finale at Texas also played a role in his decision. In his nine years as a competitor in CART and IRL's IndyCar, Carpentier finished in the top 10 85 times, and stood on the podium 24 times. Sports car career Shortly after the end of his IndyCar career, Carpentier drove a Crawford-Lexus DP03 for former boss Eddie Cheever in the 2006 Rolex 24 at Daytona. He then competed in the 2006 CASCAR Super Series event at Cayuga Speedway. Carpentier started 21st in the Dave Jacobs Racing car and finished sixth. From there he tried his hand at Grand-Am Road Racing, running a partial season with SAMAX Motorsport piloting their Riley Mk XI. He re-signed for another season with SAMAX, to drive a Daytona Prototype in the 2007 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, alongside either Milka Duno or Ryan Dalziel. The highlight of this partnership was their second place in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The trio also shared their Riley-Pontiac Mk XI with another British driver, Darren Manning. They finished on the same lap as the winner, just 75.845 seconds behind after 24 hours of racing, leading for 121 of the 668 laps. Carpentier last race for SAMAX was the 400 km Montreal, where he finished 10th, partnered by Kris Szekeres, took place on August 3, 2007. He later left SAMAX to pursue a career in NASCAR, with his first race (the NAPA Auto Parts 200) the next day. Stock car career Carpentier made his debut in the NASCAR Busch Series at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on August 4, 2007, taking pole in qualifying and finished the controversial race in 2nd place, behind Kevin Harvick, while Robby Gordon was disqualified by NASCAR from his first place spot for intentionally wrecking Marcos Ambrose and ignoring a resulting penalty. Carpentier would return to Montreal to post another 2nd place in 2008. Carpentier made his NASCAR Nextel Cup debut on August 12, 2007, at Watkins Glen, in the Gillett Evernham Motorsports #10 Valvoline/Stanley Tools-sponsored Dodge, replacing Scott Riggs and started 40th. Carpentier led for seven laps in the race near the midway portion of the race and wound up finishing in the 20th position. In October 2007, it was announced he would drive the #10 car full-time in 2008. On February 14, 2008, Carpentier attempted to qualify for the 2008 Daytona 500 in the second of two Gatorade Duels. Carpentier ran in the