Kennington Survives Daytona with a 17th-Place finish

Event/Date:                       Camping World 300/Feb. 15, 2009
Venue:                                 Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, Fla.
Starting Position:              16th
Finishing Position:            17th
Points Position:                 17th

Daytona Beach, Fla. (Feb. 15, 2009) - D.J. Kennington grabbed his career-best NASCAR Nationwide Series finish by crossing the finish line 17th in the Camping World 300 at Daytona International Speedway. 

The Canadian native was the 13th of 50 drivers to make a qualifying run Friday afternoon. A fast lap of 50.255 seconds (179.087 mph) on the two-and-a –half mile high-banked tri-oval put the D.H. Griffin Dodge on the outside of row eight, in the 16th position, for Saturday’s 300-mile event at the “World Center of Racing.”

The green flag waved just past 1:30 p.m. EST under warm Florida sunshine and Kennington fell back to the 26th position before a caution flew for debris. 

Suffering from a loose-handling condition, owner Randy MacDonald summoned his driver to pit road for four tires, fuel, and major chassis and air pressure adjustments.  A great pit stop by the over-the-wall crew allowed Kennington to grab three spots on pit road and restart the 150-lap event 23rd. 

Loose-handling conditions continued and Kennington fell back to the 29th position.  Another caution flag flew on lap 55 for a single-car incident in turn four. 

Still suffering from an ill-handling race car, Kennington made the hard left turn down pit road to the attention of the D.H. Griffin over-the-wall crew.  Four tires, fuel and another round of major chassis and air pressure adjustments were in order.   The 32-year-old driver was back on the racing surface in 29th for the lap 60 restart. 

The No. 81 Dodge began to come around and Kennington worked his way up to the12th position before the fifth caution flag flew on lap 89.  Knowing that tires were key, MacDonald summoned his driver to pit road for four fresh Goodyears and fuel.  Kennignton restarted the NASCAR Nationwide Series event 16th. 

Over the final laps the 32-year-old driver battled with several teams but was unable to make a charge at the leaders.  Kennington, crossed the finish line 17th.  

Tony Stewart captured the season opening victory with Carl Edwards second, then Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle. 

Next  weekend, the NASCAR Nationwide Series travels to the City of Angles for its second stop on the 35-race tour. 

The Starter Bros. 300 from Auto Club Speedway will be televised live on ESPN 2 Sat., Feb. 21 beginning at 7 p.m. EST and broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius Satellite Radio.  Qualifying will be televised live on SPEED the same day at 12:30 p.m. EST.