MONTREAL – They could run Sunday’s NAPA Auto Parts 200 well into the night on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and at least one car wouldn’t have a problem with the darkness.
Patrick Carpentier’s high-beam grin would easily light the way of his Toyota Camry.
After having sat at home in Las Vegas for the first six months of this NASCAR season, deafened by the silence of his phone, Carpentier buckles into a seat here, ready to race for the third weekend in his past four.
And the effervescent native of Joliette, Que., is having a ball, delighted by what awaits on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and perhaps for the rest of the season – and beyond.
For the second consecutive year, Carpentier will be behind the wheel of a Nationwide Series Toyota fielded by Michael Waltrip Racing and dressed in the livery of NAPA Auto Parts.
The 39-year-old has run all three Montreal races – he was second in the inaugural event of 2007, winning the pole and finishing second for Fitz Motorsports in his first-ever stock-car race; he was second again for Gillett-Evernham Motorsports in 2008’s deluge; and he slumped to a 38th-place result for Waltrip last year, running as high as fourth from a start of 40th before he blew up after overrevving his engine coming out of the low-gear hairpin on his 16th lap.
This year is about redemption, and Carpentier can practically taste a win on the Villeneuve circuit, his so-called home track.
“I just have to be right there at the end and maybe be a little more aggressive at the end,” he said from Las Vegas last week, a day after rolling to a 29th-place Sprint Cup finish at Michigan.
That solid, even overachieving result pulled the fledgling Latitude 43 team into a top-35 owner’s-points ranking for the first time this season, from where it was guaranteed a spot in the field for last weekend’s race at Bristol.
Carpentier didn’t race there, not having the seat time to confidently tackle the high-banked, half-mile track.
“In Montreal this year, I want more to win than to qualify on the pole,” he said. “Before, I just wanted to qualify well and run the race. But this year, I really want to be there and battle for the win.”
Waltrip isn’t testing its Camry before this race.
“But hopefully, we’ll get a good piece of equipment,” Carpentier said. “We had a great car last year and we have the same team.
“This is a track where it’s easy to make a mistake,” he added of the tricky, hard-braking Villeneuve layout. “I made one last year and I don’t want to make another.”
Carpentier knows the circuit. He finished fourth, fifth and sixth from 2002-04 in the CART/Champ Car machines of Gerry Forsythe before he began making laps in NASCAR.
It’s perhaps fitting that he can see La Ronde’s roller coaster from parts of Ile Notre Dame, around which the Villeneuve circuit travels. That stomach-churning ride pretty much sums up the past year for Carpentier, a quick study and a skilled hand behind the wheel who has found himself out of a steady job through no fault of his own.
He ran 24 Sprint Cup and eight Nationwide races for Gillett-Evernham in 2008, the third-best Cup rookie in points.
But when GEM and Richard Petty Motorsports folded into one to form an outfit that was stocked with drivers, Carpentier was the odd man out.
He raced just six times in Cup last year, four for Tommy Baldwin and two for Waltrip, and twice in Nationwide, both for Waltrip. This year, he didn’t get a call until early this month, when Latitude 43 signed him for a road-course Cup race at Watkins Glen, N.Y. (he finished 21st), then Aug. 15 for the two-mile Michigan oval.
Carpentier will run for the team again Sept. 5 in Atlanta. Eleven Cup races will remain on the schedule after that and anything’s possible for those, something that could lead to a full-time deal for 2011.
“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “I’d love to work with these guys, they’re a great group. I think I can help them and I think they can help me with my career, too.”
Carpentier hardly was lazing about with his wife, Anick, and children Anais, 9, and Loic, 4, while awaiting a call. An animal for training, he cycled almost maniacally around Las Vegas to stay in peak condition.
Nor did he invest a lot of time watching NASCAR on TV.
“It’s painful watching it when you want to be driving,” he said. “I hope this is a good comeback this time. Maybe I’ll get a good second opportunity. I’m taking it race by race, but for sure, I’d love to get back into it.”
Carpentier sees the sport in a new light, no longer a driver who stresses before he arrives at the track. He admits that Watkins Glen and Michigan nicely broke the ice for his return to Montreal, unsure how he’d have felt climbing back into a car before an adoring crowd if he’d not turned a competitive wheel in nearly a year.
“For some reason, I’ve always felt more comfortable in these (stock) cars than in Indy cars,” he said. “I always feel at home in them. It felt great at Watkins Glen. It’s hard at first – you’re stiff and holding the wheel too tight, but you smooth it out.”
Of course, Carpentier is highly motivated for his return to Montreal, encouraged by a bit of momentum.
American drivers love Montreal’s racing atmosphere and the passion of the fans, he says, some arriving early to soak up a bit of nightlife and fine dining.
Carpentier figured he’d be in town early in the week, visualizing the race in his mind as he always does.
“Montreal is special because it’s my home track and the fans go crazy. They love the drivers,” he said. “I’m always happy to return. Touch wood, it’s always been a good track for me in the past.
“You know, I’m always pumped for Montreal. I just can’t wait to get in the car.”
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