EXCLUSIVE: Alex Tagliani Left Frustrated Following The Canadian Tire Series Race at CTMP

Following contact on a final restart, Alex Tagliani would cross the finish line in the eighth spot – something that he wasn’t too pleased with.

Nobody could blame him for the frustration, though, as he had led 12 laps during the event and had put himself in position to pick up the victory. He also got the opportunity to race for the win with a caution coming out with 10 laps to go for fluid on the track.

The restart would see a side-by-side battle for the lead between Jeff Lapcevich and Tagliani, with contact between the pair in turn three that handed Tagliani the lead while Lapcevich faded back to fourth.

The caution would then fly for an incident deep in the field and on the restart, Lapcevich would give Tagliani a shot, knocking him out of line and back to the 10^th spot. He would then get back up to eighth before the checkered flag flew.

Tagliani remained adamant that there was no contact on his part on the pass on Lapcevich, and was surprised by the bump from Lapcevich going into turn one on the final restart.

“I mean, I went side-by-side going into turn three and passed him,” he stated. “Everybody saw it was a pass and because of that, he took me out in turn one? That’s just nonsense. This bumping in turn one response of me making a move in turn three. There were all the spotters that could see that. It was a clean pass. But he bumped me into turn one and took me out. This is bulls—.”

Further breaking down the incident, Taglani said he got inside of Lapcevich going into turn three, “door-to-door, front wheel to front wheel, rear wheel to rear wheel”. From his viewpoint, Lapcevich then came down, resulting in Lapcevich sliding out and falling back.

“I don’t understand why he is upset,” Tagliani added. “I’m actually quicker than him, making a pass and trying to make a pass rather than the bumper. I’m finding it really funny that they get upset when we rub door-to-door. He should be happy and respect for a guy that is trying to at least go door-to-door. I made the move and tried to not rub him too much and the two wheels touched and he jumped and lost the position.”

This doesn’t mark the first time that Tagliani has left the track frustrated with the type of racing in the series, as noted by frustrations last year at Barrie Speedway.

“These guys are used to racing without making passes,” he continued post-race. “If they cannot make a pass, they give you the bumper because they don’t want to risk, they don’t want to outbreak you, think outside of the box, try something inventive. They are just doing the freaking bumper and I’m tired of it.

“If that’s the way they want to race, then I’m going to ask out loud in the meeting ‘how do I want me to pass you the next time – the bumper or the clean pass like on the road course?’ and whatever they decide, I’ll do.”

He added that if they truly want racing where they run into each other, he says it’s very easy to do the bump-and-run.   However, that’s not the reputation that he has built.

“I’m the kind of driver that I’ve raced in many series, (and) don’t have a reputation for taking people out,” he commented. “I come here in (the NASCAR Camping World) Truck (Series), and go race the best of the best in XFINITY (Series). I made some passes clean on Regan all race long, got taken out at the end of the race.

“I had the (No.) 4 truck in front of me and the temptation for the win in Canada was strong, and I resisted. I’m a clean guy.”

With that said, Tagliani advised his competitors take note of the racing in the truck race to see examples of way to race, as he hasn’t been pleased with the racing in the Canadian Tire Series.

“These guys need to learn what they saw in this race,” he commented. “There were trucks racing side-by-side – outside of turn one together, outside of turn two together. In NASCAR Canada, we can’t do that. There’s always someone in the fence when we try and go two-by-two. They should look at these races.

“This is nonsense, but I’m not going to lose any sleep. I did three cars this weekend – I’m tired, I’m ready for an ice cream cone for tonight and my kids – but I’m not going to buy ice cream at Tim Hortons.”

He also noted that things could be different moving forward if he goes down that route.

“I’m trying to mold myself in their series and trying to race my way and all this stuff, and honestly, they better not piss me off because if I want unlimited budget, I will crash every one of them,” he stated.