Alex Tagliani led 30 of the 35-lap race to win the Tiffany Gate Grand Prix of Toronto and his first of the 2023 season.
Starting on the pole, the No.18 St. Hubert/NTN/Qwick Wick/Genatec Chevrolet’s victory was not without contest. The No. 74 NAPA Auto Parts/Valvoline Dodge of Kevin Lacroix and the No. 27 GM Paillé of Andrew Ranger, both gave Tagliani a run for his money.
Ranger was the only other driver to lead a lap during the race, taking the lead away from Tagliani for five turns around the 1.786-mile street course.
It wasn’t until the final lap that Lacroix had his chance to run away with the win, finally getting to Tagliani’s door coming off of the Lakeshore straightaway.
But in the end, he was no match for the No. 18 Chevrolet who sailed away with his third win on the Streets of Toronto.
“It was a really good race for us, big credit to the team,” said Tagliani. “Lots of people put effort into this, these days in NASCAR it’s so competitive that even if you are good on a road course, if you don’t have the car, you can be seventh, it’s still a good seventh because it’s such a good field and strong field.”
The field only saw two cautions, which both came within the first 15 laps of the race. Dexter Stacey in the No. 92 ReCap/Bully’s Truck Stop Chevrolet brought out the first caution when a failed transmission ended his day early.
On the following restart, Rookie of the Year contender, Thomas Nepveu, who was running in and around the top-five, had a problem and was unable to get up to speed which led to fellow Rookie, Kyle Steckly making contact with him.
Unlike Stacey, Nepveu was able to continue after making repairs, however, he finished the race two laps down in 18th.
Coming home in third was the No. 96 GM Paillé/Chevrolet Canada Chevrolet of Marc-Antoine Camirand, who started the race in 18th after an issue in practice caused him to miss qualifying.
L.P Dumoulin and Ranger rounded out the top five, with points leader Treyten Lapcevich, J.P. Bergeron, Alex Guenette, D.J. Kennington, and Matthew Scannell rounding out the top-ten.
FULL RESULTS: Tiffany Gate Grand Prix of Toronto
NASCAR Pinty’s drivers will now head out west for three races across two provinces. First stop – Edmonton International Raceway on July 22nd, 2023 for the BAYER 300
The Tiffany Gate Grand Prix of Toronto will air tape-delayed on TSN on Sunday, July 23, 2023, at 3:00 p.m. ET and on RDS Sunday, July 30, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. ET.