Jason Hathaway leads NASCAR Canadian Tire Series final practice at Riverside

So far this year, Jason Hathaway has been quick on the ovals, posting a victory earlier this season. He also comes into this weekend as the defending race winner.

Hathaway would keep the positive trend going, posting the quickest lap during practice as he lapped the 0.333 mile oval in 14.453 seconds. Hathaway is hoping to have a good weekend to keep himself up in the top-five in points after surviving Trois-Rivieres with a top-10 finish.

P1 after #NCATS practice @Riverside_NS. Tough field of cars here. Going to be a great show @NASCARHomeTrack @Rockstar69CAN @princessauto

— Jason Hathaway (@JasonHathaway3) August 16, 2014

Alex Labbe was second quickest with a lap of 14.478 seconds after a posting a fourth place finish earlier this year at Circuit ICAR. J.R. Fitzpatrick is hoping to turn his season around after a couple of sub-par finishes and was third quickest in practice with a lap of 14.496 seconds.

Track has changed a lot over the winter..lots.of.speed but very rough In 3/4 ..gonna sort It out..hopefully — J.R. Fitzpatrick (@J_R_Fitzpatrick) August 16, 2014

Teammates Scott Steckly and Stefan Rzadzinski rounded out the top-five. Rzadzinski is filling in for Alex Tagliani this weekend as Tagliani is at Mid-Ohio to run the Nationwide Series race for Team Penske.

DJ Kennington was sixth quickest, followed by points leader L.P. Dumoulin, Andrew Ranger, Donald Chisholm and Mark Dilley.

Chisholm, whose parents own the track, would lead the first practice with a lap of 14.586 seconds ahead of Hathaway, Dilley, Steckly and Kennington.

Qualifying is scheduled for 3:40 p.m. EST with the race scheduled for 7 p.m. EST. Fans can follow live updates from the track via the NASCAR Home Tracks website.