Before 2025, Devon Camenga didn’t know the feeling of winning a DIRTcar Pro Stock Series race, let alone the I Love NY 50 during Super DIRT Week at Oswego Speedway.

But that changed last October, when he delivered his best performance to earn his first career Series win at “Racing’s Biggest Party.”

His win was a moment the Troy, NY driver described as “surreal.”

 “That was our third year there,” Camenga said. “Our first year there we were pretty fortunate. The second year we felt like we could run with some of the bigger guys. And then last year, we put all of our eggs in one basket, and we spent a lot of time going through the car from Fulton. We stripped the car down quite a bit and replaced stuff to get the car as perfect as it could possibly be.”

Leading any race has its downsides, like knowing what the best line on the racetrack may be. But in Camenga’s case, he didn’t know of any challengers trying to wrestle the lead away. 

Before the race started, Camenga said he had a mindset he stuck with, which included not looking at Oswego’s scoreboard in Turn 1 to see who was behind him.

“I told myself to forget all of that stuff knowing Oswego is such a big race, and the track was so slick,” Camenga said.  “I was waiting to see if it was Richie (Crane) or someone else underneath me on the left-hand side. Rich had good restarts, and he could actually pull me down the stretch and beat me into Turn 1, but I knew we were really good coming off of (Turn 2) and I could pull in front of him.”

While Crane challenged Camenga early, it was one of the top drivers in DIRTcar Pro Stock history who chased him at the end. In the race’s closing laps, six-time Series champion Pete Stefanski was on the No. 110’s bumper, trying to find a way by. But Camenga was better, holding him off until the checkered flag.

“All I did was race as hard as I possibly could without breaking traction and keeping the wheels underneath me,” Camenga said. “I found a line and a groove that I really, really liked. The last four laps the car started loosening up on me in Turns 3 and 4, and Pete (Stefanski) was really good in the last few laps. Probably two or three more, he probably would’ve been side-by-side with me, and things would’ve been interesting.”

As Camenga gets ready to defend his Super DIRT Week win at Oswego during Super DIRT Week 54, Oct. 5-10, he said being an I Love NY 50 winner brings added expectations from fans and competitors. However, he also expects more from himself as he tries to become the first driver since Rob Yetman to win in back-to-back seasons.

“Now you have expectations from outsiders,” Camenga said. “They expect me to run to the front. And we expect that from us as well, but now you have everybody looking at you like, if you’re not, then what are you doing?”

Camenga and the DIRTcar Pro Stock Series return to Super DIRT Week 54 at Oswego Speedway in Oswego, NY, Oct. 5-10, culminating in the I Love NY 50 on Friday, Oct. 9.

GET SUPER DIRT WEEK TICKETS HERE

Where can you watch Super DIRT Week 54? Live on DIRTVision.

This article was republished with permission from Super DIRT Week. The original article can be found here: https://superdirtweek.com/dirtcar-ne/pro-stocks/devon-camenga-ready-to-meet-expectations-after-breakthrough-super-dirt-week-win/.

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