September 15, 2012. After a race to forget last Sunday, DJ Kennington put his #17 Castrol Edge Dodge back in familiar territory during round eleven of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series at Riverside International Speedway near Antigonish, NS this past weekend. Saturday evening Kennington would lead a race high 188 laps en route to his sixth victory of the season, and take another step closer to his second series championship.
The #17 Castrol Edge Dodge didn’t post the quickest times during practice and qualifying but that was because Kennington and the team were working on something specific prior to the 300 lap feature. “We wanted the car to be at its best during long green flag segments and it absolutely was” said Kennington.
The #17 Castrol Dodge driver would line up in the fifth starting spot and begin his push toward the front of the field almost immediately. “I wanted to be aggressive in this race” said the driver. Nobody is going to hand us a win or a championship, we have to go get it and that’s why I was pushing hard early” he explained.
Kennington would hustle the #17 Castrol Edge Dodge to the lead on lap 68 for the first time during the evening. He would relinquish the lead just before the 100 lap mark for scheduled pit stops for fuel and tires. “Everything was working according to plan, after that we just needed to make one more stop for right side tires a bit later” he stated.
Once again the #17 Castrol Edge Dodge found the front of the field as Kennington showed their dominance battling hard for the lead after the final round of pit stops. “I race hard but fair” said the driver. “I had another great battle going with the #84 car, it’s fun when we can race like that”.
On lap 225 Kennington would take over the lead for good and cruise to victory, his sixth win of the year in the #17 Castrol Edge Dodge. Win number six of 2012 for Kennington equals the series record for most wins in a single season. The St. Thomas, ON driver has also equaled his own mark for most wins on oval tracks in a single season at five which he set in 2010. This also marks the tenth occasion that Kennington has finished in the top five, setting a new series record.
The #17 Castrol Edge Dodge driver also extends his championship points lead to 23 markers over second place. “This has been such an amazing year so far, but we’ve still got a little more work to do” said Kennington. “We’ll be heading back to the shop to get ready for next week. Once we finish the job then we can think about celebrating” he added.
DJ Kennington and the #17 Castrol Edge Dodge team will compete in the final race of the season this coming Saturday, September 22nd at Kawartha Speedway.
You can watch the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race from Riverside International Speedway in High Definition on TSN on September 22nd at Noon Eastern time.
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.
