For the second straight season in a row, Jeff Lapcevich has come up short at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in securing the victory as he would finish second behind J.R. Fitzpatrick after a thrilling battle to the checkered flag.
That finish was the most fun I’ve had in a racecar in quite a while”, Lapcevich said per the press release by Spencer Lewis. “It got a little tense there, when JR got out of shape in the oil dry that was put down.”
“I got a run to the inside of him on the exit of turn-3, and I don’t think that he knew, because he kept moving me over until I was all the way to the right through turn-4. At that point, I think we were both lucky to have survived with both of our car’s in one piece. Because it easily could have ended up with us on a flatbed.”
Last year at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Lapcevich finished second in the spring event, before winning the pole and finishing eighth in the second event.
With seven years of experience behind the wheel in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, there is one question that has been repeatedly asked – when will Lapcevich break through with his first career victory?
In 54 career starts, Lapcevich has 13 top-fives and 35 top-10s, but has had victory lane elude him in each start.
Looking at the performance of the No. 76 Tim Hortons, Castrol, Cathcart Trucking, Troy Cove Marine, EpicRacewear by OnePromo.ca and Springer’s Meats Dodge over the past couple of years, Lapcevich has continued to get stronger as a driver. In doing so, the chance at victory continues to increase.
With the season being very young, Lapcevich recognizes the spots that they missed at CTMP and where they need to improve before Circuit ICAR.
“We’re going to do a little bit of work on our pit-stops, and we’re going to have our engine torn down and freshened,” Lapcevich commented. “I felt as though I was giving up a little bit of power. This engine’s a little tired, so we’ll wake it up before we head to Circuit ICAR.”
With small improvements made on the team side and Lapcevich’s ability behind the wheel, there is quite a good possibility that Lapcevich will get to taste sweet success sometime this season.
