Race No. 6: Edmonton 100 at Edmonton City Centre Airport

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July 19, 2012

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.

IndyCar stays in Canada, Conway and Wilson discuss Edmonton

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SM Staff

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July 19, 2012

[media-credit name=”http://www.indycar.com” align=”alignleft” width=”250″][/media-credit]The IZOD IndyCar series stays north of the border for the eleventh round of the 2012 season this weekend with Edmonton Indy. It will be the fifth IndyCar sanctioned race at the Edmonton City Centre Airport and the eighth race to be held at the venue, with Champ Car holding the first three races beginning in 2005.

This will be the second race to be run on Edmonton’s new layout, which was modified in 2011 to help promote overtaking throughout the race.

Mike Conway, driver of the #14 ABC Supply Company Honda for A.J. Foyt Enterprises believes the changes to the track layout last year have had a positive impact on the racing that takes place in Edmonton.

“It kind of made racing really good, which is kind of what you need around that place,” Conway tells IndyCar.com when referring to the hairpins configured into the new layout of the track.

The winner of the 2011 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach looks forward to racing at Edmonton again this weekend after running well but receiving a drive-through penalty last year after making contact with Oriol Servia.

“It’s a fun little track, very rewarding, so bumpy in some places but it just makes it a challenge of dialing the car in,” says the Englishman.

Justin Wilson is a driver excited to get back to the Alberta area. The pilot of the #18 Dale Coyne Racing Sonny’s BBQ Honda has experienced much success on the Edmonton Circuit. Of the seven races Wilson has run on the airport layouts, he has accumulated five top-5 finishes including winning the 2006 iteration of the race.

“Edmonton is a unique track and the way its laid out the fans can see most of it,” Wilson says to the IndyCar Series’ website regarding the new layout used for the race beginning in 2011.

Though, the areas the IndyCar’s run through at the Edmonton City Centre Airport differ from the layout driven by Wilson from when he won, Wilson states that he enters the race weekend with the same strategy.

“Exactly the same philosophy applies, a couple more hairpins create some more out braking opportunities,” he says.

[media-credit name=”http://www.indycar.com” align=”alignright” width=”250″][/media-credit]Wilson looks to claim another victory at the Edmonton circuit on July 22nd and he enters the weekend ready to work hard to continue his success.

The winner of the 2012 Firestone 550 states “It’s a tough track, its high commitment, you’ve got to be very precise. I think it’s going to be a challenge with these new cars, it’s going to be hard work from the cockpit.”

Edmonton Indy can be seen on NBC Sports Network at 2 PM on Sunday, July 22nd.

NOTES FROM THE NASCAR NATION: A NCWTS TAIL GATE PARTY AT CHICAGOLAND

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SM Staff

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July 19, 2012

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will bring their tail gate style of racing to the Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday, July 21st, for the running of the American Ethanol 225.

Race number ten of the season will bring an interesting storyline to the series’ championship points and owner’s points standings. That connection is the number 14. There are 14 points separating the top three drivers in the championship run. The top three in the team owner’s standings are also separated by 14 points. The same three trucks are participants in both points series.

Timothy Peters, on the strength of his win last weekend in Iowa, is the points leader with Justin Lofton and Ty Dillon behind him in second and third. Those drivers are representing team owners Tom DeLoach, Eddie Sharp and Richard Childress who are ranked one through three in the owner’s standings.

The American Ethanol 225 will also feature major milestones in the careers of two series champions and fan favorite drivers. Four time series champion Ron Hornaday Jr will be making his 310th start on Saturday which places him in third on the series’ all time start list. Also, Hornaday needs to run only 73 laps in Saturday’s race to reach the 50,000 laps milestone. That feat translates to 52,300 miles in a series truck since 1995. That’s more than twice the distance around the world.

The presence of two time series champion Todd Bodine in Saturday’s race will give him the distinction of making at least 200 starts each in all three of NASCAR’s national touring series. Bodine will log 762 official NASCAR starts at Chicagoland which breaks down to 241 starts in the Sprint Cup Series, 321 Nationwide Series starts and now 200 starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

THE RACE BREAKDOWN

Saturday’s American Ethanol 225 is 150 laps/225 miles around the Chicagoland Speedway.

The race has 34 entries. With 36 starting berths available the element of go or go home, knock out qualifying, will not apply for this event meaning all entries will get to race.

The series is enjoying a highly competitive season in 2012 that has sent eight different winners to victory lane in the first nine races. However there will not be a repeat race winner on Saturday. Last year’s winner and series’ champion Austin Dillon has moved on to the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

The series has been surprisingly low on non eligible points drivers, or those occasionally visiting the series’ events. There has been only two significant visits, from Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne, that were turned into race wins. Drivers Brendan Gaughan and Mike Harmon are the only two visitors in the starting field for the Chicago race.

The Chicagoland Speedway is a 1.5 mile, D shaped, tri oval. There are 18 degrees of banking in the four turns, 11 degrees in the tri oval while the straights are banked at five degrees.

The American Ethanol 225 will be broadcast live on the SPEED Channel beginning at 730 pm eastern time.