Alex Labbe: “This new race is a good move for NASCAR Pinty's Series”

As soon as NASCAR and New Hampshire Motor Speedway made the announcement on Friday that the two organizations have joined forces to create a new race weekend for the speedway next September,  those involved with the series shared their thoughts on the announcement.

The planned NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, NASCAR K&N Pro Series and NASCAR Pinty’s Series race events will all take place on Sept. 22, 2018, in a tripleheader event at the 1.058-mile track located in Loudon, N.H.

The new event will replace the lost Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events that will move to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2018.

Alex Labbe, who’ll be crowned the 2017 NASCAR Pinty’s Series champion on Saturday night, was happy when he heard the news while traveling for the season finale at Jukasa Motor Speedway.

“I think it’s a good fit for the series because the track is going to bring a good challenge for teams and the fact that it will be running during the same weekend as K&N and Whelen Modified is really exciting for us as drivers and for every short track fan,” said Labbe. “This is a really good move for everybody involved in the NASCAR touring series and especially for opportunity for growth of the series.”

The 2014 Pinty’s Series champion, L.P. Dumoulin, echoed Labbe’s thoughts.

“When I heard the news I got really excited about bringing our great series and all of our talented drivers and crew members to the US and put on a race for the NASCAR fans,” said Dumoulin. “There are already a lot of Canadian fans who attend races at NHMS and this will be an opportunity to bring even more Canadian fans to the track.”

His brother, J.F. Dumoulin, who has joined L.P. in previous road races held throughout the US, added this can only help in giving his series more exposure.

“Hopefully this announcement will get more drivers interested in competing in our series and that can only be a good thing as we work hard to keep moving forward with our series,” he added.

Series entitlement sponsor Pinty’s Delicious Foods, based in Ontario, Canada, is also happy with the news. The company, which produces numerous chicken products sold throughout Canada, has recently expanded its products into the US and this move only helps enhance their ability to grow their footprint.

“We love NASCAR racing and it’s proven to be a valuable asset for our company to promote our products,” said Tony Spiteri, vice-president of marketing/research and development for Pinty’s. “We’ve recently debuted our products with Food City and Bristol Motor Speedway and it’s already been a success for us and we’re happy to be partnering with NASCAR and another SMI property to help raise awareness and availability of our products not only in Canada but now in the US.

“We appreciate New Hampshire Motor Speedway giving our series an opportunity to be a part of such a historic weekend for NASCAR and our great competitors in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series.”

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR K&N Pro Series East have already been competing at the track for over a decade and the 250-lap race for the modifieds will be the longest race in the history of the series.

The NASCAR Pinty’s Series has operated since 2007 under NASCAR sanction and currently conducts a 13-race season from May through September in four Canadian provinces.