Riverhead, NY (June 4, 2005) - Renee Dupuis was well on her way to a solid finish in her first ever race at Riverhead Raceway when it all vanished in the blink of an eye. Unable to avoid a late race incident that occurred in front of her, Dupuis sustained damage that would leave her limping across the line with an 18th place finish.

The day began on a less then stellar note for Dupuis after suffering a big time parts failure during the first practice session. “Early on, in practice, we inexplicably snapped an axle,” said Dupuis. “If that had happened someplace where we carry much more speed, the incident could have been much, much worse. That put us behind the eight ball, but looking at the big picture, we were happy just to make the show.”

The Miller Lite 150 was to have been the first race of the season where provisionals were to be doled out based on 2005 points, but due to the rain out of Haynes CT 150 at Stafford Motor Speedway, 2004 points were used instead. This left Dupuis with very little room for error given that there were 41 cars attempting to qualify for 23 positions on time. When all was said and done, Dupuis was the very last car bumped from the field on time – but also received the last provisional available.

From the opening green, Dupuis made steady forward progress in the 150-lap event. Coming from the 28th starting position, by the time the lap counter reached double digits, Dupuis was running just outside the top ten. However, on lap 124 Dupuis was unable to escape a melee unfolding in front of her. Relegated to the pits to make front end repairs, Dupuis returned to the racing surface for the final several laps. In the end, she crossed the finish line in 18th place.

As a result of the disappointing finish, Dupuis fell to 16th in the seasonal points race. However, the points are extremely close and she remains just a mere nine points out of the top-ten. Currently, just over 60 drivers are ranked.

Next up for Dupuis and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is the New England Dodge Dealers 100 at Thompson International Speedway (Thompson, CT) on the evening of Sunday, June 12. This event will be held in conjunction with a NASCAR Busch North Series race.