- Series Set For Its Inaugural Sunset Race
- Dilley Wears Two Hats This Week
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 16, 2015) – Mark Dilley will achieve two dreams with the drop of one green flag Saturday as Sunset Speedway welcomes the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 for the first time.
Dilley, a competitor in the Canadian Tire Series since its inception, also serves as general manager at the track located in Innisfil, Ontario. Those two worlds will collide in the Leland Industries 300 presented by Johnsonville when he moves from Race Control to the seat of the No. 02 Micks Motorsports Ford.
Saturday’s event is the culmination of a lot of work and preparation by Dilley and the Sunset management and staff to get the track in a position to be able to handle a Canadian Tire Series event. The effort has paid off.
“All of us at Sunset are hugely excited about it,” Dilley said. “This is something that we built with the hopes of NASCAR coming here and it’s finally happening.”
Dilley looks at the week ahead with both anticipation and gratification, from both sides of the coin.
“It’s going to be the pinnacle of my racing career,” Dilley said. “I’ve raced for a long time, but to do what we’re going to do this week is pretty cool.”
Despite having to leave his managerial duties behind on Saturday, Dilley is confident the inaugural event will go off without a hitch.
“We’ll be alright, we’ve got a lot of good people that work there,” Dilley said. “I think we’ve got good pieces in place to look after things the day of the event. Building up to the event this week, it’s going to be busy.”
A big part of what Dilley relishes with the opportunity to bring the Canadian Tire Series to his track is the prospect of exposing new fans to the exciting competition.
“A lot of people that know me as the promoter there are going to get to come out and watch and see what I do on weekends (with the Canadian Tire Series),” Dilley said. “There are a lot of people there that haven’t seen a Canadian Tire Series race before, so it’s going to be an eye-opener on both sides, for me and for the people that come out every week.”
RACE: Leland Industries 300 pres. by Johnsonville
PLACE: Sunset Speedway, Innisfil, Ont.
DATE: Saturday, June 20
TIME: 6:30 p.m. ET
TELECAST: TSN – June 28 at 1 p.m. ET; RDS2 – July 10 at 10 p.m.
TRACK LAYOUT: .333-mile asphalt oval
2014 POLESITTER/RACE WINNER: New event
EVENT SCHEDULE: Practice 11:30 a.m.-12 p.m., Final Practice 12:30-1 p.m., Qualifying 3:45 p.m., Driver Autograph Session 5 p.m.
TRACK CONTACT: Spencer Lewis, 416-856-3730, limpertwo@hotmail.com
TRACK TWITTER: @Sunset_Speedway
EVENT TWITTER HASHTAG: #Leland300
NASCAR CONTACT: Jason Cunningham, 704-201-6658, jcunningham@nascar.com, Twitter: @NASCAR_NE
Fast Facts:
The Race: The Leland Industries 300 presented by Johnsonville will be the third of 11 events on the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 schedule, and the inaugural visit for the series to Ontario’s Sunset Speedway.
The Procedure: The maximum starting field is 24 cars, including provisionals. The first 21 cars will have secured starting positions through two-lap time trials while the remaining three spots will be awarded through the provisional process. The race is scheduled for 300 laps (75 miles) and is an impound race with two change tires allowed.
The Track: Sunset Speedway opened in 1968 as a quarter-mile oval. The track was resurfaced and expanded to .333-miles in 2009.
Leland Industries 300 Notes:
Hathaway the Oval King: For much of the first six years of NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 competition, D.J. Kennington and Scott Steckly had the market cornered on trips to Victory Lane at ovals, but the last two-plus seasons has seen a changing of the guard. With his triumph last week at Autodrome Chaudiere, Jason Hathaway has won five of the last 11 oval races the series has contested. That bodes well for the Ontario native with another circle track on this week’s docket in Sunset Speedway, where he ran the first four late model events of the season in NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action.
Inaugural Events: The Leland Industries 300 presented by Johnsonville will be the third inaugural event in the last two seasons. Last year the Canadian Tire Series visited Quebec’s Autodrome Chaudiere and Alberta’s Edmonton International Raceway for the first time. Sunset will become the 11th different oval to play host to a Canadian Tire Series event since the series’ inception in 2007.
Home Track Advantage, Part II: Mark Dilley may have more local knowledge than any driver in the field, but he’s not the only one with experience there. Jostens Rookie of the Year contender Cayden Lapcevich has competed at the Ontario oval in recent seasons as his young career has progressed, and he won the track’s super stock division title in 2014.
Home Tracks: Shepherd Translates Success to Sunset
Ontario’s defending NASCAR Whelen All-American Series provincial champion Gord Shepherd moved down the road from Barrie Speedway to Sunset Speedway for 2015, and success has followed. Shepherd posted a pair of victories through the first four late model division events of the season at Sunset and maintained a 36-point lead on Jason Wittey in the June 9 Whelen All-American Series standings.
