Alex Tagliani Goes 2-for-2 at Sunset Speedway, Winning Leland Industries 300 Presented by Dickies

There’s something about Sunset Speedway and Alex Tagliani that just jells well together. For the second straight year in a row, Tagliani piloted his No. 18 Epipen/Riobel/ComplexeJCP/Juste du Pin/Cantorque Chevrolet to a dominating performance on the 1/3 mile oval.

Leading 161 laps during the race, he traded the lead back and forth with rookie Cayden Lapcevich throughout the afternoon. Though when it counted, his pit crew did what they needed to do, getting him off pit road first ahead of Lapcevich under caution at Lap 165 of 300. From there on, Lapcevich tried everything he could, but came up short.

“This particular place is quite good because it’s raceable,” Tagliani told reporters post-race. “There’s multiple grooves so when people run low, you have the high line and when people run high, you have the low line. So you don’t have to push people to make passes. We made some pretty good passes today and it was raceable. On the restarts, we showed that it was fun for the fans as there were real fights. The track is allowing us to have good racing.

“The team did a great job on the pit stops as they got us the lead from P2. Obviously the tire degradation here is quite high so you need a car that will be consistent over a long run, and the car seems to be quite good.”

Lapcevich ended up finishing second, marking his second straight podium finish in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series at his home track. It also marks his second straight top-10 as he started off the year by finishing fourth at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.

“It was really good,” Lapcevich told OnPitRoad.com. “We were quick. I got out there a little bit, to be honest. We’ll come back next year and hopefully we’ll climb that top spot of the podium.”

The podium was rounded out by Larry Jackson, with his first career top-five finish after running solidly in the top-10 all race long.

“Third place run for Larry Jackson at this track is a win,” Jackson told OPR. “To finally be in a car that turns and runs well and have my family and old friends and crew here – it’s awesome.”

The battle to watch in the closing stages was for fourth between Adam Martin and Kevin Lacroix. Martin, making his series debut, was able to come out on top ahead of Lacroix when the checkered flag flew.

“I was pretty happy with how it went,” Martin told OPR. “I had to drop back a bit at the beginning, but finished up pretty good. The guys did a great job on the pit stop today; it was good.”

D.J. Kennington finished sixth, followed by Josh Collins, Andrew Ranger, Matthew Scannell and Trevor Seibert. Collins was running in the top-five with 30 laps to go, but was penalized for rough driving after spinning Dwayne Baker. Baker ended up 16th as the car would not refire following the spin.

Jason Hathaway was expected to contend this afternoon, but found himself behind the wall for multiple laps after getting heavy front end damage in a four-car crash involving Scannell, Jason White and Seibert on the frontstretch at Lap 65. Seibert also caught major damage, but the team tore off the flapping sheet metal to get him back out and finish in the top-10.

The NASCAR Pinty’s Series will now turn their attention to Autodrome Chaudiere this Friday night.

* Denotes Rookie of the Year Contender

RACE STATISTICS
Fastest Qualifier: Cayden Lapcevich *, Time: 14.639 Seconds, Speed: 81.891 mph
Time of Race: 1 hrs., 42 mins, 41 secs Average Speed: 58.374 mph Margin of Victory: 1.720
Caution Flags: Laps 29-32 (Car 02 stopped on track{free pass[none]}); 46-56 (Car 95 stopped on the track [02]); 67-73 (Contact between cars 69 & 21 [02]); 165-175 (Car 59 spin in turn #4 [none]); 181-193 (Car 27 spin in turn #4 [9]); 205-211 (Car 25 spin in turn #2 [74]); 260-266 (Debris in Turn #3 [17]); 271-278 (Car 48 spin in turn 4 [27]).  8 for 68 laps.
Lap Leaders: Alex Labbe 1, Cayden Lapcevich * 2-47, Josh Collins * 48-57, Alex Tagliani 58-86, Cayden Lapcevich * 87-167, Alex Tagliani 168-266, Cayden Lapcevich * 267, Alex Tagliani 268-300.
Total Laps Led: Alex Tagliani 161, Cayden Lapcevich * 128, Josh Collins * 10, Alex Labbe 1.  7 changes involving 4 drivers.

CONTINGENCY AWARDS
BREMBO BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE AWARD:  Adam Martin, 9 Johnsonville/Candy Tree/Reser’s Ford
COCA-COLA MOVE OF THE RACE AWARD:  Josh Collins *, 25 Eastbound International Speedway/Ed Collins Cont. Ford
DODGE/MOPAR QUICK THREE – 1ST:  Cayden Lapcevich *, 76 Fastline Motorsports  Dodge
DODGE/MOPAR QUICK THREE – 2ND:  Kevin Lacroix *, 74 Bumper to Bumper/Total/Go Fast/Excellence Crys. Dodge
DODGE/MOPAR QUICK THREE – 3RD:  D.J. Kennington, 17 Castrol Edge Dodge
DODGE/MOPAR-POWERED QUICK THREE – 1ST:  Andrew Ranger, 27 Mopar/Pennzoil Dodge
DODGE/MOPAR-POWERED QUICK THREE – 2ND:  Jason White, 21 Power Ventures Excavating/Hal Nor Dodge
DODGE/MOPAR-POWERED QUICK THREE – 3RD:  Anthony Simone, 95 Innovative Plumbing & Mechanical/InkYourRide.com Dodge
E3 SPARK PLUG POLE WARD:  Cayden Lapcevich *, 76 Fastline Motorsports  Dodge
JOSTENS ROOKIE OF THE RACE AWARD:  Cayden Lapcevich *, 76 Fastline Motorsports  Dodge
LELAND INDUSTRIES LAP LEADER AWARD:  Alex Tagliani, 18 Epipen/Riobel/ComplexeJCP/Juste du Pin/Cantorque Chevrolet
SPECTRA PREMIUM CREW CONSISTENCY AWARD:  Cayden Lapcevich *, 76 Fastline Motorsports  Dodge