NASCAR Pinty's Series

History

NASCAR announced in September 2006 the purchase of the CASCAR Super Series, the top stock-car racing series at the time. At the same time, they announced a long-term sponsorship agreement with Canadian Tire as the title sponsor. They also introduced a television contract was signed with TSN to carry all events as inked with select races being aired live. Three of the series races, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal, had crowds in excess of 50,000 fans.

The 2007 season was the inaugural season for the Series with the first event being held on May 26, 2007 at Cayuga Motor Speedway and Don Thomson Jr. won in a spirited battle for the first series win. Andrew Ranger, in his first year of stock-car competition, won the second race at Mosport International Raceway. He took over the lead in the point standings after that event and never relinquished it on his way to the first championship. The first season saw five races decided on last lap passes.

The second season, the 2008 season, featured Scott Steckly who dominated many events. He won three of the first four events of the year and held the lead in the driver championship point standings all season long. He set a series record with four victories throughout the year.

The third season had Andrew Ranger, taking center stage by winning his second series championship in three seasons. He completed his transition from the open-wheel racing world by incorporating his road courses experience with a strong performances on the oval tracks. On the season, he won a single-season series record six races—three on road courses and three on ovals.

The 2010 season belonged to D.J. Kennington. He won his first series title on the power of five wins, nine top fives and 11 top-10 finishes. Kennington battled JR Fitzpatrick for the points lead all season long as the two exchanged the top spot an unprecedented five times. Kennington also finished second to fellow Pinty's Series competitor Jason Bowles in the Toyota All-Star Showdown.

In the 2011 Scott Steckly had a strong season where he won three events and finish in the runner up position four times on his way to capture his second championship over D.J. Kennington who had a pair of wins. Long time road racer Robin Buck and Rookie Peter Shepherd won their first events respectively. Andrew Ranger won the two biggest events of the year in dominant fashion at Montreal and Toronto. Former champion Don Thomson Jr. retired after a lengthy career.

In 2012 D.J. Kennington won a record seven events including five consecutively during the summer. Kennington would win his 2nd championship in 3 years. He faced competition from runners up J.R. Fitzpatrick and Andrew Ranger who both won two events.

On February 17, 2015, Canadian Tire announced it would not renew their sponsorship of the series after the 2015 season. On December 7, NASCAR and Pinty's Delicious Foods Inc. announced a six-year agreement to sponsor the series beginning with the 2016 season.

Diversity

The NASCAR Pinty's Series contains drivers with many different agendas and backgrounds. Veteran Canadian drivers compete in the series on part-time basis for fun while maintaining full-time careers, while others are serious championship contenders. Recent years, a NASCAR regional series driver from the United States will often run in the races to gain experience and with NASCAR's specification engine rule, gain more experience running with the said engine, such as Cale Gale, Jason Bowles, Timmy Hill and Austin Dillon. Drivers with open-wheel and road racing back grounds have also attempted races including, Jacques Villeneuve, Max Papis, Alex Tagliani, Jean-François Dumoulin and Patrick Carpentier. Even former National Hockey League player Patrice Brisebois runs in the major events which now feature over 40 cars.

In 2011 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve a record three female drivers Maryeve Dufault, Caitlin Johnston and Isabelle Tremblay attempted the event, female drivers make up a good portion of the field.

The series is a development or feeder series for NASCAR's top national touring divisions. Driver like Fitzpatrick, Kennington, Ranger, Steckly and Thomson Jr. have competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, while Pierre Bourque and Derek White have raced in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Ranger finished third in the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series event in Montreal after having a spirited battle with eventual race winner Carl Edwards for much of the race. He competed in the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Watkins Glen for FAS Lane Racing finishing 35th suffering from transmission failure.

Tracks

The following are the tracks which have been, and are currently used in the NASCAR Pinty's Series:

Cars

A gradual implementation of both competition and safety-based modifications have been made to the cars used in the CASCAR Super Series. These have included a move to a Goodyear 9.5” tire, the same size that is used in all NASCAR stock-car series, on-dash electrical and ignition systems, in-car fire suppression equipment and increased fuel cell protection. In 2009, the option of utilizing the NASCAR spec engine program was introduced. The cars uses steel tube-framed silhouette stock cars powered by carbureted V8 engines. The cars have a relatively high minimum weight, so development of lightweight components is minimal. A number of components are specified by the rules, as parity is given priority over vehicle development. Manufacturer involvement is therefore limited largely to supply arrangements for long-developed crate motors, and branding on the largely standard bodywork.

Specifications

Manufacturer representation

Types of cars used include the Ford Fusion, Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, and Dodge Challenger.