Full Throttle

The sophomore NASCAR Canadian Tire Series season is winding down, with just three events left on the calendar after tonight’s Coke Zero 200 at Cayuga International Speedway.

And the fight for the championship looks like it will go down to the last lap at Kawartha Speedway on Sept. 27th.

Steckly assumed command of the points standings by winning the season opener in May at Cayuga Motor Speedway. He further cemented his grip by winning two of the next three events and has not come close to relinquishing the lead since that hot start.

Scott Steckly leads the points — in his No. 22 Tow Truck in a Box/Erb Group Dodge — with 1,525. D.J. Kennington, who has been pulling double duty by racing almost a full schedule in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, is second in the No. 17 Castrol Dodge just 113 points back and defending champion Andrew Ranger is third in the No. 27 Wal-Mart/Tide Ford, 11 points behind Kennington.

Kennington has yet to reach victory lane this season but consistently has had solid finishes keeping him within striking distance of Steckly.

“This is a crazy sport and anything can happen,” he said. “(Steckly) hasn’t shown any signs of letting up, but we’ll be right there in case he does.”

Ranger has two wins to his credit in the Dave Jacombs Racing prepared Ford and hasn’t given up on repeating as champion.

“We won two events, but (Steckly) finished just behind, so we’re not picking up as much ground as I’d like,” Ranger said. “Steckly has just been so good all season, but we’re not quitting.”

Steckly certainly has been the surprise of the 2008 season, but the Milverton, Ont., native did win the final race of the 2007 season to pave the way for 2008 where, so far, he’s notched three visits to victory lane.

Now he has to start looking at points racing — driving to protect his lead — something that is against everything a race car driver stands for.

“I know we’re not supposed to look ahead and think like this, but we’re trying to win this championship,” he said. “We have to aware of the guys with nothing to lose.”

First practice at the five-eighths mile oval south west of Hamilton starts at 2 p.m. with qualifying at 5:30 p.m. and the green flag at 7 p.m.