Andrew Ranger has now won two races in a row, and two of the first three, to start the NASCAR Canada Series season with a triumph on Saturday in the 250 lapper at Eastbound International Speedway.
It’s career victory No. 33 in the Canadian national series and it came in dominating fashion over the final half in which Ranger ran away and left spirited duel for second between the likes of Kevin Lacroix, Marc-Antoine Camirand and DJ Kennington.
“It’s unbelievable,” Ranger said after the race. “It’s our second win this year, I’m so proud of this team. Newfoundland has been tough for us in the past, but we finally found a win here. I think we are leading the championship, which makes this victory all the more special.”
Ranger first took command of the race on Lap 131 when racing for the lead, Lacroix and Camirand came together, and knocked both contenders out of the top-10. Fortunately, with just 15 cars making the boat ride to Newfoundland, it was less of an uphill climb to reach a podium but it likely cost both the chance to win.
https://twitter.com/NASCARCanada_/status/1804634989600141752
They had a bit of a debate about it after the race too.
Twice.
Ranger, from victory lane on the frontstretch, had to pull his teammate (Lacroix) out of what was becoming an animated conversation.
“It was a fun race,” Lacroix said later. “I led several laps, got into an incident and still finished second, with my teammate winning the race. It’s great for the team, but I’m personally not satisfied with this result. However, the car is fast so I am confident we’ll turn around our luck and get a win later.”
Lacroix began the day with a pole run of 15.814 seconds ahead of D.J. Kennington by just 0.035 seconds.
For his part, Camirand conceded that maybe he needs to go back and watch the replay too.
“I wish I had won, but it was a good and interesting race with a strong battle against car #74,” he reflected. “I don’t understand the move he made halfway through the race, it seemed a bit early. He said I squeezed him on a restart, so I’ll need to watch the video to see if I’m at fault, but I’ll take third place. We’re headed to Antigonish next, and we’ll try to bring home the win.”
Donald Theetge and two-time champion LP Dumoulin completed the Top-5 with 2020 champion Jason Hathawayin sixth ahead of Kennington.
NASCAR Canada will be back in action next week as the series heads to Antigonish for two more races on June 29th and 30th.
NASCAR Canada 250
Eastbound Park Raceway
June 22 2024
- Andrew Ranger
- Kevin Lacroix
- Marc-Antoine Camirand
- Donald Theetge
- L.P. Dumoulin
- Jason Hathaway
- D.J. Kennington
- Brandon McFarlane *
- Larry Jackson
- Bryan Cathcart
- Glenn Styres
- Thomas Nepveu
- Josh Collins
- Sara Thorne *
- Mathieu Kingsbury
