NASCAR Pinty’s Series

CAMIRAND SECURES NASCAR PINTY’S SERIES CROWN

Story by Bryce Turner

In early January, Paillé Racing didn’t exist – there were no cars or parts, no trailer or crew. Yet nine months later, the team and driver Marc-Antoine Camirand celebrated the end of a dominant season at Canadian stock car racing’s highest level with a NASCAR Pinty’s Series championship.

The original plan for Camirand was to return to 22 Racing, where he had spent over three seasons, but that plan changed in late January when Camirand discussed the idea of starting a new team with Jean-Claude Paillé, whose GM Paillé dealership sponsored him since 2016. The talks centred around free agent crew chief Robin McCluskey.

“When I saw the opportunity that we could get Robin on board, I went to J.C. Paillé and talked with him and said ‘that’s the guy we need if we want to start a team, we need to hire that guy,’” said Camirand. “I worked with Robin in 2014-15 with White Motorsports and it was already a good match because we got along really good and he also won two championships with L.P. Dumoulin.”

Camirand had his own team when running in other series, such as F1600, but having his own program at the NASCAR level was always a dream of his, so with the initial pieces in place and the support of J.C. Paillé, it was time to get working.

“When we made that decision to start everything, we built the two cars and pretty much bought everything…it was a hell of a job,” he said. “To start a new team is a lot of money…I’m so happy that Paillé was there to help me achieve that.” 16 Inside Track Motorsport News

The team tested at Sunset Speedway the week before the opening race and thought that the car was not completely ready. The goal was to just survive and finish the race, but the No. 96 Chevrolet was fast right out of the gate. They qualified fifth and led a race-high 203 laps, before something broke on the front-end and a late-race battle with Raphaël Lessard limited them to a fourth-place result.

Despite being more of a road course driver, Camirand found himself with fast cars on the ovals. He led 92 laps at Autodrome Chaudière, but a pit road penalty at the halfway break sent him to the tail-end of the lead lap; he battled back to finish second. The series then shifted to Eastbound Speedway for its first race in Newfoundland, where Camirand grabbed the victory. The team with momentum approaching the western swing.

“I would lie if I said before the season that (I thought) we would win the championship the first year,” said Camirand. “We were supposed to win some races and have some good pace with the team…but halfway through the season, when leading the championship, we thought maybe we had a shot.”

The biggest test of the season came at Edmonton International Raceway, where teamwork was on full display. The series changed some rules for the rear end of the car after Eastbound, but Camirand said that teams had an agreement with the series to make just a few modifications, due to the short turnaround before Edmonton. However, his crew was told at technical inspection that they’d have to make other changes too.

“We missed all of practice; we went in the parking lot to make

the modifications to the back of the car, brought the car back just in time for qualifying,” said Camirand. “If Robin wasn’t there to weld the things in the parking lot, I think the championship was over because if I missed Edmonton and Saskatoon, it was over for sure.”

The team qualified fifth and won the race. They weren’t expecting the victory and Camirand says it was a turning point in the season, one of the biggest wins of his career. The team then faced more adversity as they were penalized after Edmonton for a muffler issue, though NASCAR later rescinded the penalty and restored the 12 points that had been deducted.

The career year for Camirand continued throughout the summer and the Paillé Racing team entered the penultimate race, at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP), with a chance to make things really difficult on the competition.

“That race was a big race for us; we knew that if we did well at that race, we could pretty much seal the deal in the championship,” said Camirand. “The pressure was on everybody, even I had more pressure, but the crew and Robin were a little bit more nervous.”

The team made some adjustments to the car, compared to the first CTMP race, and was fast again in practice before qualifying on the pole. They led for half of the race and took the victory, picking up maximum points and leaving CTMP with a commanding 33-point lead in the standings over Kevin Lacroix.

Camirand went to the Delaware Speedway finale with the same strategy as always, having the mindset that he needed to win the race to win the championship. But expectations were different at the same time, knowing that Ontario-based teams had more experience and knowledge of the London, Ont. area track.

With no pressure of having to finish ahead of other drivers, Camirand clinched his first career NASCAR Pinty’s Series championship by just starting the race.

“Robin said on the radio, after one lap, we are the 2022 champions,” said Camirand. “It was a dream for me to win a championship at that level because the competition is really high. I don’t remember what I said, but the first thing I thought about was my family. My father and my family spent a crazy amount of time, money and effort on my career.”

A ninth-place finish at Delaware capped off a breakout year for the driver from St-Léonard D’Aston, QC. His three wins, seven podiums, nine top-five finishes and 5.6 average finish were all career bests. His 803 laps led were also the second-most laps led in a single season in NASCAR Pinty’s Series history, behind only his former boss Scott Steckly, who led 1,090 laps in 2015. It was a dominant year for Camirand and he gives a lot of the credit to his Paillé Racing team.

“We brought a few guys back (from his seasons with White Motorsports) and we had a few crew guys from GM Paillé, who work at the dealership, and the chemistry already at the first race of the season was really, really good,” said Camirand. “The chemistry of the team was so good that race after race, everybody was getting more experience and the match between the crew and Robin was really, really good.”

After taking the checkered flag, the team remained parked in Turn 4 as the race winner’s victory lane was held. When it was time to celebrate, the burnout was slightly subdued, due to the amount of people standing on the frontstretch. Camirand slid the car into victory lane and, with confetti and a champagne shower, it was time to enjoy the moment with his team and family.

After three weeks off, Camirand says the team was already back at work preparing for 2023, with the bar set high for them to repeat their surprise success from 2022.

(Opposite page) Marc-Antoine Camirand celebrates his 2022 NASCAR Pinty’s Series title with his family and crew at Delaware Speedway. (Top and Above) 2022 NPS Rookie of the year Brandon Watson led the field to the initial green, and won his first career NPS race, in the finale.

Photos by Steve Traczyk (Camirand and Watson Victory Lane) and Greg MacPherson (start of race)

DELAWARE SPEEDWAY

The NASCAR Pinty’s Series capped off Delaware’s Great Canadian Race Weekend with the season-ending Pinty’s Fall Brawl. Brandon Watson started on the pole, leading all but five laps during the first half of the race. D.J. Kennington spent that brief time out front, following one of six cautions during the first 125 laps.

Watson continued to hold the top spot after the halfway break. As the laps wound down, things started to get hairy. Jake Sheridan’s No. 3 Chevrolet spun after contact from Camirand on lap 217, which left team owner Ed Hakonson calling for a black flag against Camirand.

On the following restart, Raphaël Lessard wiggled while battling door-to-door with Watson in turn four; Lessard lost pace and got hit from behind by Kevin Lacroix, sending Lessard spinning and starting a scary 10-car wreck. Andrew Ranger’s No. 27 was launched over the driver’s side of Alex Tagliani’s No. 18 in the incident; luckily both drivers were okay.

The race resumed after a red flag delay and Watson went on to score his first career NASCAR Pinty’s Series victory; he also won Jostens Rookie of the Year. Donald Theetge, Lacroix, Treyten Lapcevich and Kennington rounded out the top five. IT InsideTrackNews.com 17