumped. 
But we feel like we've got a good handle on it, and with two races left on 
the schedule, we're looking for a strong finish to the season." According 
to the Ford Quality Care driver, it's almost too bad that the season is 
approaching its conclusion. With just a few dates left on the schedule, 
Dowler feels that his team is really starting to come together. "We're 
getting more and more comfortable in the car. The level of communication 
between Bill Burns [crew chief of the #35 Quality Care Taurus] and myself, 
during the race, is amazing. It's really starting to click. We have a great 
team."

Photo: According to Kevin Dowler - shown here (left) prior to the race at 
Montmagny - the high level of teamwork on his Ford Quality Care Taurus crew 
is the reason for his success to this point in the season.
credit: Greg MacPherson / Inside Track Motorsport News

Prepared by Inside Track Communications (416) 962-7223.