International breakthrough almost spawns incident

Montreal, its two years of crappy weather aside, has without question become the international hub of NASCAR racing.

The fans that have supported NASCAR's forays to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve prove it's so. But even more than that, so do the results of the races held there.

Cue the clowns

There were times the racing at Montreal resembled something you would see under the big top. Cars were slipping and sliding everywhere. Relive all the spins and crashes from a wild one at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

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In two of the three Nationwide Series races that have been held there, we've seen high-water marks for international excellence and depth, via top-15 finishes. In the series' inaugural race in 2007, six international drivers finished in the top 15 and that mark was equaled Sunday.

Through a long history conducted on a lot of different venues, NASCAR has made that bona fide international past time, road racing, an integral part of stock car lore -- and many of its regulars have excelled at it.

But Sunday was a high-water mark even as the race itself, at many times, appeared to be a true comedy of the absurd.

You had debuting drivers such as Jean-Francois Dumoulin from that stock car racing hotbed (not!) of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec -- which actually is the site of one of the cooler street/permanent circuits in the world -- scoring a seventh-place finish with his car literally falling apart as it crossed the line.

You had the Nationwide Series' first Puerto Rican national, Victor Gonzalez Jr., with a chance at a top-10 finish on the last green-white-checker, before finishing 14th.

And what about Antonio Perez, the defending Corona Series champion from Mexico? After practicing for just two laps, he qualified eighth in the rain and ran in the top 15 before, depending on who you ask, he had a couple run-ins with a budding American stock car talent, Steve Wallace. (Continued)