A rough stop and the end of hopes for Lessard

The order was heavy for Raphaël Lessard who had to win the last race of the regular season in NASCAR pickup trucks, Thursday night at the Richmond Oval Circuit in Virginia, to carve out a place in the playoffs.

But a rough stop by the Kyle Busch Motorsports team, which came at the end of the first of the three segments of the event, came to ruin his hopes. It will finally be ranked at 26^e rank five laps behind the winner, the American Grant Enfinger.

Starting from seventh position on the starting grid, the young driver from Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce managed to maintain a good pace before a first refueling which turned into a nightmare.

“The team’s jackman made a mistake when he didn’t lift the van high enough to remove the left rear wheel,” Lessard said in an interview with Newspaper. Another mechanic signaled to him that he was unable to change the wheel. “

“So I left too early and my team leader told me to stop immediately,” he continued. I listened to him, but the wheel had come loose because we had not succeeded in tightening the bolts. ”

Ten second penalty

On such a short route (3/4 of a mile), this kind of blunder is unforgiving.

“We only lost three laps, said Lessard, and the damage was done.”

Then, NASCAR officials gave him a ten-second penalty because his mechanics finally proceeded to replace said wheel out of the team’s planned pit location.

“It was rubbish,” said Lessard, who had difficulty hiding his frustration on the phone. We might not have the van to win the race, but a top five at the finish was likely. ”

“It’s a race to forget and we won’t be in the playoffs,” he added. There are still seven races to go and we will be able to take risks since the stakes are not the same. But there is no question of losing confidence. ”

Barely 19 years old, Lessard is keeping his spirits up and his ambitions intact.

“I repeat, victory is near,” he concludes.

But his team, despite being among the best on the field, will have to give him the means.

The next stop in the NASCAR pickup truck championship will take place on September 17 at the legendary Bristol complex in Tennessee.