July 26, 2012. For the fifth consecutive race in the 2012 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series season St. Thomas, ON racer DJ Kennington and the #17 Castrol Edge Dodge team came out on top. At round seven taking place Wednesday evening at Auto Clearing Motor Speedway in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
The #17 Castrol Edge Dodge driver would begin the 250 lap event from the fifth starting spot and quickly move into the top three. Remaining near the front of the field for the entire event, Kennington would inherit the race lead on lap 195 and hold off the challenges of the #02 and the #84 to claim the victory.
“I simply can’t believe it” said Kennington. “We didn’t have the best car tonight, both those guys raced me hard but clean and we managed to hold them off and put this Castrol Edge Dodge in victory lane again” he added.
The triumph is significant for several reasons. With this latest victory Kennington again sets a new standard for consecutive race wins in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series with five in a row. The #17 Castrol Edge Dodge driver equals the NASCAR Touring Series mark of five straight wins held by Ricky Craven who recorded five in succession in the K & N Pro Series East in 1991 along with Richie Evans and Mike Stefanik who achieved five in a row in 1985 and 1997 respectively.
Wednesday’s win at Auto Clearing Motor Speedway is the sixteenth victory of Kennington’s NASCAR Canadian Tire Series career and moves him into top spot all by himself with the most series wins. “If you asked me I never would have thought it was possible to take over the title this year, with so many good racers in the series” said Kennington.
As always the #17 Castrol Edge Dodge driver was quick to thank all those that helped make his milestone night possible. “I’ve absolutely got the best team in the game” he stated. “These guys work so hard every week, I share each win with all of them. And there’s no way we can do this without the fantastic support of our sponsors, Castrol Edge, Mahindra Tractors, Hitachi Power Tools, NPP, everybody that supports us and makes this possible, we share this with you also”.
With his latest win DJ Kennington increases his lead in the overall championship point’s standings to 41 points over second place with five races remaining in the season.
NOTE: This remarkable string of success by Kennington is getting plenty of media notice. The #17 Castrol Edge Dodge pilot is scheduled to appear on ESPN’s NASCAR NOW on Thursday July 26th airing at 3PM Eastern.
DJ Kennington and the #17 Castrol Edge Dodge team will be back in action August 4 & 5 at the Grand Prix of Trois-Rivieres. Fans can watch the race from Saskatoon on TSN2 Saturday August 4th at 6:30PM Eastern.
Race fans are encouraged to keep up to date with the latest team news in several ways. Race fans should bookmark the team website www.djkracing.ca and follow them on twitter, @djkracing and fans should also “like” the team Facebook Page DJK Racing.
