DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The 2016 NASCAR Pinty’s Series will conclude its annual western swing with the Velocity Prairie Thunder 250 on Wednesday at Wyant Group Raceway in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Below is a statistical look at the performance of the series and selected drivers at the track:
Velocity Prairie Thunder 250 Setup:
• With his win last Saturday at Edmonton International Raceway in the first leg of the annual western swing, Alex Tagliani has now won two races in a row for the first time in his NPS career and has three wins this season. He’ll try to make the sweep at Wyant Group Raceway.
• Previous drivers to complete a sweep of western swing events include: J.R. Fitzpatrick (2007), D.J. Kennington (2012-three races) and Steckly (2013 & 2015).
• Andrew Ranger (CTMP & ICAR) and Alex Labbe (Chaudiere) join Tagliani (Sunset, Toronto and Edmonton) as drivers to win so far this season in the series.
At Wyant Group Raceway:
• The track opened in 2006 and is currently owned by a group of racing enthusiasts and operated by a mostly volunteer staff.
• Has played host to the NASCAR Pinty’s Series each year since 2009.
• That 2009 inaugural event was the first appearance for the series in the province of Saskatchewan.
• Scott Steckly won the inaugural 2009 race, and was victorious again there in 2013 and 2015.
• The previous seven events have produced four different pole winners and race winners.
• Mark Dilley, Jason Hathaway, D.J. Kennington and Scott Steckly have participated in all seven previous events, and all except Steckly are expected to extend the streak this week.
• Dodge has been the winning manufacturer in all seven previous events.
Wyant Group Raceway Data
Race #: 7 of 12
Track Layout: .333-mile asphalt oval
Banking/Turns: progressive from 5-11 degrees
Race Length: 250 laps (83.25 miles)
TV Coverage: Aug. 6, 4:30 p.m. ET; RDS – Sept. 3, 1:30 p.m. ET
Qualifying/Race Data
2015 Race Winner: Scott Steckly
2015 Pole Winner: Scott Steckly
Qualifying Record: Scott Steckly, Dodge, 82.020 mph, 14.616 secs., July 16, 2014
Active Category Leaders at Wyant Group Raceway:
Wins
1. D.J. Kennington … 2
2. L.P. Dumoulin … 1
Poles
1. D.J. Kennington … 2
Top Fives
1. D.J. Kennington … 5
2. Mark Dilley … 4
Jason Hathaway … 4
Top 10s
1. D.J. Kennington … 6
2. Jason Hathaway … 6
3. Mark Dilley … 5
Laps Led
1. D.J. Kennington … 336
2. Jason Hathaway … 142
3. Andrew Ranger … 92
Laps Completed
1. D.J. Kennington … 1,701
2. Mark Dilley … 1,696
Jason Hathaway … 1,696
Starts
1. Mark Dilley … 7
Jason Hathaway … 7
D.J. Kennington … 7
Select Driver Highlights:
Mark Dilley (No. 02 Johnsonville/Leland/Dickies Ford)
• Has three wins, three poles, 35 top fives and 54 top 10s in 94 career NASCAR Pinty’s Series starts.
• All of his wins and poles have come on ovals, where he has 44 top 10s and an average finish of ninth in 71 starts.
• Has participated in all seven previous events at Wyant Group Raceway, where he’s posted five top 10s, an average finish of sixth and a best result of second in both 2012 and 2013.
Noel Dowler (No. 53 MFP/Empire Mechanical Dodge)
• The Sherwood Park, Alberta native has made 50 series starts with 1 top-five and 20 top-10 finishes.
• Finished third at Barrie in 2012 for his best finish to date.
• Has made five starts with three top-10 finishes and he came home sixth last season and in 2013 at WGR.
L.P. Dumoulin (No. 47 WeatherTech Canada/Bellemare Dodge)
• The 2014 NPS Champion and 2011 Rookie of the Year has four wins, a pole, 26 top fives and 40 top 10s in 65 career starts..
• Has an average finish of eighth in four WGR appearances, highlighted by his first career oval win in 2014.
Jason Hathaway (No. 3 Fast Eddie/Choko/HGC Chevrolet)
• Has eight wins, 32 top-five and 70 top 10s in 115 career starts. Is one of two drivers to compete in every race in NPS history.
• Seven of his eight series wins have come on an oval track. His lone road course win came at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park last year.
• Has four top-five and six top 10s with an average finish of fifth and a best result of second (2014 & 2105) in the seven previous WGR events.
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 (75) and top 10s (95), and is one of two drivers to start each of the 115 all-time events. Also ranks second in series history in laps led (2,797) and fifth in poles (11).
• Has two wins (2010, `12), two poles (`10, `11) and an average finish of fifth at WGR, where he’s finished in the top-10 in six of the seven previous events held there.
Gary Klutt (No. 59 Pioneer Family Pools/PoolSuppliesCanada.ca Dodge)
• Has a win, a pole and 14 top 10s in 23 career NPS starts. Both the pole and win came in last year’s season-opener at CTMP.
• Has six top-10 finishes in 11 career oval track starts.
• This will be the NASCAR Next driver’s second start at the track. He finished 14th last year.
Alex Labbe (No. 36 Can-Am/Kappa/Cyclops Gear Dodge)
• Has one win (Chaudiere – 2016) five poles, seven top fives and 11 top 10s in 20 career starts.
• In seven oval track starts he has one win, three poles, three top-five and four top 10s.
• This will be his first start at WGR.
Kevin Lacroix (No. 74 Bumper To Bumper/Total/Go Fast Dodge)
• Has two wins, five top-five and six top-10 finishes in 11 career starts.
• 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 record two victories in rookie season.
• Became the first driver in the history of the series to win a caution-free race last season at ICAR in his first start at the track.
• This will be his first start at the Saskatoon track.
Cayden Lapcevich (No. 76 Fastline Motorsports Dodge)
• Has made 11 career starts in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series and recorded his career-best second-place finish twice this season Sunset Speedway on June 18th and Chaudiere on June 24th.
• Enters this weekend second in the points standings behind Andrew Ranger. He’ll make his debut at Wyant Group Raceway this Wednesday.
Andrew Ranger (No. 27 Mopar/Pennzoil Dodge)
• The 2007 and 2009 NPS champion and after his wins this season at CTMP and most recently at ICAR, holds the record for all-time wins with 22 and tied for first in poles (18). Has 51 top fives and 75 top 10s in 89 career starts.
• Scored his best finish to date last year at WGR in third and his three other appearances at the track he’s registered finishes of eighth, sixth and fourth.
Alex Tagliani (No. 18 EpiPen/Riobel/Complexe JCP/Juste du Chevrolet)
• Has five wins, six poles and 14 top fives, 23 top 10s in 39 career NPS starts.
• Two of his four wins at have come on the ovals (Sunset Speedway 2015-16).
• Finished seventh in 2015 and fifth in his first career appearance at WGR in 2014.
Other Driver Notes
• Joey McColm will make his second start of the season at WGR. He’s made three previous starts at the .333-mile track with one top-10 finish.
• Kindersley, Saskatchewan driver Jason Hankewich returns this week in his second start of the year. He has two previous starts at WGR.
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.
• Alex Tagliani made Quebec drivers two-for-two this season after he won the Leland Industries 300 at Sunset Speedway for his third career series victory.
• Alex Labbe won from the pole last weekend in an exciting finish with rookie Cayden Lapcevich. It was Labbe’s first career win.
• Andrew Ranger retook the points lead and also became the first multi-race winner of the season with his third win at ICAR two weeks ago.
• Alex Tagliani was able to hold off Andrew Ranger in a green-white-checkered finish in the series return to the road course in Toronto for his second win of the season.
• Alex Tagliani took the lead on Lap 88 and remained out front the rest of the way to score his second consecutive win and third of the season at Edmonton. Tagliani will try and become the first driver since Scott Steckly in 2013 to win three NPS races in a row.
