Dominant Season Nets Marc-Antoine Camirand First NASCAR Pinty's Series Championship

MA Camirand’s fresh start in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series has paid off in the biggest way imaginable, a championship, as the GM Paille Racing driver clinched the 2022 NASCAR Pinty’s Series title by taking the green flag at Delaware Speedway. PC: Damin J Sawyer | TobyChristie.com

As the curtains close on the 2022 NASCAR Pinty’s Series season, Marc-Antoine Camirand’s fresh start, after five seasons as a member of Scott Steckley’s 22 Racing Team, has paid off in the best way fathomable, hoisting a championship trophy at Delaware Speedway.

Over the off-season, GM Paillé and Camirand assembled a brand-new organization, carrying the name Camirand Performance, that along with championship-winning crew chief Robin McCluskey would prepare the No. 96 entry.

The reunited pairing of Camirand and McCluskey instantly clicked, with the 43-year-old absolutely dominating the season-opener at Sunset Speedway, leading 203 of 252 laps, before getting shoved out of the way on a late-race restart.

That probably should have been a sign to the NASCAR Pinty’s Series field…

Marc-Antoine Camirand put forward a dominant season in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series, which netted him his first championship in the Canada-based series. By doing so, Camirand becomes the third-oldest champion in series history, just five months younger than Jason Hathaway.

Now, fast-forward another four months and Marc-Antoine Camirand has had one of the most dominant seasons in the history of the NASCAR Pinty’s Series, picking up three wins, nine top-fives, and 11 top-10s.

At the beginning of the year, Camirand had only led 226 laps in his 59 previous starts in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series. Just three races into the year, the St. Leonard d’Aston, Quebec-native had already blown that number out of the water.

In the first six outings of the 13-race season, Camirand would lead 90-plus laps in two-thirds of them, while toppling a single-race total of 200 laps at Sunset Speedway and Edmonton International Raceway.

That early-season dominance, along with consistently finding himself in contention for the victory, would allow Camirand to accumulate a year-long tally of 803 laps led, which is the second-highest single-season total in NASCAR Pinty’s Series history.

Only trailing… you guessed it, Camirand’s boss of a half-decade, Scott Steckly, who clinched his fourth and final title in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series by leading an incredible 1,090 laps.

Now, if Camirand could repeat his efforts and claim the championship next season, he would further etch his name into the history books of the NASCAR Pinty’s Series by becoming the series’ oldest champion.

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Joseph Srigley

Joseph maintains the role of Managing Editor for TobyChristie.com, while also working as an Editor for Racing America. Additionally, Joseph graduated from the University of Windsor in 2022 with a Business Administration degree, a specialization in Supply Chain Management and Data Analytics, and a minor in Mathematics.