Andrew Ranger has now won two races in a row, and two of the first three, to start the NASCAR Canada Series season with a victory Saturday on lap 250 at Eastbound International Speedway.
It is his 33rd career win in the Canadian national series and came in dominant fashion during the final half in which Ranger pulled away and left a lively duel for second place between the likes of Kevin Lacroix, Marc-Antoine Camirand and DJ Kennington .
“It’s amazing,” Ranger said after the race. “It’s our second win this year, I’m very proud of this team. Newfoundland has been tough for us in the past, but we finally found a win here. “I think we are leading the championship, which makes this win even more special.”
Ranger took command of the race for the first time on lap 131 when racing for the lead, Lacroix and Camirand teamed up and knocked both contenders out of the top 10. Fortunately, with only 15 cars traveling by boat to Newfoundland, it wasn’t that difficult. to make it to the podium, but it probably cost them both a chance to win.
RESET AND ROTATE🟩🟨
Crazy action in the reboot!
First and second come together and No. 96 spins!
🇨🇦 TSN+ 🇺🇸 @FlorRacing#NASCARCanada | #ProLine250 pic.twitter.com/rq4sKGzey6
— NASCAR Canada (@NASCARCanada_) June 22, 2024
They also had a little debate about it after the race.
Twice.
Ranger, from victory lane on the frontstretch, had to pull his teammate (Lacroix) out of what was becoming a lively conversation.
“It was a fun race,” Lacroix said later. “I led several laps, had an incident and still finished second, and my teammate won the race. It’s great for the team, but personally I’m not happy with this result. However, the car is fast, so I am confident that we will change our luck and get a win later.”
Lacroix started the day with a pole time of 15.814 seconds, ahead of DJ Kennington by just 0.035 seconds.
For his part, Camirand admitted that he might also need to go back and watch the replay.
“I wish I had won, but it was a good and interesting race with a strong battle against the number 74 car,” he reflected. “I don’t understand the move he made in the middle of the race, it seemed a little early to me. He said I squeezed it on a restart, so I’ll have to watch the video to see if I’m to blame, but I’ll take third place. Now we head to Antigonish and we will try to take the victory home.”
Donald Theetge and two-time champion LP Dumoulin rounded out the Top-5 with 2020 champion Jason Hathaway in sixth ahead of Kennington.
NASCAR Canada will return to action next week when the series heads to Antigonish for two more races on June 29-30.
NASCAR Canada 250
Eastbound Park Race Track
June 22, 2024
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