The sixth race of the 2012 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series schedule sees them return to Edmonton City Centre Airport for the fourth time. The series didn’t go there, however with a new temporary circuit designed on the airport, they are back to try it in 2012. The 2.256-mile temporary road course marks the third road course of the 2012 schedule and the first since the race at Circuit ICAR in June.
The last three races have been ran on short tracks spanning from Ontario to British Columbia, with D.J. Kennington winning each of them to become the first driver in series history to win three consecutive races. The result is Kennington now leading the points, 23 points over J.R. Fitzpatrick.
“We made some changes to our oval car over the winter and they’ve all worked out, so far,” he says. “We’ve had some good luck, but we’ve created some of that luck. The whole crew has worked tirelessly and it’s been paying off.”
The road course may put a hinder on Kennington’s streak as his highest finish at Edmonton is a fourth in 2007. He finished 15th the last time the series was there in 2010.
“We’re hoping to get the car as neutral as it can be so that we can make adjustments during practice,” Kennington says. “I don’t know much about the new track and I don’t think anyone else does either. The biggest thing is to learn the course. Nothing will be automatic. It will be exciting, I’m sure.”
Though the 2010 series champion is known for being good on both the road courses and ovals as he has a current streak of seven straight top-five finishes and eight consecutive top 10s. He also finished in the top five in both of the road courses so far this year, with a second at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (CTMP) and a fifth at Circuit ICAR.
“I’m not a real road-course guy, but we’ve done pretty well and I hope that continues,” Kennington concludes. “Those three points for winning a race are huge and (Fitzpatrick) already has one win on a road course, so I’m nowhere near comfortable.”
Fitzpatrick won the first road course this year at CTMP while finishing second at Circuit ICAR. Coming off of a fourth place finish at Vernon, Fitzpatrick is looking to repeat previous Edmonton success and take the win, just like he has done twice before (2007 and 2010). The two years he didn’t win, he also didn’t do too bad as he finished second in 2009 and fourth in 2008. Road courses are one of Fitzpatrick’s strengths as six of his seven career wins have been on road courses and he has five top-10 finishes in his last seven road course starts.
The other driver to watch on the road course is Andrew Ranger, as he won the 2009 Edmonton Race in his last start at the track. The two previous years he finished second and third. Ranger is looking for a good finish this weekend after finishing 11th at Vernon last weekend. Though it only marked the second time in his last 28 series starts that he has finished outside of the top 10. If possible, Ranger will look to repeat his performance from Circuit ICAR when he took the win ahead of Fitzpatrick.
Sitting behind the top three is defending series champion Scott Steckly, who is looking for the perfect time to pounce after finishing third this past weekend at Vernon. Steckly hasn’t been too bad on the road courses so far this year as he finished third in both of them. That mirrors his previous performance at Edmonton as he finished third in each of his last two Canadian Tire Series starts in Edmonton, which followed a runner-up to Alex Tagliani in 2008. Though it’s the consistancy that makes the two-time series champion tough to beat as he has six top-five finishes in his last seven series starts dating back to last season.
Another driver to watch in Edmonton is Jason Hathaway as he has finished in the top 10 in each of his four starts in Alberta, including a best finish of sixth in 2010. He currently sits fifth in points after recording a top-five in each of his last three starts this season.
