Alex Labbé ready for “another special night” at Autodrome Chaudière

One driver will probably look forward to the CRS Express 300 more than anyone when the NASCAR Pinty’s Series makes its fourth visit the high-banked .25-mile track this Saturday and that driver is Alex Labbé.

Labbé edged eventual series champion Cayden Lapcevich in a classic duel over the final 21 laps of the race to score his first win at his home track in the series last June. The St. Albert, Québec native won there in his 19^th career start in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series and said it’s a race he’ll never forget.

“That a special night for sure at Chaudière and one I won’t soon forget,” said Labbé. “It’s a track where you can race in both grooves and Cayden and I raced each other hard and clean and put on a show for the fans. I respect Cayden and he respected me and we raced side-by-side hard and to get a win against him meant a lot.”

He’s coming off of his second career NASCAR Pinty’s Series victory two weeks ago at Delaware Speedway and will try to make it two series wins in a row and also two in a row at the track located in Vallée-Jonction, Quebec.

Labbé led 150 laps in last year’s race after he and Lapcevich exchanged the lead nine times before he made his final pass on Lap 298 and held on for his first career series win.

Québec native Kevin Lacroix, who won the season-opener at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park last month, remains atop the points standings by a three-point margin over Labbé after leading the most laps at Delaware Speedway and finishing fifth.

“We made a lot of changes to our cars over the offseason and it’s already paying dividends for us this season,” said Lacroix. “We always look forward to racing in front of the great race fans in Québec.”

In the first of four events scheduled in the province this season, Québec drivers are showing their strength in the early-season points standings. The entire top-five drivers entering this Saturday’s race are from the province. Lacroix leads Labbé with Andrew Ranger third and brothers L.P. Dumoulin and J.F. Dumoulin rounding out the top five.

While Québec drivers are making an impact this season, several Ontario drivers are also looking forward to racing at Autodrome Chaudière.

In addition to NASCAR Next driver Lapcevich, two-time series champion D.J. Kennington is also one to watch on Saturday. The St. Thomas, Ontario native is the only entered in the race to finish in the top-five in all three previous races at the track and sits second in laps completed with 900 of the 901 possible laps ran at the track.

Projected entry list