DAYTONA BEACH, FL - On Friday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway, Canadian DJ Kennington overcame long odds to qualify for Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series (formerly Busch Series) race at the 2.5-mile superspeedway. The 30-year-old from St. Thomas, Ontario was the 52nd of 53 racers who participated in time trials in advance of Saturday's season-opening Camping World 300.
Kennington's STP Tools / NPP Dodge Charger posted the 16th-fastest lap, thereby locking the MacDonald Motorsports entry into the outside of the eighth row. Kennington plans to participate in the bulk of the NASCAR Nationwide Series' events in 2008, as well as in the full NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. In 2007, he finished second in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series points on the strength of two wins in the 12-race series.
Kennington's qualifying lap of 50.278 seconds (179.005 mph) was better than that of many of NASCAR's most well-known and well-funded stars, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards. Toyota driver Tony Stewart posted the fastest time during qualifying, at 49.741 secs. / 180.937 mph and will sit on the pole for Saturday's race.
DJ Kennington quotes on making the field for Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona Int'l Speedway:
“It’s just a dream come true. Honestly, I don’t know what else to say. We’re worked my whole life to get here and we did it… we did it. It doesn’t matter what happens from here because we’re in the race and that’s all that matters to me. I feel like we won.”
"We made a bunch of changes last night and I guess Randy [MacDonald] made the right calls. We were just trying to free it up so we could run as fast as we could alone in qualifying. Now we need to get it dialed in for tomorrow."
- with files from Greg MacPherson / Inside Track Motorsport News. Photo by Dave Franks
Starting Line Up by Row
Daytona International Speedway
Camping World 300 Presented by Chevrolet
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Fri, February 15, 2008 @ 07:34 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Geoffrey Bodine 02/16/85 01:54:33 157.137
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 20 Tony Stewart Armor All Toyota 49.741 180.937
2 2 Clint Bowyer BB&T Chevrolet 49.972 180.101
Row 2: 3 38 Jason Leffler Great Clips Toyota 49.987 180.047
4 40 Dario Franchitti # Fastenal Dodge 50.084 179.698
Row 3: 5 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota 50.085 179.695
6 41 Bryan Clauson # Texaco/Havoline Dodge 50.119 179.573
Row 4: 7 21 Bobby Labonte Realtree Chevrolet 50.125 179.551
8 32 Denny Hamlin Hass Avocados from Mexico Toyota 50.152 179.454
Row 5: 9 33 Kevin Harvick Camping World Chevrolet 50.162 179.419
10 8 Martin Truex Jr. Freightliner Chevrolet 50.203 179.272
Row 6: 11 10 Brian Vickers ABF Toyota 50.219 179.215
12 70 Mark Green ForeTravel/BIOMET Chevrolet 50.225 179.194
Row 7: 13 88 Brad Keselowski NAVY Chevrolet 50.228 179.183
14 17 Matt Kenseth Kraft/Ritz Ford 50.270 179.033
Row 8: 15 9 Kasey Kahne Ragu Dodge 50.273 179.023
16 81 D.J. Kennington STP Tools Dodge 50.278 179.005
Row 9: 17 30 Stanton Barrett NOS Energy Drink/Interush Chevrolet 50.298 178.934
18 99 David Reutimann Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota 50.306 178.905
Row 10: 19 5 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard Chevrolet 50.322 178.848
20 11 Jason Keller Allstate Materials Chevrolet 50.337 178.795
Row 11: 21 00 Michael McDowell RIMCO Toyota 50.364 178.699
22 7 Mike Wallace GEICO Toyota 50.395 178.589
Row 12: 23 95 Willie Allen USALabs.com Dodge 50.416 178.515
24 01 Dwayne Leik Lori Morgan, LLC Chevrolet 50.439 178.433
Row 13: 25 16 Greg Biffle citifinancial Ford 50.459 178.363
26 60 Carl Edwards Scotts Ford 50.479 178.292
Row 14: 27 27 Brad Coleman Cottonelle/Kroger Ford 50.479 178.292
28 6 David Ragan Discount Tire Ford 50.483 178.278
Row 15: 29 29 Scott Wimmer Holiday Inn Chevrolet 50.557 178.017
30 66 Steve Wallace Atreus Homes & Communities Chevrolet 50.605 177.848
Row 16: 31 47 Kelly Bires Clorox Ford 50.631 177.757
32 28 Kirk Shelmerdine Lilly Trucking Chevrolet 50.692 177.543
Row 17: 33 59 Marcos Ambrose Kingsford Hickory Charcoal Ford 50.813 177.120
34 22 Mike Bliss Supercuts Dodge 50.822 177.089
Row 18: 35 37 Brad Baker Envirox Ford 50.845 177.009
36 24 Eric McClure Hefty Brand Chevrolet 50.943 176.668
Row 19: 37 4 Robert Richardson Jr. JVC Chevrolet 50.999 176.474
38 25 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Smithfield Ford Owner Points
Row 20: 39 77 Cale Gale # Rheem Chevrolet Owner Points
40 1 Johnny Sauter Miccosukee Resorts Chevrolet Owner Points
Row 21: 41 64 David Stremme Atreus Homes & Communities Chevrolet Owner Points
42 14 David Gilliland Music City Illinois Ford Owner Points
Row 22: 43 90 Steve Grissom Chevrolet Past Champion
Did Not Qualify: # 56 Danny OQuinn Jr.; # 89 Morgan Shepherd; # 91 Larry Gunselman; # 36 Kenny Wallace; # 61 Kevin Lepage; # 87 Joe Nemechek; # 52 Donnie Neuenberger; # 05 Brett Rowe; # 84 Mike Harmon; # 0 Kertus Davis.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 19 6 Ford 10 2
Dodge 6 2 Toyota 8 0