Kennington creates new way of double dipping International Style!

While the racing world consistently praises the efforts of Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, and Clint Bowyer, they all fail in comparison to the feats being accomplished by St Thomas Ontario native DJ Kennington.  Double dipping in NASCAR is as common as the day is long, but none have succeeded in International Dipping like Kennington.

Kennington started his weekend completing the final touches of the Castrol Syntec #17 Dodge in the NASCAR Canadian Series car on Friday morning at 4am.  Five hours and four hundred miles later, Kennington arrived in his Dodge pickup in Sparta, Kentucky to start the NASCAR Nationwide Series weekend with the MacDonald Motorsports team.  "Iʼm pretty whipped, but excited to be here!" stated DJ.  After a day of rained out events at Kentucky Speedway, he joined his teammates for dinner before a well-deserved night of sleep.

6 A.M. Saturday morning the alarm awakens the International Racer as practice for the Meijer 300 was rescheduled for 9am.  After logging over 90 miles in practice, Kennington qualified the Mahindra Tractors, NPP, MC2 Energy Drink Dodge in the 34th position. "We threw some things at the car right before qualifying and the car just didnʼt react.  We have "Old' Faithful" here and we know it will be a good car in the race."  The car Kennington is referring to is DJK-004, which has raced in 9 events of the 14 this season.

After signing autographs all afternoon, DJ took the green flag in 34^th position, but made quick work and climbed into the 7^th position before regular green flag pit stops.  "We were running 7th but had some problems on the front tires during the pit stop and it cost us big!" After the problem, DJ would continue to race hard and moved back into the top 30. When the green flag flew, DJ came home with a 26^th place finish and moved back into the 25th position in driverʼs points and only 57 points from 21st in the standings. 

As the clock struck midnight and the beginning of Father's Day, Kennington quickly reflected.  "Iʼm proud of this team.  We were the only team in the Nationwide Series that honored our Fathers on the car.  Itʼs a small statement but we featured all of Dads name on the car and Iʼm glad to have my Dad, Doug on the car.  Without him, I wouldnʼt be racing." 

12:05am, DJ pulls out of Kentucky Speedway in route to the Mossport International Speedway.  "Itʼs a nine hour drive, and if we have any luck we can get there in plenty of time for the drivers meeting.  Ken Forth did a great job qualifying and shaking this new car down, and without his feedback, I would be worried."

DJ arrives at the Mossport International Speedway in time for the drivers meeting  "This car is pretty solid, and from what I have been told, we have something for them today."  Due to the driver change, DJ starts on the tail end of the field of the road course event.  "It will be a rough day but I have faith I can get there!" 

Once the green flag dropped, DJ made quick work and in just 14 laps the 17 Castrol Dodge was sitting 10th.  As the day progressed, DJ found himself in a race-winning situation.  With just a handful of laps, rain fell and the Castrol Dodge dove onto pit road to change to rain tires.  "This was our chance at victory, and a great call, no doubt."  As the white flag fell, Kennington found himself in 2nd place and closing in on the leader. "We might have had something for J.R. (Fitzpatrick) but we will have to do this battle at a later date!"

Kennington climbed from the 34th position to 7th in the driverʼs standings after the strong finish.  "Our goals never waiver here at DJK Racing.  A Championship is what we want." 

The International Double-Duty is something not accomplished before in NASCAR at this level.  Kennington will make this a weekly event in 2008  Without the luxury of private chartered jets, Kennington should be applauded for his Blue Collar status.  "It would be great to have a jet for these things, but lets be honest, this is who I am.  I work on my cars, I tune my engines in the Nationwide Series, and I drive to racetracks, even though I have to cross the border.  It doesnʼt matter if its 1500 miles or 1500 kilometers, if thereʼs a steering wheel and a seat, I am there!"

DJ Kennington will return to the States for the race at the Milwaukee Mile next Saturday in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.  "I'll be there on time, but I still have a lot of work to do here in St Thomas.  Its living a dream...one country at a time!"

-         DJ will race in 43 races (29 Nationwide and 14 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series)

-         Kenningtonʼs NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Castrol Sponsorship is currently the longest running sponsorship with a driver in all of NASCAR

-         Kennington is a 7-time runner up in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series overall championship standings

-         13 more international double duty weekends, next one is July 4^th weekend

DJ Kennington's run at Kentucky was his first ever at the track.  Lap speeds were compariable to the top 10 cars but a costly error in the pits hampered the finish.  Once again, Kennington finished the race strong in 26th.  DJ has finished in the 29th position or better in 9 of his 14 races, including 7 in a row.  "We look for a top 10 at Milwaukee and New Hampshire for sure.  When we get to Daytona, the car we are bringing is even better than our Talladega car that we ran in the top 5 all day with!  We are coming into a stretch of great races for us where we can show our improvements!"

DJ did a radio show on XM radio with Claire B Lange on Friday as well as ESPN Radio on Friday from Cinncinnati.  DJ will appear on Clear Channel radio this coming Friday as well as iTunes Rowdy Racing on Tuesday.

Photos of the events can be seen at  http://www.pbase.com/mitch_gil/macdonald_motorsports