Kevin Lacroix Makes Full-Contact Last-Lap Pass on Gary Klutt for Pinty’s Win at CTMP

On Sunday, the NASCAR Pinty’s Series took to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park for the first road course event of the 2022 season, one week after a fantastic start to the season at Sunset Speedway.

In another tantalizing finish, Kevin Lacroix took his 15th career victory in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series and his sixth at 2.459-mile road course, after making a last-lap rebound on Gary Klutt in NASCAR Overtime.

Klutt was able to initially clear Lacroix on the final restart of the event, but couldn’t thwart the bumper-beating advances of the Saint-Eustache, Quebec-native, eventually getting spun around in the final corner, after multiple instances of contact.

Video: Chaos Erupts As Kevin Lacroix Dumps Gary Klutt on Final Lap for NASCAR Pinty’s Win at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park

Alex Tagliani and Dexter Stacey would sneak through the chaos for second and third-place results, with Gary Klutt finding himself as the fourth-place finisher, the last car on the lead lap. LP Montour rounded out the top five.

In reality, the weekend was largely influenced by Mother Nature, between an intense thunderstorm rolling through the area on Sunday, and the overnight precipitation forcing a wet start for Sunday’s 51-lap contest.

LP Dumoulin, the defending champion of the NASCAR Pinty’s Series, would start on pole by virtue of leading Saturday’s practice session, but would quickly lose the lead to Marc-Antoine Camirand in the early portion of the event.

As the track’s moisture lessened, Kevin Lacroix and Andrew Ranger inserted themselves into the conversation for the victory, taking advantage of a flat tire by Camirand to take control of the race.

In due time, that control would fall solely to Kevin Lacroix, after Ranger’s No. 27 Chevrolet Camaro was forced to retire from the event after an oil pan failure, relegating the Pinty’s Series champion to a 24th-place finish.

RANGER IS OUT!

One of the race favourites and running 2nd at the time, @AndrewRanger51 is done for the day due to an oil pan failure on his No. 27#NASCAR #EbayMotors200 pic.twitter.com/XNhXxTkA9Q

— NASCAR on TSN (@NASCARonTSN) May 22, 2022

Throughout the final laps, Lacroix looked to handily have the victory in hand, before a full-course caution with five laps to go, tightened what was an insurmountable gap, nearing 40 seconds.

Thus began a run of two NASCAR Overtime restarts, the first of which was cut short because of an accident between Ray Junior Courtemanche, Peter Klutt, and LP Dumoulin.

Treyten Lapcevich finished in sixth, with LP Dumoulin, Brandon Watson, JP Bergeron, and Larry Jackson rounding out the top-10 finishers.

Heading to the NASCAR Pinty’s Series’ third event of the 2022 season at Autodrome Chaudiere, Kevin Lacroix holds a three-point lead over Treyten Lapcevich – the series’ winner at Sunset Speedway.

Alex Tagliani, Brandon Watson, and Gary Klutt currently sit inside the top five in points.

RESULTS: NASCAR Pinty’s Series at CTMP

1. No. 74 – Kevin Lacroix
2. No. 18 – Alex Tagliani
3. No. 92 – Dexter Stacey
4. No. 59 – Gary Klutt
5. No. 13 – LP Montour
6. No. 20 – Treyten Lapcevich
7. No. 47 – LP Dumoulin
8. No. 9 – Brandon Watson
9. No. 1 – JP Bergeron
10. No. 84 – Larry Jackson
11. No. 17 – DJ Kennington
12. No. 31 – Daniel Bois
13. No. 3 – Brett Taylor
14. No. 96 – Marc-Antoine Camirand
15. No. 64 – Mark Dilley
16. No. 2 – TJ Rinomato
17. No. 6 – Peter Klutt
18. No. 0 – Glenn Styres
19. No. 66 – Wallace Stacey
20. No. 71 – Bryan Cathcart
21. No. 61 – Brent Wheller
22. No. 99 – Matthew Scannell
23. No. 8 – Ray Junior Courtemanche
24. No. 27 – Andrew Ranger
25. No. 98 – Sam Fellows