World News – CA – Canadian teenager Lessard takes victory in Talladega Truck Series

Raphael Lessard celebrates at Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Truck Series Auto Race at Talladega Superspeedway, Saturday October 3 February 2020 in Talladega, Ala (AP Photo / John Bazemore)

TALLADEGA, Ala: Raphael Lessard, a 19-year-old Canadian rookie, won his first career NASCAR National Series race Saturday in overtime on bail at Talladega Superspeedway

Lessard was racing side by side with Trevor Bayne in the last lap of the two-lap overtime shootout when a four-wide truck pack triggered a crash that froze the ground Lessard won in a Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the first victory of the season for the organization of a driver other than Busch

I needed this, we’ve had a tough season and this is feeling great, said Lessard, who hasn’t made the playoffs and has only finished four in the top 10 before. Talladega’s victory

Lessard is the fifth overseas-born winner of the Truck series The teenager left Quebec for North Carolina in January, two months before the coronavirus pandemic upset his first full-time season in a american national series

I moved here to Mooresville in January, it’s a crazy year being your first year moving from home and my family is in Quebec, said Lessard I needed this

The race was the first elimination race of the Truck Series playoffs and Christian Eckes, one of the contenders for the championship race, was eliminated in a mixed day for the Busch race team Lessard won the race, but there will be no KBM championship this year

Todd Gilliland was also eliminated as a mechanical failure ended his run early Gilliland had been aggressive ahead of the mechanical problem in an effort to extend his run into the playoffs

Bayne, a former Daytona 500 winner who has returned for four Truck Series races so far this season, was second behind Lessard Chandler Smith was third, Codie Rohrbaugh fourth and Ben Rhodes completed the top five

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Kaz Grala finished seventh as a replacement driver for Natalie Decker, who missed her second straight race She fell ill shortly before last week’s race in Las Vegas and was a late scratch Decker also missed a stroke in June when she was hospitalized for complications from gallbladder surgery

NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, Raphaël Lessard, NASCAR, Talladega, Chevrolet Silverado 250, Austin Hill, Stewart Friesen, Todd Gilliland, Christian Eckes