Cayden Lapcevich, a decade removed from a driver’s championship in the NASCAR Canada Series, still spends his fair share of weekends at a racetrack. Granted, the capacity in which he does so has seen a dramatic shift since winning that title in 2016.
The Grimsby, Ontario-native is a part of the travelling circus of NASCAR’s National Series, where he serves as the Truck Chief for Halmar Friesen Racing’s No. 62 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.
Now, for the most part, the driving portion of Lapcevich’s career has taken a back seat, although the 26-year-old will take up an opportunity now and again to run in the SMART Modified Tour, and in 2024, he did serve as a relief driver for Toni Breidinger in an ARCA Menards Series event at Watkins Glen.
On Labor Day Weekend, part of a multi-week hiatus for the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series before the start of The Chase, Lapcevich went home to Canada, where a return to the NASCAR Canada Series was in the cards at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – his first start in the division since 2024, and first start on a road course since 2017.
“Still not 100% sure how it all happened,” Lapcevich told JosephSrigley.com after the race. “A phone call from my dad [Jeff Lapcevich] saying that Glenn [Styres] wanted to do this with Velocity Race Cars and Glenn Styres Racing. It’s hard to say no when you get the opportunity to run good equipment.”
Velocity Race Cars and Glenn Styres Racing gave Lapcevich the nod to run the No. 76 Chevrolet Camaro in the WeatherTech 200 on Sunday, partnered alongside another former legend of the NASCAR Canada Series, J.R. Fitzpatrick, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet.
But when the No. 76 was unloaded from the hauler for practice on Saturday, things got off to a pretty slow start. Lapcevich ranked a disappointing 25th of a record-setting 39 cars in practice, and only qualified two spots better, in 23rd.
“[Saturday] wasn’t the best; we had problems right off the truck,” Lapcevich said about the experience. “Not very good in practice or qualifying, but everybody went to work, we found some issues, we made it better, and obviously the car was good. I think if we could do it back and start at the front, we probably had a better chance, I think.”
When the green flag dropped for the WeatherTech 200 on Sunday, though, the team had found something – and not just in the No. 76, in the No. 44, too, as both cars began climbing the running order from the beginning of the race. Lapcevich, despite some smoke showing every time he went through Turn 9, managed to pick up a third-place finish, behind GM Paille-sponsored entries Andrew Ranger and Marc-Antoine Camirand.
It’s the first time since Trois-Riviere in 2018 (Alex Labbe) that a driver finished inside the top-three in a NASCAR Canada Series event after starting outside the top-20, and the furthest back a podium-finisher has started in a NASCAR Canada Series event since CTMP in June 2008.
“I had to use it up pretty good coming through the field obviously, but yeah, nothing to hang our heads on,” Lapcevich continued. “I think we put Velocity Race Cars on the map, Glenn Styres Racing on the map now, and the only way to go here is to go do it again here soon.”
The Lapcevichs are a family of hard-nosed, self-made racers who have a pedigree of winning in the NASCAR Canada Series.
Jeff Lapcevich – father to Cayden, Treyten, and Ryden Lapcevich – is a six-time winner in the NASCAR Canada Series, competing in the division (and its predecessor CASCAR) from 2000 to 2015, and returned for a one-off this Summer at Calabogie (where he finished 14th).
Cayden and Treyten Lapcevich are both NASCAR Canada Series champions, and while Ryden Lapcevich did some racing of his own at a young age, the youngest of the three Lapcevich brothers is taking up the shot-calling side of motorsports.
With Cayden, Treyten, and Jeff all active-ish in the NASCAR Canada Series (Treyten last raced in the series in 2023, but now competes in the CARS Tour in the United States), the question on everybody’s mind is: will we ever see them race together?
“I don’t know, that would be pretty cool to see, but I take dibs on my little brother [Ryden Lapcevich] as my crew chief, you know, he called the shots there, he made the adjustments, and he’s amazing. The youngest brother is probably the smartest out of us; I’d take him over anybody probably, right now.”
Nonetheless, Sunday was an impressive performance for a driver who hasn’t raced on a road course in the NASCAR Canada Series in almost a decade, and, with the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series coming back to CTMP in 2027, maybe he learned something that Halmar Friesen Racing can use to build a fast truck next September.
PHOTOS: Damin Sawyer, JosephSrigley.com
