It is seemingly inevitable that the NASCAR Pinty’s Series race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park will be decided by contact on the final corner but Treyten Lapcevich arguably executed the bump-and-run on Marc-Antoine Lapcevich as well as anyone in recent memory.
The youthful points leader slid across the track nose-to-tail with the defending series champion until White’s Corner, where a slight nudge on corner exit won the race for Lapcevich and lost it for Camirand, the two contenders giving each other the middle finger throughout the entirety of the cool-down lap.
A week removed from winning the season opener on the short oval at Sunset Speedway, Lapcevich ran third throughout most of the race on Sunday at Mosport and followed Camirand around Gary Klutt up front with six laps to go. Then came the final corner:
https://twitter.com/NASCARPintys/status/1660363130294370304
“I was better in 5A and then the backstretch,” Lapcevich said. “I couldn’t get a run but wanted to force him into a mistake and he didn’t. Then came 9 and 10, we got to him enough to not wreck him and he finished p2 and we all live to fight another day.”
Those words were carefully said in the post-race press conference as he was seated in the middle of Camirand and Klutt. For his part, Camirand seemed awfully understanding a half hour after the fact, especially since he was able to finish second.
“First of all, it was a good battle with Gary, spent six or seven laps working on making a clean pass,” Camirand said. “I knew Treyten had a good car but our left sides started to wear off and he had quite a faster car by a bit.
“I was expecting the move on the inside of 10. We have to get some good points in the championship and we had least did that.”
Will he race Lapcevich any differently given how the first two races have gone this season.
“Well this is NASCAR,” Camirand said. “I was expecting that. It is a long season so I don’t know. It’s a part of racing. We have to get some good points for the championship and we’ll see what comes next. But I don’t know.”
Camirand gave Lapcevich a playful punch to the laughter of the entire room.”
It sounded as if both drivers are just championship focused moving forward.
“Winning the first two races is a big confidence boost but at the same time we just have to stay focused on the championship,” Lapcevich said. “Just keep knocking down the good finishes and be there at the end.”
Lapcevich made a move in both races that allowed him to win the race but allowed everyone to make the finish.
“I tried to save it, expecting to hit the wall and feel fortunate to finish second and get the points,” Camirand said.
Klutt did not take tires the entire race and was about 10 laps short of making the decision work out.
“It was a big struggle at the end. I was surprised at our pace with 15 to go,” Klutt said. “Cautiously optimistic and then it was a handful.”
NASCAR Pintys Ebay Motors 200
Canadian Tire Motorsports Park
May 21 2023
- Treyten Lapcevich
- Marc Antoine Camirand
- Gary Klutt
- Kevin Lacroix
- LP Dumoulin
- Alex Tagliani
- Alex Guenette
- DJ Kennington
- Dexter Stacey
- JP Bergeron
- Daniel Bois
- Malcolm Stachan
- Larry Jackson
- Matthew Scannell
- Jocelyn Fecteau
- Wallace Stacey
- Ryan Klutt
- Andrew Ranger
- Herby Drescher
- Glenny Styres
- Brandon Watson
- Mike Goudie
- Peter Klutt
- Simon Charbonneau
- Thomas Nepveu
Read more Short Track Scene:
