Truck of the draw favours invaders
Four Canadian hopefuls outnumbered by a mile for local holiday showdown
As many as 32 young and hungry American NASCAR Camping World Series truck racers will invade Canadian Tire Motorsport Park north of Bowmanville this weekend, intent on winning the Chevrolet Silverado 250 trophy and the thousands of dollars in prize money that goes with it.
But at least four Canadians plan to get in their way.
NASCAR Canada Pinty’s Series stock car racers Gary Klutt of Halton Hills, D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas and Jason Hathaway of Appin, Ont., have announced plans to take on the Americans — including up-andcoming NASCAR stars Johnny Sauter, Christopher Bell and John Hunter Nemechek, winner of last year’s Labour Day classic.
A late announcement by Young’s Motorsports added veteran Canadian stock car and IndyCar racer Alex Tagliani to the mix, with sponsorship from Quebec automotive aftermarket company Spectra Premium.
Klutt, Kennington and Hathaway will, in fact, be doing double duty on main-event Sunday. Beginning at 11 a.m., they will drive 51 laps around the 2.459-mile Grand Prix road course in the Total Quartz 200, the second-last series race of 2017.
Then, at 2:30 p.m., they’ll go at it again for 64 laps against NASCAR’s young tigers in the headline event, the Silverado 250, that will see Ottawa Senators goaltender Craig Anderson act as grand marshal.
“It’s going to be a lot of laps in one day,” laughed the 25-year-old driver, whose crew chief will be Brian Keselowski, brother of NASCAR star Brad Keselowski.
“We race all summer and I have a pretty rigorous fitness program I follow all year. Mosport isn’t a tight little bullring where you’re wedged tight against the side of the car. You have that big, long, back straightaway where you can catch your breath. So, I’m confident that I can do it.” The veteran Hathaway — who’s driving part-time in the Pinty’s Series this season but won both APC United Late Model Series 75-lap races last Sunday when Jakusa Motor Speedway near Cayuga reopened after eight years — signed a deal with Bolen Motorsports and will be making his first truck series start in a Premium Motorsports entry with support from Pioneer Family Pools and poolsuppliescanada.ca.
Kennington, meantime, will drive for ex-Barrie resident Marty Gaunt’s U.S.-based Gaunt Bros. team. The two-time NASCAR Canada champion drove for Gaunt in this year’s Daytona 500 and Wakefield Castrol Canada is making this race possible, as it did the Daytona entry.
Klutt has had an interesting summer. Several weeks ago, he didn’t do two races in a day but did drive in a K&N Pro Series East NASCAR event on Friday before making his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup debut, both at Watkins Glen, N.Y., two days later.
“It was an absolute blast,” he said about qualifying 34th out of 40 in the Cup race, finishing 31st and mixing it up with legendary racers such as Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“Driving Watkins Glen with the new pavement was something I was really looking forward to doing,” he continued, “never mind being out there in such a great vehicle like a NASCAR Cup Series car, with all that horsepower.”
The weekend festivities will get under way Friday morning with a full slate of practice, qualifying and races over three days featuring the Canadian Touring Car Championship, Nissan Micra Cup and Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada, which will settle its championship this weekend.