Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
Following a partial season last year, Kevin Lacroix is set for a full-time campaign for this upcoming NASCAR Pinty’s Series season.
“The season is looking great for us,” he said at the Motorama Custom Car and Motorsports Show. “We signed some good sponsors and some good team members, so the car will be prepared and the focus is on keeping myself calmer than I am right now on track. There’s always good guys around us on road courses – Alex (Tagliani), Andrew (Ranger) and on ovals there’s obviously people like Jason (Hathaway), and there’s always things to learn. That’s the main focus.”
Lacroix will have experience to help him along the way, in the form of Don Thomson Jr. A past driver himself, he won 1991 CASCAR Rookie of the Year, followed by two consecutive CASCAR Canadian Eastern Championships in 1999 and 2000. He took his dynasty to the next level in the years that followed, winning five straight CASCAR Super Series titles beginning in 2001. He then won the inaugural NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race in 2007, followed by six more wins before retiring as a driver in 2011.
He then transitioned to the pit box, calling the shots for J.R. Fitzpatrick’s NASCAR Canadian Tire Series effort from 2012 to 2014. During that time, the pair won five races with two runner-up points finishes. Thompson sent last season with Fastline Motorsports, working with Jeff and Cayden Lapcevich, scoring a couple of top-five finishes.
Notably, when Fitzpatrick got out of the series, Lacroix was one of the drivers who purchased a car from Fitzpatrick’s stable. Therefore there will be some familiarity for Thomson entering this new deal.
With experience on his side, the Quebec native hopes to be successful, with plans of being at the front of the field on a weekly basis.
“I am always stressed when I am traffic and the only way to be calm is to be leading and seeing nothing ahead of me,” he said. “That’s always what I want to do, and I want to control the pace of the race, and that’s what I did in each race that I won and that’s what I want to do this year.”
