June 16, 2009. After scoring their first victory of the season in the NASCAR Canadian Tire series DJ Kennington and #17 the Castrol Dodge team was anxious to get back on track and back up that impressive showing. For the first road course event of the year at the famous Mosport International Raceway Kennington and company proved they will be among the toughest competitors at each stop on the tour.
As usual the #17 Castrol Dodge was among the fastest in practice and Kennington would post a solid fifth fastest time during qualifying. “With only a few days to get ready the team did a great job and the car was fast right off the truck” said Kennington.
Sunday afternoon the green flag waved for the 200km feature and Kennington was looking to advance the Castrol Dodge immediately. However just a few laps in his focus changed. Teammate Joey Hanssen in the #40 car had a mechanical failure and slid of course in turn eight and suffered hard contact. DJ’s attention was immediately on his young teammate. “He’s only been here a short time but he’s such a great kid I needed to find out how he was” said Kennington. The race was red flagged while Hanssen was assisted from the car by safety workers. After being checked out at both the infield care center and nearby hospital he was released, sore but otherwise unharmed.
When the race was restarted Kennington resumed his mission looking to improve his position. While fighting amongst the leaders the driver and crew pondered strategies for their upcoming scheduled pit stop for the Castrol Dodge. “We took four times, I thought about taking two or even none, but if there was a caution late in the race we would have been a sitting duck” said Kennington.
Kennington would continue to keep the Castrol Dodge near the front of the field but after his pit stop just didn’t feel as if he had anything more he could get from the car. “We were pretty solid, but the second set of tires just wasn’t as good as the first, and near the end the car loosened up a little” summarized Kennington.
The #17 Castrol Dodge would score a fourth place finish and move Kennington into third in the overall points standings. “It was a good day and we’ll take it” said the driver. “I’m by no means a road racer so we’ll be happy with the good point’s day and get ready for St. Eustache and try to win another one of these races for Castrol and Mahindra Tractors”.
Round number four of the 2009 NASCAR Canadian Tire series will see teams return for a second visit to the Autodrome St. Eustache on Saturday July 11th. Other events this year will also include events at the Edmonton Indy weekend, the NASCAR weekend in Montreal and new tracks for this season, Auto Clearing Speedway in Saskatoon and Delaware Speedway. All races this season will again be shown on TSN. The Mosport event will air on June 28th at 11:30AM Eastern.
Attached Photo Caption: Kennington moving up through the field at Mosport
Photo Credit: Rod Henderson, http://www.canadianracer.com/
As usual the #17 Castrol Dodge was among the fastest in practice and Kennington would post a solid fifth fastest time during qualifying. “With only a few days to get ready the team did a great job and the car was fast right off the truck” said Kennington.
Sunday afternoon the green flag waved for the 200km feature and Kennington was looking to advance the Castrol Dodge immediately. However just a few laps in his focus changed. Teammate Joey Hanssen in the #40 car had a mechanical failure and slid of course in turn eight and suffered hard contact. DJ’s attention was immediately on his young teammate. “He’s only been here a short time but he’s such a great kid I needed to find out how he was” said Kennington. The race was red flagged while Hanssen was assisted from the car by safety workers. After being checked out at both the infield care center and nearby hospital he was released, sore but otherwise unharmed.
When the race was restarted Kennington resumed his mission looking to improve his position. While fighting amongst the leaders the driver and crew pondered strategies for their upcoming scheduled pit stop for the Castrol Dodge. “We took four times, I thought about taking two or even none, but if there was a caution late in the race we would have been a sitting duck” said Kennington.
Kennington would continue to keep the Castrol Dodge near the front of the field but after his pit stop just didn’t feel as if he had anything more he could get from the car. “We were pretty solid, but the second set of tires just wasn’t as good as the first, and near the end the car loosened up a little” summarized Kennington.
The #17 Castrol Dodge would score a fourth place finish and move Kennington into third in the overall points standings. “It was a good day and we’ll take it” said the driver. “I’m by no means a road racer so we’ll be happy with the good point’s day and get ready for St. Eustache and try to win another one of these races for Castrol and Mahindra Tractors”.
Round number four of the 2009 NASCAR Canadian Tire series will see teams return for a second visit to the Autodrome St. Eustache on Saturday July 11th. Other events this year will also include events at the Edmonton Indy weekend, the NASCAR weekend in Montreal and new tracks for this season, Auto Clearing Speedway in Saskatoon and Delaware Speedway. All races this season will again be shown on TSN. The Mosport event will air on June 28th at 11:30AM Eastern.
Attached Photo Caption: Kennington moving up through the field at Mosport
Photo Credit: Rod Henderson, http://www.canadianracer.com/
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