Scott Steckly must feel good vibrations whenever he’s around Vernon’s Motoplex Speedway.
The Milverton, Ont. native has three wins in his last four appearances there, including the checkered flag at Saturday’s A&W Cruisin’ the Dub 300. His other result in his No. 22 Canadian Tire Dodge – a third-place finish in last year’s visit to Vernon’s half-mile tri-oval.
The $11,000 win couldn’t have come at a better time for Steckly, who broke a 17-race drought, vaulting him into fourth place in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 standings.
It was his 12th career win and came after back-to-back runner-up finishes.
Although he pulled away from runner-up Jason Hathaway of Dutton, Ont. to win by a margin of 2.197 seconds, Steckly said the final 100 laps involved plenty of hard charging.
“I thought when we got tires with 130 to go that we were just going to ride for a bit, but there was no riding,” Steckly said. “Everybody was going just as hard as they could.”
Steckly expressed a sense of relief at getting back to victory lane for the first time since September of 2011.
“We didn’t win at all last season and you begin to wonder if you’re ever going to win again,” he said.
“To win here at Vernon is great. The fans here are amazing. We’re on a roll. We had two second-place finishes the last two races, now a win.
“We just want to keep the momentum going and go to Saskatoon (Velocity Prairie Thunder tonight at Auto Clearing Motor Speedway) to win.”
In a season in which many contenders have faltered, Steckly said it’s important to not give up.
“It just proves to you that you’ve got to just keep going for wins and trying to win races, because anything can happen,” he said. “You’ve just got to keep going hard every week and you can’t get down. And that’s what we did. I think we were 24th in points after two races. Now we’re fourth or fifth.”
Hathaway, meanwhile, hopes to build momentum from his second-place finish as he pilots his No. 3 Snap-on Tools/Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge in Saskatoon.
“We had a good run,” said Hathaway, of the Dub 300. “We led a bunch of laps. We made good adjustments. There hasn’t been a race this year that we haven’t made good adjustments. We can’t wait to get to Saskatoon. It’s always a good show and we run well there.”
Sun Peaks’ Jim White, driving the No. 21 Bowers & Wilkins/A&W Dodge out of Steckly’s shop, had a career-best third-place finish before a hometown crowd.
“This is really important,” said White. “These fans have been supporting us for so long. Without the fans, we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing.”
Mark Dilley was fourth, while L.P. Dumoulin finished fifth to take over the points lead from D.J. Kennington, who was ninth.
Ron Beauchamp Jr. was sixth, followed by Cameron Hayley, Ryley Seibert, Kennington and rookie Alex Guenette.
Pole-winner J.R. Fitzpatrick led the first 39 laps and ran with the leaders early, but ended up finishing 39 laps back in 19th after encountering mechanical trouble.
Dumoulin leads Kennington by two points in the championship standings – 191 to 189. Hathaway is third at 181, followed by Steckly at 177, Martin Roy at 171, Fitzpatrick at 169, Ryley Seibert at 160, Jason White at 153, Noel Dowler at 152 and Beauchamp at 152.
The A&W Dub 300 will air Sunday, 10:30 a.m. PT on TSN, and Saturday.
