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Kevin Lacroix has won at Circuit ICAR twice before, in 2015 and '17. (Photo by Matt Manor/NASCAR)

QUICK LOOK BACK: Kevin Lacroix Dominates Wet & Wild Return to ICAR

NASCAR August 30, 2021

Although the Quebec swing was shorter than anticipated, drivers brought the heat to Circuit ICAR for round four of the 2021 season.

It was the series first race back on the 0.994-mile airport tarmac since 2017, and all eyes were on previous winners, Andrew Ranger and Kevin Lacroix.

When the green flag dropped it was Ranger on the pole and Lacroix alongside him and it didn’t take the No. 74 Bumper to Bumper/Lacroix Tuning Dodge long to make a pass for the lead.

On lap 35, the rain arrived, the tires were changed and ICAR became a whole new track.

But Lacroix continued to dominate. With 3 laps to go, Marc-Antoine Camirand, who was running in third at the time, quickly fell off the pace and came to a rest just off of the track.

The caution came out and the rest of the field headed into NASCAR overtime.

Lacroix survived two chaotic restarts to claim his third checkered flag at Circuit ICAR and 14th of his NASCAR Pinty’s career.

‘The car was really fast all day long,” said Lacroix. “At some point, I thought Alex Tagliani was pushing really hard behind, he had a good car, maybe I felt like my car was going away a little bit but then the rain came, and I was super happy.”

RESULTS: La Fernandière 75

Tagliani, Dumoulin and Lacroix currently sit within seven points of each other in the standings. The next closest driver, D.J. Kennington and Treyten Lapcevich are 19 points back, in fourth and fifth, respectively.

“I don’t focus on championships, or I don’t think about it very much because it has to do with a lot of luck,” explained Lacroix. “Sometimes that doesn’t play on our side. We’ll just keep winning races when we can, and we’ll see at the end of the year.”

2021 STANDINGS

Two Top Fives Finishes for Rick Ware Racing

Still new to the series, Rick Ware Racing picked up two top-five finishes at ICAR. Ranger finished second while teammate Alex Guenette ended in fifth.

This was Ranger’s second runner-up finish of the season and Guenette’s first top-five.

“Kevin was pretty fast, I felt that I was gaining sometimes, and then I was losing sometimes,” said Ranger. “The last caution, I think Tagliani hit Dumoulin, then Dumoulin hit me a little bit but at the end of that, we still finished with the second position.”

Dumoulin Remains in the Championship Hunt

Despite not having a win yet, L.P. Dumoulin has continued to pick up great results race after race., keeping him in the championship discussion. His worst finish was round one at Sunset Speedway where he finished sixth.

Right now, Dumoulin sits four points behind Tagliani in the standings and is the only former champion currently in the fight.

Camirand’s Bad Luck Continues

Marc-Antoine Camirand’s stream of bad luck continued at ICAR when his No. 22 GM Paille Chevrolet slowed to a stopped on track due to a driveshaft issue.

At GP3R, Camirand was also a favourite to win but had to retire after nine laps due to transmission.

The No. 22 team has shown they’re fast at every race, running at the front and putting down solid lap times, but continues to meet obstacles at every race.

 

Onto CTMP

The 2021 NASCAR Pinty’s season continues this weekend with two races at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. In the final two road course events of the year, expect Lacroix, Tagliani and Dumoulin all at the top of the board, but a few familiar faces may appear to stir up the competition.

La Fernandière 75 will air on TSN on Sunday, September 5, at 4:30 p.m. ET. and on RDS2 on Saturday, September 11 at 1:30 P.M. Fans in the United States can stream races after they air on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.