September 18, 2010. Castrol Edge Dodge driver DJ Kennington continued his dominating season in the NASCAR Canadian Tire series during round number twelve on Saturday at Riverside Speedway near Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Kennington led the most laps during the race and claimed his fifth win of the year and took the lead in the overall championship race with only one event remaining.
The day began with a difficult practice session for the #17 Castrol Edge Dodge team. “The ride height of the car was too low” said Kennington “and the car was bottoming out. The Castrol Crew did a great job making the spring changes necessary to get thing right” he added.
Kennington would post the second quickest qualifying time and begin the 300 lap feature event from the outside of row one. “The track has been tough on us the last couple of years” said the driver “so we knew that we had to be on our game” he added.
The race began to play out according to plan as Kennington had little trouble keeping the #17 Castrol Edge Dodge in the lead group of cars. Kennington would make his first pit stop of the afternoon for fuel and left side tires and return to the race. He would take the race lead for the first time on lap 107 and hold it until the second round of pit stops.
During his second stop for right side rubber the Castrol Crew completed one of their best pit stops of the year and Kennington returned to the race in third spot. “This whole Castrol team has worked so hard all season to give me great pit stops and they really did the job today” he stated.
Kennington then hunted down the competitors ahead of him and took over the lead again on lap 182. He would relinquish it momentarily but on Lap 216 Kennington pushed the Castrol Edge Dodge to the front of the field and it would stay there for the remainder of the event.
Through the closing stages of the race Kennington would open up a lead nearly the length of the front straightaway. The #17 Castrol Edge Dodge in complete control of the race and Kennington smoothly moving through the race traffic. He would cross the finish line more than four and a half seconds ahead of his closest competitor.
The win is Kennington’s fifth of the year and sets a new high mark for oval track victories in a single season. Scoring maximum points for the victory, leading a lap and leading a race high 144 laps Kennington also now assumes the lead in the overall championship battle and will take a forty point lead into the final race of the season. It was a proud and grateful driver who spoke after the race. “This Castrol Edge Dodge was just so strong today. “I have to thank my dad for the incredible motor under the hood. Mahindra Tractors, Hitachi Power Tools, Cathcart Trucking, we just couldn’t do it without their support. Everybody has worked so hard this year, we’ll take this lead and go get after it next week and try and close it out” he stated.
The NASCAR Canadian Tire series 2010 season concludes with round thirteen this coming Saturday September 25th at Kawartha Speedway near Peterborough, Ontario. All thirteen races of the series will be broadcast on TSN, you can watch DJ Kennington claim his fifth win of the season on Saturday September 25th at 2PM Eastern.
Follow the progress of the #17 Castrol Edge/Mahindra Tractors Dodge by logging on to the team website www.djkracing.ca plus you can follow their daily activities at www.twitter.com/djkracing. You’re also invited to join the Facebook Group DJK Racing.
Photo: DJ Kennington in the #17 Castrol Edge Dodge leading the race at Riverside Speedway
Photos Credit: Scott Sinclair/NASCAR
