Delaware News And Notes Hero
Photo by Matthew Manor/NASCAR

NEWS & NOTES: Treyten Lapcevich Enters Delaware with 2023 Championship in his Grasp

After a record-breaking season, once the green flag drops this Sunday at Delaware Speedway, Treyten Lapcevich will clinch his first NASCAR Pinty’s Series Championship.

After six wins, ten top-fives, 13 top-tens, four pole awards, 983 laps led, and an average finish of 2.8, Lapcevich took the lead in race one at Sunset Speedway back in May and never once relinquished it.

Now heading into the final race of the year with a 41-point gap on the defending series champion, Marc-Antoine Camirand, Lapcevich can breathe a sigh of relief once the race is underway on Sunday.

Behind Lapcevich’s championship-winning team is his father, Jeff Lapcevich, who raced in the series from 2007 to 2015, as Crew Chief and four-time series champion, Scott Steckly, as team owner.

Steckly, who claimed four owner’s championships alongside his driver championship, will now claim his fifth, the most of any owner in the series.

The last driver from the province of Ontario to win the series championship was Treyten’s older brother Cayden Lapcevich back in 2016.

Cayden won his championship in a battle with then-two-time champion, Andrew Ranger, and Alex Tagliani with a 54-point gap.

While the championship has been decided, in the final race of the year, Treyten has one more opportunity to extend an already record-breaking season. Should he lead 108 more laps, he will surpass the all-time laps led in a single season (Scott Steckly, 2015, 1090 laps). And should Lapcevich win the Pinty’s Fall Brawl, he will match D.J. Kennington’s record for the most wins in a season – seven wins, in 2012.

 

Brandon Watson Looks For Delaware Repeat

Last year in the season finale at Delaware Speedway, Brandon Watson claimed his win in a heated battle with Donald Theetge.

The 2022 Rookie of the Year proudly ripped off his Rookie stripe in Victory Lane last year, and now will look to repeat his success at the track.

Over the 2023, Watson has picked up a top-five finish in race two at Sutherland Automotive Speedway and six top-ten finishes. He was also a strong contender at Eastbound Int’l Speedway, leading 33 laps before his day ended early after an accident.

Theetge will look to challenge Watson for the final win of the season once again. The 56-year-old from Boischatel, Quebec has amassed a total of two top-five finishes, including a runner-up in race one at Sutherland, three top-tens, and two pole awards over seven starts.

Theetge’s only win in the season came back in 2018 in the first doubleheader race in Saskatoon.

 

Amber Balcaen Makes Series Debut

ARCA Menards Series driver Amber Balcaen from Winnipeg, Manitoba will make her NASCAR Pinty’s debut at Delaware Speedway in the No. 11 Brimstone Games Dodge prepared by the D.J. Kennington stable.

Balcaen becomes the 13th woman to make a start in the series and has made 23 starts in ARCA over the last two years, collecting seven top-tens.

Her best finish in ARCA came earlier this year in the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway, where she finished sixth.

 

NASCAR Pinty’s etc.

  • NASCAR Driver, Noah Gragson, will make his second start in the series in the No. 30 APC / John Aarts Group / Kasey Jones Racing Dodge. Gragson first made his debut in 2018 at CTMP where he finished third.
  • Series veteran, Kevin Lacroix, will celebrate his 100th career start this weekend at Delaware. Lacroix has amassed 18 wins, 58 top-fives, 75 top-tens, 13 pole awards, and 2800 laps led over nine years in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series and is a fan favourite this weekend.
  • Long-time crew chief in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series, John Fletcher, will make his return in the No. 98 CURB Record Chevrolet for Bray Autosports. The last time Fletcher made a start in the series was at Autodrome Chaudiere in 2017.
  • Former CASCAR Super Series driver, Jesse Kennedy will also make his series debut this weekend in the No. 19 Canco/Wampun Fuels/D.A.D.S/Kennedy’s Corner Store Chevrolet.
  • Kyle Steckly in the No. 22 APC/Pennzoil Chevrolet and Trevor Monaghan in the No. 4 GSR/Solo Performance Exhaust are both on the entry list for the event.
  • The Pinty’s Fall Brawl will air tape-delayed on TSN on Saturday, September 30 at 2:30 p.m. ET and Sunday, October 1 at 1:00 p.m. ET, and on RDS in Quebec on Saturday, October 21 at 4:15 p.m. ET.