L.P. Dumoulin is on a mission.
The veteran racer holds slim five-point lead over Alex Tagliani as the NASCAR Pinty’s Series prepares to make history competing in the United States for the first time this Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The Canadian national championship stock car series will be a part of the tripleheader at the track this week with the running of the Visit New Hampshire 100 as part of Full Throttle Weekend.
And Dumoulin, who leads the series with three wins, would like nothing better than to cement his second NASCAR championship with a trip to Victory Lane Saturday.
“I’m super excited to be going to New Hampshire this weekend,” said Dumoulin. “It’s going to be a great show. The NASCAR Pinty’s Series is known for a lot of side-by-side racing and we’re bringing that to New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“That track has always provided some great racing and we’ll have at least 10 to 12 drivers capable of winning the race so the fans are in for a treat.”
NEW HAMPSHIRE: Free webcast for NASCAR Tripleheader in New England
After scoring his third win of the season at Riverside Speedway in Nova Scotia three races ago, Dumoulin enjoyed a 19-point lead over Cole Powell with Tagliani third, 20 points back.
Tagliani won the next race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and finished second last week at St. Eustache to pull closer to Dumoulin who scored finishes of third and 10th during the same time span.
Close points battles are nothing new as the series has had three title decided by four points or less in the 12-year history of the NASCAR-sanctioned racing division.
Fortunately for Dumoulin, he understands how tough it is to win a championship in the competitive series.
“This close points battle is just part of the game,” Dumoulin said. “We always take it one race at a time and do our best to win every time we’re on the track and this weekend will be no different for us.”
READ MORE: Off-season Q&A with LP Dumoulin
Dumoulin brought all of his racing in house a couple of years ago and while he’s also won on a road course this season, his other two wins have come on ovals and he’s confident entering the 1.058-mile track – the largest the series has ever competed on in its history.
“Our oval-track program has been really good this year and my crew has worked very hard to give me a car capable of winning every time we get on the track,” said Dumoulin. “We have our cars ready and have made adjustments to get our cars ready for New Hampshire.”
While this will be the first time NASCAR fans in the United States will be able to watch the Pinty’s Series in person, Dumoulin said it will be worth the trip to watch in person.
“I’m very proud of our Canadian national series and the fans are going to be treated to one of those side-by-side battles and action all over the track,” said Dumoulin. “There are at least 10 or more drivers with the equipment and talent to win and the race is going to be awesome.”
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