Music: {allcanada} Year In Review: Canadian Tire Series

The 2011 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series season belonged to Scott Steckly from beginning to end, but the year was not dominated by him, as there were many other highlights along the way. Before the countdown to close out 2011 begins, let's take a quick stroll down memory lane to take a final look at the fifth season of the Canadian Tire Series.

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Steckly Redux: Mimicking the start of his first championship season in 2008, Scott Steckly earned a win in the season opener to launch his second title-winning season. His second trip to Victory Lane didn't come until five races later, but four straight top-five finishes kept the driver out of Milverton, Ont., atop the point standings. Steckly led the standings all season long with a lead as small as 15 points and as large as 97 before beating out D.J. Kennington by 79 tallies in the end. In addition to that season-opening win at Mosport Speedway in Bowmanville, Ont., Steckly collected wins at the series' westernmost track – Motoplex Speedway in Vernon, B.C. – and easternmost venue – Riverside International Speedway in Antigonish, N.S.

Dumoulin Does It: For a couple of years, Louis-Philippe Dumoulin has wanted to expand his racing repertoire to include oval tracks, but never found the right circumstances. The 2011 season brought about the proper situation. Still possessing rookie status, Dumoulin, out of Trois-Rivieres, Que., competed in each of the five road-course events on the schedule and found himself sitting on top of the rookie standings following the Montreal event – the final road race on the calendar of events – leaving him with a decision. He opted to move beyond his comfort zone of the road courses and jump headfirst into oval racing to try and win the Rookie of the Year Award. After three short tracks in three weeks, Dumoulin was able to hold off Isabelle Tremblay for the honor.

Buck Joins Club: After just five seasons, the list of winners in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series remains an exclusive group. Robin Buck added his name to the roll with a win at Circuit ICAR in Mirabel, Que., on June 5. The driver out of Campbellville, Ont., followed that up with a victory at Circuit de Trois-Rivieres (Que.) on a rain-soaked track. It marked the first series event run entirely on rain tires. Including Buck, the list of series winners has been extended to 13 drivers.

Down On His Luck: It was the season that could have been for J.R. Fitzpatrick, who finished third in the final point standings despite not winning a race and having the fewest top-five finishes – three – of any driver in the final top five in points. While there were some self-inflicted wounds late in the season for some on-track shenanigans, there was also a pair of possible wins unraveled by flat tires. At both Circuit ICAR and Exhibition Place in Toronto, Fitzpatrick had to make a trip down pit road as the race was coming to a close. Victory was not guaranteed in either instance, but it was real possibility for the road course-savvy youngster out of Ayr, Ont.

Model of Consistency: No driver has been more consistent over the first five seasons of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series than D.J. Kennington. Including his runner-up finish in 2011, Kennington has never finished lower than third in the final standings and leads all drivers in series history with 43 top-five and 51 top-10 finishes. However, something new was added to the St. Thomas, Ontario-based driver's résumé in 2011. With nine oval-track victories to his credit at the time, Kennington led the final two laps at Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ont., to score his first NASCAR win on a road course. Kennington went on to pick up his 11th series career win in the season finale at Kawartha Speedway in Fraserville, Ont., which places him in a tie with Scott Steckly for second on the all-time list.

King Of The Road: Despite the accomplishments of Robin Buck and D.J. Kennington, Andrew Ranger still rules the roost when it comes to road courses in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. In 2011, the two-time series champion added wins at Toronto's Exhibition Place and Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to his list to bring his road-course win total to 11. Ranger's 14 overall wins tops the all-time list in the series. The native of Roxton Pond, Que., also added a pair of Keystone Light Pole Awards to raise his career total to 11 which places him in a tie with Don Thomson Jr. for the all-time series lead.

Back Home Again: After a three-year absence from Victory Lane, Mark Dilley returned with a thrilling triumph at Barrie (Ont.) Speedway on Sept. 10. He picked up wins in each of the series' first two years of competition, but was shut out in seasons three and four. Racing in his hometown, Dilley was able to capitalize on a late-race skirmish between J.R. Fitzpatrick and Kerry Micks and hold off a hard-charging Jason Hathaway to earn his third career victory and first since Aug. 30, 2008.

2011 Final Closeout: Each of the contingency and special award battles were hard fought and went down to the final race. Brad Graham won the Coca-Cola Power Move of the Race while J.R. Fitzpatrick earned the year-end Vtech Free Pass Award. Scott Steckly, with three, won the special year-end bonus by earning the most Keystone Light Pole Awards throughout the season. Steckly also garnered the Dodge-Mopar Cup in a battle amongst the Dodge drivers which recognizes the top-five finishers. Steckly was followed by D.J. Kennington, Don Thomson Jr., Mark Dilley and Ron Beauchamp Jr.