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On tap this week:

  • Hayley looking forward to home race
  • Grosjean's miracle podium
  • Bernie going soft?
  • Record penalty to McLaren
  • Quote of the Week: Button keeps it light
  • Hall of Fame induction tickets now on sale

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Cameron Hayley can't wait to get to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) for the Chevy Silverado 250.

The 19-year-old from Calgary will not only get to wave the Maple Leaf at home as this country's only full-time driver in any of NASCAR's three top-tier series, but it also means he'll race on a familiar track for only the second time this year.

"This race has been circled on my calendar all year long," Hayley said of the Aug. 30 date in Bowmanville. Ont.

"I have experience there and we have a brand new truck we are bringing to the racetrack — it will be a really good weekend not only for the team but also for me to be back home and show that Canadians can race these cars too."

Hayley took an 11th place finish last year at CTMP in his truck series debut. Earlier this season, he started eighth and finished one spot better at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway, where he also raced at in 2014.

While the ThorSport Racing driver qualified in the top-3 twice in 14 races so far this year, Hayley's best finish is a fourth earlier this month in Pocono. In all, he has three top-5s, seven top-10s and has led 41 laps in 14 starts.

A tough outing at Bristol Motor Speedway last week dropped him out of the top-5 in points, although he's just nine markers short of fifth. Hayley is also second overall in the Rookie of the Year battle, 61 points behind Kyle Busch Motorsports' Erik Jones, who somehow got classified as a rookie driver this year despite starting more than half the truck series races in 2014 and winning three times.

The Alberta teen hopes to close the gap by being better at translating qualifying speed into race results in the second half of his 22-race season, especially on 1.5-mile tracks which have been the toughest for him so far this year.

"There's been a lot of learning, especially on the mile-and-a-half stuff," he said. "The beginning of the season wasn't as good as I would have hoped, but as it has gone on, we are getting better and better as a team."

By the numbers

Long known as the cut throat negotiator, Formula One ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone seems to have realized the sport must do something about its declining television audience. Last week, he not only agreed to a two-year $50-million TV contract with German broadcaster RTL (half of what it paid 10 years ago), but Ecclestone also is thought to be mulling a similar cut-rate TV deal for BBC in the U.K. "We're not interested in the money, we are interested in entertaining the public and doing a service," he said last Friday. "That's what we are here for."

Random thoughts

It was difficult to miss the exuberance of the Lotus Team after Romain Grosjean's third place finish in Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix. It was just short of a miracle for the financially struggling outfit which almost didn't get its Pirelli tires for the weekend because of unpaid bills. The team also has few spare parts, it could afford only three gearboxes for the entire season, and there's been no development on the car this year, except for a new front wing. "I don't really care about what's going around," Grosjean said after the race. "The only thing I want is to do my best to give the guys who are really working hard a good reward."

Technically speaking

As crazy as it sounds, the McLaren team was slapped with a total 105-place grid penalty for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix. The tally: 25-place penalty to McLaren drivers Jenson Button and a 30-place penalty to Fernando Alonso last Friday for an engine change plus a 25-place penalty to both a day later after the two cars got new engines again. Then again, the maximum penalty is a demotion to the back of Sunday's starting grid, so the shocking total really didn't matter.

Quote of the week

"These cars in front are going so slow, even we are catching them. I think they're making a mistake not pitting; it's so much quicker on new tires."

— Jenson Button keeping his sense of humour in Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix after catching some cars in his terribly underperforming McLaren-Honda following a late pitstop for fresh rubber. Button ended the race one lap behind the leaders in 14th place.

The last word

Tickets have gone on sale for the 2015 Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame (CMHF) induction ceremony at the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.'s Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto on Oct. 17. Tickets are $85 each and may be purchased on the CMHF website. The late John Chisholm, Ralph Luciw, Alex Tagliani, and Don Thomson Jr. are the inductees for 2015. Three-time Formula One world champion and racing legend Sir Jackie Stewart will also be honoured as the CMHF's 2015 international inductee.

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