Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
There once was a time in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series where D.J. Kennington was dominating, winning race after race with a couple of championships.
Kennington knows the landscape has changed in stating there’s “many great teams, so many drivers” that can get the job done, but is set to get himself back in victory lane this year.
“I don’t think there’s anyone as quite as hungry as I am as we haven’t won in awhile, and that’s not like us,” he told Race Time Radio. “Made some changes over the off-season, and I think it’s going to make us stronger and hopefully we can go and win some races. Castrol Edge has been behind us forever and they’re great people, great sponsors, and lifelong friends of mine, and I think it’s about time that I get back in victory lane and get them a championship. I mean, we know how to do it and know what we have to do. It’s not like we haven’t been competitive – we just haven’t been dotting our Is and crossing our Ts so we just need to get that done if you’re going to beat the best that is, and hope we’re on top of the pile.”
Last season, Kennington finished fifth in points with six top-fives and eight top-10s, and went a second season without reaching victory lane. He said their issue was they tried too many things that they didn’t know much about.
“If you don’t try different things, you’re not going to get better but rather stay status quo,” he said. “We tried a whole bunch of things and obviously a bunch didn’t work. We just kind of went back and looked at everything that we did in the past, and figured out where we should be, and I’m really looking forward to getting on the track.”
Outside of his own program, Kennington hopes his team as a whole is up front with Andrew Ranger also in contention.
“Great ethic, one helluva road racer and no slouch on the ovals here,” Kennington commented. “It’s nice having someone like that on our team as you can lean on him and learn from each other. But him and I don’t learn a lot from each other because we don’t like to share. It’s the same whole thing – we both want to win so bad, which is great because if you lose that want to win, the you need to move over and let someone else do it. It’s going to be great.”
An interesting shift is Dave White, whom has worked with Kennington for years, is now set to be partnered with Kennington. Despite the change, Kennington isn’t worried about his program, noting that he has Ted McCalister joining the team. McCalister spent the last couple of years working with J.R. Fitzpatrick.
While looking for success in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series, there may be a chance to see the two-time champion behind the wheel of a truck at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in September.
“Well, I’m working on it. I’ll tell you that,” he said. “We’d love to get in one. The thing is I want to get in one that’s a real decent piece and you have a chance to run well, because it’s a lot of money and you’re going to have to have a lot of people behind you to do it. I think if you’re going to do it, you’re going to have to take a swing at it once and see what comes on it. We’re working on it and hopefully we can find something. If not, obviously our number one priority is the Castrol Edge Dodge and hopefully at that point in the season, we’ll be in the championship battle.
“Hopefully if we’re in both, we can learn from each and have a good solid weekend there. Sometimes when you try to do both, you bite off more than you can chew. We’ll see how it goes. If we get a good opportunity, then we’ll jump all over it.”
