After a dramatic photo finish, Boris Said picked up his first Nationwide Series win Sunday in Montreal!

photo credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images

Said took the lead for the first time on the final restart after a 12 minute and 59 second red flag. Max Papis, driving the #33 Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc, briefly passed Said entering the final chicane and it was a drag race to the finish line.

“I don’t think we had the fastest car today, but we definitely had the smartest race strategy,” said Boris. “It was really about managing the race track, managing your brakes. I had great breaks all the way to the end and that’s what counts and we got the victory. I am just shocked… overwhelmed.”

Just how close was close? .012 seconds was the margin of victory -- the fifth closest finish in series history.

“I came here with expectation of finishing top-five,” runner-up Papis said. “Kevin Harvick came me the opportunity to sit in an amazing car. We came into the last corner with a win to grasp. I went in so deep in the last corner to pass Boris, barely hit the chip in second gear and I really pushing the car, pushing against the seat belt like in a go-kart to try to get to go faster… At the end of the day it was an amazing race. I had a blast.”

Local favorite Jacques Villeneuve, whose father the track was named after, was solid throughout the day and in the hunt at the end.

“It was fun,” Villeneuve said after his third-place finish. “The beginning of the race was a little bit boring — the amount of caution. Once we got going it was fun. Today, I think Marcos Ambrose and ourselves with the Dollar General car were the two fastest cars out there. But, this race always happens in the last 10 laps anyway.”

Three drivers dominated the afternoon, but ended up with disappointing results.

Starting from the pole, Marcos Ambrose clearly looked like the one to beat leading twice for twenty-five laps, until car problems took him out.

“We just had an alternator or a battery lay down on us and the engine went into half RPM,” Ambrose said about his day. “I held the lead for a long time. I had to turn all the fans off for the brakes and the engine and me. We all got hot and damaged. Eventually, the motor got so bad we had to change the battery and then I broke something in the left front suspension.” Ambrose ended up 33rd.

Defending race winner, Carl Edwards took advantage after Ambrose’s problems. Edwards lead a race-high twenty-nine laps, but he too, experienced car issues as the laps were ticking down. With just 9 laps remaining, the track bar broke on the #60 Ford sending Edwards to the garage for repairs. Edwards went home 20th.

Robby Gordon was the next contender for the race win leading seventeen laps, until he ran out of gas on the final restart.

“I love coming here. It’s a great town,” Gordon said. “Every time we come here we at least put ourselves in a position to win the race. Sometimes you beat yourself and sometimes you get beat. This time here maybe we beat ourselves because we shot for that lap number 74 number, and if that would have happened we were fine. How do you say it — if I go an eighth of a mile more, now we’ve taken the white flag, the caution comes out, we win. So many different scenarios.” Gordon was 14th.

It was a great day for the points leader. Keselowski finished fourth.

“I’m pleased with the results today,” Keselowski said. “I feel like I have room to improve as a driver, but I’m pleased with the results today. This was a true team effort. We raced in the top five, top 10 all day, just solid, strong and smooth. It sure was a lot of fun. We were sure fast on the straightaways, great engines. We had a solid platform today. It was fun to drive. We had a few close calls, got into a couple of cars, but that’s part of racing at road courses.”

Brad Keselowski leads the point standings by 365 points over 2nd place driver, Carl Edwards.

Paul Menard finished fifth followed by Joey Logano, J.R. Fitzpatrick, Parker Kligerman, Justin Allgaier and Trevor Bayne completed the top-10.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 7 caution flags for 19 laps: 4-6 (Debris Turn 14); 9-10 (#11, 23 Accident Turn 3); 13-17 (#01, 6, 07, 34, 59, 87, 97 Accident Turns 6 and 7); 22-24 (Oil on the track); 67-68 (#15 Accident Turn 4); 70-71 (#10, 16, 18, 22, 26, 38, 99 Accident Turn 2); 74-75 (#38 Accident Turn 3 [Red Flag 12 min 59 sec]).

There were 11 lead changes among 8 drivers: M. Ambrose 1-20; T. Ave 21; R. Gordon 22-28; C. Edwards 29-35; M. Ambrose 36-40; C. Edwards 41-44; J. Villeneuve 45; B.Keselowski 46; M. Papis 47; C. Edwards 48-65; R. Gordon 66-75; B. Said 76-77

Next:
Sept. 4th -- Atlanta 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway