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2024 marks the eighteenth season of the Canadian NASCAR championship.
The season opens on May 19 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and thirteen races later, it ends on September 24 at Delaware Speedway.
The cars competing in the NASCAR Canada Series are constructed to specifications and rules common to most stock car series. The chassis is a steel tube frame design covered with a fiberglass body and must weigh no less than 3000-lbs. Body styles are from manufacturers such as Dodge (Challenger), Ford (Mustang) and Chevrolet (Camaro). Engine type and displacement are dictated by the make and model of the vehicle. The carbureted eight-cylinder motors produce approximately 550-horsepower. Depending on the gearing, these cars are estimated to have a top speed of 160-mph. Round one of the 2024 NASCAR Canada Series was held at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Drivers would compete on the ten-turn 2.459-mile road course for fifty-one laps in an event titled the ASSA ABLOY Accentra 200. The contest was extended to fifty-three laps due to a late race caution.
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Thirty competitors stream into Canadian Tire Motorsport Park’s corner one for the start of the ASSA ABLOY Accentra 200. At the head of the pack is the pole-sitter, Gary Klutt, in the No. 59 Bothwell-Accurate / Dodge Challenger. Beside Klutt is the other front-row starter, Kevin Lacroix, driving the No. 74 NAPA Auto Parts-sponsored Dodge Challenger. Immediately behind the leaders are GM Paille teammates Marc-Antoine Camirand and Andrew Ranger. |
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The 2022 NASCAR Canada champion, Marc-Antoine Camirand, got this season off to an excellent start. Last year at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, he led until the final corner on the last lap but was pushed wide and finished second. Camirand qualified the No. 96 GM Paille Chevrolet Camaro third fastest. He was in contention all day, leading a total of thirteen laps. He grabbed the top spot when Kevin Lacroix retired, and despite pressure from Gary Klutt, he claimed the victory. |
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Gary Klutt is always a threat to win at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. He has finished on the podium five times, one of which was a victory in 2015. Klutt was the fastest during qualifying and put the No. 59 Bothwell-Accurate Dodge Challenger on the pole. He led the first five laps of the race before being passed by Kevin Lacroix. Klutt was third on the final restart, but he slipped by L.P. Dumoulin while Dumoulin was battling with Marc-Antoine Camirand and earned a runner-up result. |
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Another driver having a stellar outing was the three-time NASCAR Canada champion L.P. Dumoulin. Dumoulin and his team put in a lot of work in preparation for the season’s first event. It paid off as he qualified fifth fastest in the No. 47 WeatherTech Dodge Challenger. As the contest concluded, Dumoulin was in second and challenging Marc-Antoine Camirand for the lead. However, in an effort to get by Camirand, he was passed by Gary Klutt and finished third. |
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Sam Fellows made his NASCAR Canada series debut in 2021. Unfortunately, he raced with older equipment and couldn’t showcase his talent. In the off-season, the team had a new car constructed by McColl Racing Enterprises. The decision paid off as Fellows went faster each time on the track and qualified fourteenth in the No. 87 AER / Polysleep / Mobil 1 Chevrolet Camaro. Excellent driving and race strategy was rewarded with a fourth-place result – his first series top-five result. |
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Kevin Lacroix holds the record for the most victories at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. His seventh came in last year’s September event. During the off-season, he partnered with the newly formed Innovation Autosport team. Lacroix topped the time sheet in practice and qualified second by just 0.032 seconds slower than the pole. Lacroix would lead the most laps in the race but was left stranded when the transmission failed on lap 41. |
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After several seasons in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the 2017 NASCAR Canada champion, Alex Labbe, has come back to contest all thirteen rounds. Labbe is piloting the No. 36 Lussier Chevrolet / AB Express Chevrolet Camaro. He recorded the eighth fastest time in practice for the ASSA ABLOY Accentra 200. In qualifying, Labbe could not go any quicker and started eighth. He put in a solid run and crossed the finish line in fifth place. |
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Series veteran D.J. Kennington returned for another season in the No. 17 Castrol Edge / CIM Metals / Brimstone Games Dodge Challenger. During practice, the two-time NASCAR Canada champion (2010 and 2012) was fourteenth fastest in a field of thirty entries. Kennington’s performance in qualifying was only slightly better, and he was gridded thirteenth for the fifty-one-lap contest. He kept out of trouble and advanced seven positions to finish sixth. |
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| FINISH | START | DRIVER | SPONSOR / CAR | LAPS | RETIREMENTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Marc-Antoine Camirand | GM Paille Chevrolet / Chevrolet Camaro | 53 | - |
| 2 | 1 | Gary Klutt | Bothwell-Accurate / Dodge Challenger | 53 | - |
| 3 | 5 | L.P. Dumoulin | WeatherTech/Omnifab / Dodge Challenger | 53 | - |
| 4 | 14 | Sam Fellows | AER/Polysleep / Chevrolet Camaro | 53 | - |
| 5 | 8 | Alex Labbe | AB Express / Chevrolet Camaro | 53 | - |
| 6 | 13 | D.J. Kennington | Castrol Edge/Spark Power / Dodge Challenger | 53 | - |
| 7 | 10 | Jean Philippe Bergeron | Prolon Controls/Rousseau Metals / Ford Mustang | 53 | - |
| 8 | 4 | Andrew Ranger | GM Paille Chevrolet / Chevrolet Camaro | 53 | - |
| 9 | 12 | L.P. Montour | Gilles Leduc Electricity / Chevrolet Camaro | 53 | - |
| 10 | 7 | Alex Tagliani | St. Hubert/NTN/Qwick Wick / Chevrolet Camaro | 53 | - |
| 11 | 18 | Ryan Klutt | Legendary Motorcar / Chevrolet Camaro | 53 | - |
| 12 | 16 | Jason Hathaway | ASSA ABLOY/Leland Industries / Chevrolet Camaro | 53 | - |
| 13 | 26 | Steve Cote | Envirum / Chevrolet Camaro | 53 | - |
| 14 | 9 | Peter Klutt | Legendary Motorcar / Dodge Challenger | 53 | - |
| 15 | 25 | Herby Drescher | Glenn Styres Racing / Dodge Challenger | 53 | - |
| 16 | 17 | Malcolm Strachan | Curb Records/DarkhorseTrailers / Chevrolet Camaro | 53 | - |
| 17 | 22 | Larry Jackson | O'Neil Electric/Castrol / Dodge Challenger | 53 | - |
| 18 | 28 | Domenic Scrivo | Sierra Excavating / Chevrolet Camaro | 53 | - |
| 19 | 23 | Glenn Styres | GSR/Ohsweken Speedway / Chevrolet Camaro | 53 | - |
| 20 | 30 | David Thorndyke | Thorsons EVT / Chevrolet Camaro | 53 | - |
| 21 | 11 | Danny Chisholm | Jani-King Canada / Chevrolet Camaro | 53 | - |
| 22 | 6 | Daniel Bois | Sierra Excavating / Chevrolet Camaro | 52 | - |
| 23 | 21 | Simon Charbonneau | TransGestion Vehicle Transport / Chevrolet Camaro | 52 | - |
| 24 | 29 | Benoit Coulture | Ben & Florentine / Dodge Challenger | 52 | - |
| 25 | 15 | Dexter Stacey | ReCap Products / Chevrolet Camaro | 49 | - |
| 26 | 20 | Matthew Scannell | Nitro 54 Variety / Dodge Challenger | 46 | - |
| 27 | 19 | Thomas Nepveu | Richelieu Ford/Home Hardware / Ford Mustang | 45 | Electrical |
| 28 | 2 | Kevin Lacroix | NAPA Auto Parts / Dodge Challenger | 41 | Transmission |
| 29 | 24 | Wallace Stacey | K-Fibre Optic / Chevrolet Camaro | 32 | Accident |
| 30 | 27 | Michael Goudie | Muskoka Aircraft / Ford Mustang | 9 | Transmission |
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