Photo Credit: Matthew Murnaghan/NASCAR
ANTIGONISH, N.S — Starting when L.P. Dumoulin broke his 40 race winless streak to start the season at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, he has been nothing but dominant.
With five top fives in the first eight races, it’s clear Dumoulin is embarking on a stand out year in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series.
He continued his dream season Sunday by winning the Bumper to Bumper 300 at Riverside International Speedway.
Dumoulin’s No.47 Weathertech Canada/ Bellemare Dodge used a very risky pit strategy by saving his fresh tires until very end and mounting his attack. Surviving a hectic final restart, Dumoulin snagged the lead on Lap 240 from Kevin Lacroix and never looked back.
With his win Sunday, the 39-year-old driver from Trois-Rivieres, Quebec notched his third win of the 2018 campaign and first at the .333-mile oval and becomes the seventh different winner at Riverside since 2012.
Cole Powell entered this race fourth in points and had a great car all afternoon long. He moved into second place Lap 244, Powell mounted a charge to catch Dumoulin. Ultimately, Powell would come home second .543 seconds behind Dumoulin and notched his fourth podium of his inaugural season in the series.
DJ Kennington mounted a charge late as well and finished third for his sixth top-five finish of the season.
Andrew Ranger and Alex Tagliani were fourth and fifth, respectively.
Peter Shepherd III finished sixth, the last car on the lead lap, and Donald Theetge came home seventh. Kevin Lacroix dominated during the middle section of the race, lapping cars left and right and leading 106 laps, and eventually finished eighth.
Former NASCAR Next driver Brandon McReynolds and J.F. Dumoulin rounded out the top 10.
NASCAR Next driver Julia Landauer made her NASCAR Pinty’s Series debut and finished 15th after suffering mechanical issues on Lap 211.
Following his win at Riverside, Dumoulin extends his points lead to 19 over Cole Powell. Tagliani sits a point behind Powell, and six in front of Camirand and seven in front of Kennington.
The Bumper to Bumper 300 will air on TSN2 on Saturday, Aug. 25 at 1:30 p.m., and on RDS2 on Tuesday, Sept. 11 at 10:30 p.m.
The NASCAR Pinty’s Series rolls into Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on August 26 for the 10th round of the 2018 season with the Total Energy 200.
