CLARINGTON, ON – Marc-Antoine Camirand starts his title defense with an early points lead, as he used a last-lap move to win the NASCAR Canada Series opener at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP). The triumph in the Clarington 200, part of the Castrol Victoria Day SpeedFest, came with a familiar sight at the historic track – last-lap contact with the leader.
Kyle Steckly started on pole, driving the No. 22 car out of the MBS Motorsports stable, the same partnership for the famed 22 Racing ride as last summer’s race at the track. On the opening lap, Alex Tagliani took the lead on the Andretti straightaway.
On Lap 6, caution for Matthew Scannell stalled just off track. Tagliani continued to lead through a Lap 14 yellow flag, when Steckly slowed to a stop in the turn five runoff, ending his race early. The incident came after the start of green-flag pit stops.
With drivers having to make separate stops for tires and fuel, the frontrunners needed to make two trips down pit lane under caution, allowing the drivers who already made their first stop to move ahead.
Ryan Vargas restarted out front on Lap 18; Vargas, who’s raced in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and other NASCAR touring divisions, is driving the No. 28 car for DJK Racing this season. A handful of drivers spun on the restart, in turn one, with Domenic Scrivo stopping with damage to cause a caution.
Vargas and some of the earlier frontrunners pitted, allowing Malcolm Strachan to take the lead. Meanwhile, Tagliani slowed to a stop on the backstretch under the yellow.
Strachan and Alex Guenette pulled away into the top-two spots during the next green flag run. As they stayed ahead, the earlier frontrunners started to chip away, while battling for position amongst themselves.
With 10 to go, Gary Klutt took second from Guenette. Three laps later, Klutt took the lead, with Camirand ultimately passing Strachan for second and applying pressure on Klutt in the closing laps.
On the last lap, Camirand made contact with Klutt in turn three, taking the lead; Klutt briefly went off track but was able to hold onto second. Strachan, Guenette and L.P. Dumoulin rounded out the top-five. Andrew Ranger, D.J. Kennington, Kevin Lacroix, Jason Hathaway and Danny Chisholm completed the top-ten.
“It was a crazy race, the pace of the race was really, really fast,” said Camirand. “We lost a little bit of time on the first tire change, the right side, then I was running mid-pack. We made some adjustments on the car…at the end, I had a good fight with Gary; he opened the door just a bit in corner three and I stuck my nose in; we barely touched; he was losing (the car) a little bit and that was the end of the race.”
Klutt came less than a lap shy of his second career victory, which would’ve come on the 10-year anniversary of his win in the 2015 opener at CTMP. Instead, he finished runner-up for the second straight year in the SpeedFest event.
“There was no battle, he just drove through us, put us in the lawn,” said Klutt, of the last-lap move. “That’s what happened. I’d liked to have raced him to the end but didn’t get a chance to.”
Strachan finished on the podium for the first time, improving his best career finish by six positions.
“It was a great race, finally had an opportunity to get out front and show what we can do,” said Strachan. “Car was really well prepared; Jim Bray put a great car underneath us…just didn’t have quite enough to stay ahead of the leaders.”
Bray, a long-time series owner, got his first podium in the series.
“A wonderful day with a car that we didn’t test, couldn’t get our carburetors back, so running an old carburetor,” said Bray. “If it was three or four laps shorter we would’ve won it, (but) I’m not greedy though, a third is wonderful.”
Next up for NASCAR Canada is Autodrome Chaudière on Saturday, May 31.
To watch our full interviews with the top-three, check out the links below:
