Treyten Lapcevich absolutely dominated Saturday’s NTN Ultimate Bearing Experience 250 at Sunset Speedway, leading 247 of the race’s 250 laps. However, the 18-year-old driver nearly didn’t get to celebrate in victory lane.
Driving the No. 20 FBM / Delta Bingo Chevrolet Camaro, Lapcevich started Saturday’s 250-lap contest from the pole position, and based on his speed in practice, was considered to be the driver to beat.
The Grimsby, Ontario native delivered pretty handily on those assumptions, looking essentially untouchable until the event reached its final 50 laps when Marc-Antoine Camirand and Alex Guenette were able to stay within striking distance.
?WINNER WINNER?@TreytenL captures the victory here at @Sunset_Speedway
?? TSN+ ?? @FloRacing#NASCARPintys | #NTNUltimateBearing250 pic.twitter.com/fCZNu2k9o0
— NASCAR Canada (@NASCARPintys) May 14, 2023
Throughout the chaos of the second half of the race, Lapcevich was able to keep his cool and master the restarts, keeping both Camirand and Guenette at bay, before pulling away from his closest contenders a couple laps into a run.
However, as the race got closer to its conclusion, the tactics by the competitors became less and less clean and oftentimes involved a shot to the rear-end of the 22 Racing Chevrolet Camaro.
That aggressiveness reached a boiling point on the final restart of the race when Alex Guenette was able to work his way around the outside of the No. 20 in the third corner, taking the lead of the race from Lapcevich.
Lapcevich didn’t just lay over, though, as the No. 20 flexed his muscle by staying within striking distance of Guenette over the course of the race’s final lap, before making a dive into turn three, rooting the No. 3 Chevrolet out of the way to score the victory.
Guenette would still come home in the runner-up position, while Kevin Lacroix was able to sneak through the chaos on the restart to finish in third. Marc-Antoine Camirand and Donald Theetge completed the top five.
In the chaos of the final restart, DJ Kennington was able to jump up to sixth place, while LP Dumoulin, JP Bergeron, Larry Jackson, and Brandon Watson rounded out the top-10.
Alex Tagliani, who ran inside the top-five for the majority of the event, finished 19th, 31 laps down, after being involved in a hard crash with Brandon Watson in the closing stages of the race, damaging his car beyond repair.
Up next for the NASCAR Pinty’s Series is the second race of the season at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, the first of several road course races on the 14-race schedule for 2023.
