Andrew Ranger survives Alberta Has Energy 300 to score second straight victory

For the second consecutive weekend in a row, Andrew Ranger and the No. 27 MOPAR team would be celebrating in victory lane as Ranger would lead the final 45 laps en route to victory in the Alberta Has Energy 300 at Edmonton International Raceway.

It marks Ranger’s 19th NASCAR Canadian Tire Series career victory and ties him for first with D.J. Kennington with the most wins all-time in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. It also marks his second victory of the 2014 season. Notably, the last time Ranger won a pair of races back-to-back was in August 2009 on his road to his second career championship.

“I am so happy,” Ranger commented post-race. “We worked so hard this weekend and I have to thank my team as they worked hard. We didn’t have a good set-up this morning, but we had a really fast car tonight. It was amazing.”

After qualifying in the top-five, Ranger ran solidly up front all night long before making the move by pole sitter Alex Tagliani to take the lead. Ranger would then hold off a charge from Jason Hathaway on the green-white-checkered to head to victory lane.

L.P. Dumoulin would slip by Hathaway on the green-white-checkered to finish second, while Hathaway rounded out the podium after winning three of the last four NCAT oval races. J.R. Fitzpatrick and D.J. Kennington would round out the top-five.

Joey McColm and Larry Jackson both posted season-high finishes in finishing sixth and seventh respectively. Defending series champion Scott Steckly finished eighth, followed by rookie Stefan Rzadzinski and Noel Dowler. Edmonton Late Model Champion Erica Thiering finished 11th in her second career Canadian Tire Series start. 

After scoring the pole, Tagliani led the majority of the race, though got loose in turn one on lap 296, resulting in a spin and heavy contact from McColm ending his night. Fellow front row starter Mark Dilley would finish 18th after having to pull behind the wall with mechanical issues.

The next race for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series is at Auto Clearing Speedway in Saskatchewan on Wednesday July 16th as the series continues the series annual western swing.