Won Two Of Six Starts As A Rookie In 2015
The young talented Kevin Lacroix opened a lot of eyes with his two wins in the 2015 Canadian NASCAR season. This year Lacroix is going for the bigger picture, the driver’s championship.
Lacroix is still eligible for the Jostens Rookie of the Year Award, something every driver would love to have in their résumé, but he has set his eyes on a battle for driver’s championship of the NASCAR Pinty’s Series.
Lacroix breakout
After six years away from the racetrack, Lacroix proved he can compete with top series drivers. Although he only competed in half of the events, no one took the series by storm in 2015 more than the true rookie. Following a crash just four laps into the season opener, the road course expert led 28 of 30 laps en route to victory at Circuit ICAR in his second outing.
In just the second race ever on an oval in his entire racing career, Lacroix had plenty of speed at Autodrome St-Eustache with his third grid spot before a mechanical failure, then returned to Victory Lane for a second time in the prestigious Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières. Both victories proved to be monumental as he became the fastest driver to earn a win (second start) and the quickest to two victories (fourth start) in series history and the most wins for a Quebec native driver.
A top crew chief
Lacroix can count on a highly skilled and experienced team to achieve his objectives. During the off season, Lacroix Motorsports hired a new crew chief, Don Thomson Jr. With multiple CASCAR series championships, including seven as a driver, Thomson also proved himself to be one of the best crew chief, tuner and car builders in the series. Since his retirement from driving, he has built and prepared cars for J.R. Fitzpatrick, winning multiple races. One of those cars were sold to Lacroix Motorsports in 2015.
“No one knows these cars more than Thomson, he his the one who can get the most out of it,” said team owner Sylvain Lacroix. “We all know how important a crew chief is for a driver’s and team’s success.”
New race shop
Construction of a new race shop concluded in December with four work bays, room for the truck and hauler and a machining room. Lacroix Motorsports opted for the highest standards of a large workspace and the best tools and equipment.
Great sponsors support
The team is really thankful to Uni-Select for the support in Lacroix’s career from the very beginning in karting and open-wheel racing. Uni-Select is the top Canadian supplier in auto parts, tools and equipment, as well as the largest distributor in automotive and industrial paint refinishing industry, better known under the name of FinishMaster.
In January, Uni-Select announced they will regroup their bests Auto Plus and Auto Parts Plus stores under the Bumper to Bumper trademark as well as the support of Lacroix’s new career in NASCAR.
The Total Lubricant company is also involved in Lacroix’s career. Total is part of one of the five largest energy and oil companies on the planet and is a leader in research and development. Total is established in Canada and 129 other countries.
“We are proud we can count our sponsors support,” said Kevin Lacroix. “We all share the same mentality, they are leaders in their fields and I am a leader on the track. All our energy will be focused on the driver’s championship in the most prestigious racing series in Canada, the NASCAR Pinty’s Series.”
Lacroix has a newly-opened team shop to operate out of for his first run at the Pinty’s Series crown. Lacroix Motorsports
