Canadian duo set for NASCAR challenge
Longtime pals both racing in Phoenix
Over the years, D.J. Kennington and Jason Hathaway have been roommates, teammates and on-track rivals.
This weekend, they will represent Canada at NASCAR’s latest stop at Phoenix International Raceway.
Kennington is back in the Monster Energy Cup series for the fourth time this season. He’ll run Premium Motorsports’ No. 15 Toyota in the Can-Am 500 race Sunday.
Hathaway is running for the same outfit in the Camping World Truck Series’ Lucas Oil 150 event on Friday, his debut at the Avondale, Ariz., facility.
“We’ve been friends forever,” Kennington said. “He lived with me for a few years, worked for my dad and was on my race team in the (old) CASCAR series. That’s where he got his start.”
Kennington ran his first Cup race last year at Phoenix for Jay Robinson’s Premium program. That experience helped open the door for his historic Daytona 500 ride with Gaunt Brothers.
“Jay was real impressed and said we did a good job last year,” said the 40-year-old native of St. Thomas, Ont, “So hopefully, we go there and do the same this week. You’re driving against the best in the world. There are 40 guys who get to run at Phoenix and we’re one of them. “It’s a pretty lucky feeling.” Kennington pulled double duty for Premium earlier this season at Talladega, running both the Cup series and truck races.
That wasn’t possible this time. Enter Hathaway, the stock car veteran who also dabbled in the NASCAR truck series this season at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ont.
“It’s another challenge,” Hathaway said. “It’s a good opportunity to be running in the top-three NASCAR levels and there are a lot of top-notch drivers. It’s different — there is more power in these trucks. It’s a good opportunity and fortunate for me and my sponsors.
“I know D.J. has raced there a lot and I’ll be leaning on him.”
Hathaway stepped away from full-time competition on the Pinty’s series this year. But that didn’t stop him from getting behind the wheel on a fairly regular basis.
“We thought we were done racing, but we’re not,” he said. “We did some late models and were able to go out to Nova Scotia and run the IWK 250 at Riverside. We had the pole out there and won a heat. We went to a Pinty’s race and did a truck race, as well. We went to Jukasa (Cayuga doubleheader) and won both of those, and that was our second race ever on the APC late model series. We went back to our roots at Delaware. What more can you ask for on a racing schedule?
“It allowed me to pick the races and have fun and see how we end up.”
Hathaway isn’t ruling out running the APC series next year, but he is interested in another Mosport visit and another shot at the trucks.
Kennington wants to continue to contend in the Pinty ’s series. He also hopes to earn more of these opportunities in the U.S.
“Running Daytona this year was a dream come true ... I’ve run a lot in Phoenix over the years and I like this for the experience. It’s something I want to do.”
And as he can tell his old pal Hathaway, the only thing better than running this level once is doing it over and over again.