More than one race for Carpentier

Patrick Carpentier (Getty Images)
Patrick Carpentier (Getty Images)

LOUDON, N.H. — If RAB Racing team owner Robby Benton can find sponsorship, he’ll run popular Canadian driver Patrick Carpentier in the Zippo 200 Nationwide Series race at Watkins Glen as a warmup for the NAPA 200 a week later in Montreal.

Carpentier is slated to drive Benton’s No. 99 Toyota Aug. 18 at Montreal. Two years ago, Benton fielded the winning car for Boris Said, claiming the only Nationwide victory to date for both owner and driver.

The pole winner for the 2007 inaugural race at 2.709-mile Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Carpentier has finished second in five starts at the stand-alone road-course race north of the border. At age 40, the driver from Ville LaSalle, Quebec is coming out of retirement to run the race, but he hopes it’s not a one-shot deal.

“Knowing what this race means to Patrick, we’re trying to work out a way to run him at Watkins Glen (Aug. 11) to prepare for Montreal,” Benton told the NASCAR Wire Service on Friday. “Of course, it’s a matter of sponsorship, as it always is.”

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.