DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The NASCAR Pinty’s Series will return to Sunset Speedway with the Leland Industries 300 presented by Dickies Saturday in Innisfil, Ontario. Below is a statistical look at the performance of the series and selected drivers:
Leland Industries 300 Setup:
• Mark Dilley is the general manager at Sunset Speedway. A three-time winner during his NASCAR Pinty’s Series career, Dilley will relinquish his track duties for Saturday to compete in the race.
• After last week’s postponement of the race scheduled at Autodrome Chaudière, this will be the first oval track race of the season for the series.
• Alex Tagliani made NPS history in this event last year becoming the first driver in the history of the series to lap the entire field on the way to his second career series win.
At Sunset Speedway:
• Sunset Speedway opened in 1968 as a quarter-mile oval.
• The track was resurfaced and expanded to .333-miles in 2009.
• Became a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series weekly racing member track in 2015.
• Track is the 11th different oval to play host to a NASCAR Pinty’s Series event since the series’ inaugural 2007 season.
Sunset Data
Race #: 2 of 12
Track Layout: .333-mile asphalt oval
Banking/Turns: progressive to 13 degrees
Race Length: 300 laps (100 miles)
Select Driver Highlights:
Mark Dilley (No. 02 Leland/Johnsonville/BDI Ford)
• Has three wins, three poles, 33 top fives and 52 top 10s in 91 career NASCAR Pinty’s Series starts.
• This will be his 2016 debut. Kerry Micks piloted the No. 02 Ford in the opener at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
• All of his wins and poles have come on ovals, where he has 42 top 10s and an average finish of eighth in 64 starts.
• Has a NPS inaugural event win to his credit: Riverside International Speedway in 2007.
• Finished 17th at Sunset Speedway last season.
L.P. Dumoulin (No. 47 WeatherTech Canada/Bellemare Dodge)
• The 2014 NPS Champion and 2011 Rookie of the Year has four wins, a pole, 24 top fives and 38 top 10s in 60 career starts.
• Has a win (2014 Auto Clearing Motor Speedway), 20 top 10s and an average finish of ninth in 32 career oval starts.
• Finished 10th at Sunset Speedway in 2015.
Jason Hathaway (No. 3 Fast Eddie/Choko/HGC Chevrolet)
• Has eight wins and 69 top 10s in 110 career starts. Is one of two drivers to compete in every race in NPS history.
• All five of his wins have come on ovals, and he’s posted 43 top 10s and average finish of eighth in 63 starts.
• Finished a career-best second in last year’s final season standings.
• Finished second to Alex Tagliani at Sunset Speedway in this race last year.
• Currently sits second in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series late model standings at Sunset this year and has posted four top-five finishes in as many starts.
D.J. Kennington (No. 17 Castrol Edge Dodge)
• The 2010 and 2012 NPS champion. Currently is tied for second in all-time NPS career wins (19), top fives (74) and top 10s (91), and is one of two drivers to start each of the 110 all-time events. Also ranks second in series history in laps led (2,797) and fifth in poles (11).
• Suffered first DNF in 69 races last fall at Riverside International Speedway after starting on the pole. His most recent DNF before last year also came at Riverside in 2009.
• His 16 oval wins are second to Scott Steckly for the most in NPS history, and all 11 of his career poles have been earned on ovals. He has an average finish of sixth with 44 races led and 58 top 10s in 70 career oval events.
• Finished 16th at Sunset Speedway in 2015.
Gary Klutt (No. 59 Pioneer Family Pools/PoolSuppliesCanada.ca Dodge)
• Has a win, a pole and 11 top 10s in 18 career NPS starts. Both the pole and win came in last year’s season-opener at CTMP.
• Recently named to be a part of the NASCAR Next program.
• Won the pole for this race at Sunset Speedway last year and came home sixth.
Alex Labbe (No. 36 Can-Am/Kappa/Cyclops Gear/Lou’s BBQ Dodge)
• Has three poles, five top fives and nine top 10s in 16 career starts. His first career pole came at Autodrome St-Eustache and he also won the pole at Chaudière last year.
• Labbe also equaled his best career finish of second at this track in 2015. He scored his first career runner-up finish at Riverside in 2014.
• Has recorded three top-10 finishes on ovals.
• Finished seventh in this race last year.
Kevin Lacroix (No. 74 Bumper To Bumper/Total/Lacroix Tuning Dodge)
• Recorded two wins in seven starts during his debut season in 2015. Won road races at Circuit ICAR and Circuit de Trois-Rivieres.
• Is the first driver in series history to win two of his first four starts, and first to record two victories in rookie season.
• Finished 15th in last year’s final season standings.
• This will be his first start at Sunset Speedway.
Andrew Ranger (No. 27 Mopar/Pennzoil Dodge)
• The 2007 and 2009 NPS champion and after his season opening win at CTMP holds the record for all-time wins with 20 and tied for first in poles (17). Has 49 top fives and 70 top 10s in 84 career starts.
• Has five wins, 18 races led, 37 top 10s and an average finish of sixth in 48 career oval starts.
• Mechanical issues ended his day early last year at Sunset to give him a 20th-place finish.
Alex Tagliani (No. 18 EpiPen/Riobel/Complexe JCP/Juste du Chevrolet)
• Has two wins, six poles and 10 top 10s in 34 career NPS starts.
• Has a pole, three top 10s, an average finish of 12th and scored his first oval track win at Sunset Speedway last summer for his best finish on an oval in 20 oval starts.
• Set a series record in this race last year becoming the first driver to lap the field in a win.
Other Driver Notes
• In addition to Jason Hathaway, NPS drivers Dwayne Baker and Cayden Lapcevich have also competed in NWAAS late models at Sunset this year.
• Rookie driver Josh Collins and Jason White are scheduled to make their 2016 debuts in this event.
Up To Speed:
• The 2016 season is the first for new series sponsor Pinty’s and the 10th overall for the Canadian-based NASCAR division.
• The 2016 schedule features 12 races at 11 different tracks across five provinces and a return to the road course in Toronto as part of the IndyCar weekend in July.
• Quebec native Andrew Ranger took the lead on the penultimate lap of the season opening race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park to score the win.
• The series will return to action next Friday, June 24 for the make-up date for the CRS Express 300 at Autodrome Chaudière in Vallee-Jonction, Quebec.
