Spire Motorsports will field a fifth driver for the sixth Monster Energy Cup Series race of the year, this one with a Canadian flavour. On Wednesday, the team announced D.J. Kennington will drive the #77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway with sponsorship from online auto parts company Go-Parts.com.
“We’re proud to have Go-Parts join the Spire Motorsports family and greatly appreciate their support,” Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson stated in a team release. “D.J. Kennington is a journeyman racer with some experience at Martinsville so we know he’ll do a good job for Spire Motorsports and Go-Parts this weekend.”
A two-time NASCAR Pinty’s Series champion, Kennington has 15 Cup starts to his name, with a best finish of thirteenth at Daytona International Speedway in 2018. During the year, he ran the two Cup races at Martinsville for Gaunt Brothers Racing, finishing twenty-eighth and twenty-seventh. He also has three Gander Outdoors Truck Series starts at the short track in 2010, 2016, and 2018; his best run is seventeenth with Rick Ware Racing in 2010.
In 2019, Kennington’s lone national series start to date is a thirty-third-place finish at Daytona in the Xfinity Series for B.J. McLeod Motorsports.
“We are thrilled to be back in the Cup Series and very excited to be teaming up with Spire Motorsports,” a Go-Parts representative said. “The entire Go-Parts team is looking forward to collaborating with team ownership at multiple events both in 2019 and beyond. Martinsville is always an exciting and welcoming place, and we can’t wait to cheer D.J. Kennington and the No. 77 Go-Parts Chevrolet Sunday afternoon.”
After opening the 2019 season with Jamie McMurray at the Daytona 500, Spire’s #77 has been driven by Garrett Smithley twice, Quin Houff, and Reed Sorenson. McMurray currently holds the best finish of the five of twenty-second, while the #77 is thirty-sixth in the owners’ points.
