The seventh race of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series schedule brings the series to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to run the Velocity Prairie Thunder presented by Bayer Crop Science at Auto Clearing Motor Speedway.
It marks the only race of the schedule that’s not on a Saturday or Sunday, as the race will be run on Wednesday night. It’s scheduled mid-week to make the series’ west coast swing easier for the teams as most are based in Central Canada.
The last four races – including three ovals and one road course – have gone perfectly for D.J. Kennington as he won each of those races, becoming the first to win four races in a row in series history. As a result, the 2010 series champion currently lead the standings, 35 points over last year’s champion Scott Steckly. The likelihood of the streak continuing in Saskatoon is likely as Kennington, finished third in 2009, won in 2010, and finished runner-up last year to Pete Shepherd III. The 15-time race winner has a current streak going of eight straight top-five finishes and nine consecutive top 10s.
If Kennington can pull off his 16th career victory on Wedneday, he will break the tie between him and Andrew Ranger for the most wins in the series.
The only other past-race winner that will be running this year’s event is defending series champion Scott Steckly, who currently sits second in points to Kennington. The Milverton, Ontario driver is looking to get his first win of the 2012 season on Wednesday night.
“We want to win races and haven’t been able to get that done this year – yet,” says the pilot of the No. 22 Canadian Tire Dodge.
If he is going to have a chance at going back-to-back, he is going to catch Kennington and right now, Kennington is on a roll.
“That (Kennington) car has something figured out this year and we haven’t found it yet,” he says. “That’s how this sport goes, though. Someone finds something and we all chase it for a while. Then, we move on to the next thing.”
Last Sunday, Steckly dominated the race at Edmonton, though contact with J.R. Fitzpatrick took him out of the race late in the going.
“It was a disappointing end to the race. We had the best car on the track,” he says.
It was Saskatoon that put a damper in Steckly’s championship run last year after he finished 20th last year after suffering radiator damage early in the event. Before that, he won the race in 2009 and finished fourth in 2010. The two-time series champion has seven top-five finishes in his last eight starts dating back to last season.
“We’re not frustrated at all. We’ve had great finishes for the most part,” he says. “We just want to win.”
Winning is something that J.R. Fitzpatrick has been able to do as he won the opening race of the 2012 season at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. However, having some poor finishes has him sitting fourth in points, 43 points behind Kennington. In his two starts in Saskatoon, Fitzpatrick has a second and a ninth.
Meanwhile, Andrew Ranger, who sits third in points, has only made one start in Saskatoon. That start came in 2009, when he finished eighth. Though Ranger seems to be solid everywhere as he has a top 10 finish in eight of his last nine starts. The two-time series champion has also finished inside the top 10 in 27 of his last 29 series starts, dating back to 2008.
