PHOTO GALLERY: Kennington finishes 33rd in the Nationwide Series Race at Daytona

DJ Kennington's STP Tools Dodge Charger finished 33rd in Saturday afternoon's NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona Int'l Speedway. The St. Thomas, Ontario racer started 16th in the field of 43 and quickly slid backwards while gaining his first-ever drafting experience at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

During the team's first pit stop (lap 34) the #81 car fell off the jackstand, causing Kennington to lose two laps. During the stop, the team discovered the car was tight, causing the right-front tire to blister. They worked to free the car up through the rest of the race.

For most of the event, the #81 ran in 38th place, three laps behind the leaders, after losing another lap making repairs to where the car had fallen off the jackstand. A late-race crash raised Kennington to 33rd in the final results. MacDonald Motorsports owner / crew chief Randy MacDonald was positively surprised that Kennington was lapping only 2/10ths slower than his qualifying time, late in the event.

After the race, Kennington was happy to finish the race without getting into trouble on the racetrack and downplayed the jackstand mistake saying, "We're all new at this and we're all learning together."

photos by Greg MacPherson / Inside Track.