Davey Segal | NASCAR

Coming in with the most starts out of anybody in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series field at Delaware Speedway, DJ Kennington used his experience to earn his fourth victory at the track, thanks to a bump-and-run on Tretyen Lapcevich on the final lap.

It was Kennington and Lapcevich battling all night long, as the two traded the lead several times before a caution with 10 laps remaining set up what was a restart for the ages.

Lapcevich’s No. 20 cleared Kennington’s No. 17 for the lead with five laps to go, but the two-time series champion stayed close and set himself up for the race-winning move.

Entering Turns 3 and 4 coming to the checkered flag, Kennington drove it in deep, nudged Lapcevich in the right rear quarter panel out of the groove and drove on to collect his first checkered flag of the season and 22nd of his Pinty’s Series career.

Lapcevich, who led more than half the race from the pole, was none too pleased with the move, calling it “an act of desperation.”

He also needed to be restrained by series officials as Kennington pulled into Victory Lane, and then visited with the winner as the two exchanged words.

Per Lapcevich’s Twitter post-race, the move may have had to do with his brother Cayden, who had multiple run-ins with Kennington over the years. But Kennington was having none of it, playing good cop and complimenting the youngster’s skillset.

The win marks Kennington’s third top-five finish of the season (second in a row) in the series’ first race at Delaware since 2017. The win also brings his average finish over seven races at the Ontario oval to a staggering 2.0, which should bode well for Sunday’s doubleheader.

Lapcevich, Andrew Ranger, Kevin Lacroix and Cole Powell completed the top five finishers, with Shae Gemmell, Alex Guenette, L.P. Dumoulin, and x rounding out the top 10.

By virtue of his eighth-place run, Dumoulin shaved off six points to Tagliani, putting him only five markers behind the Montreal, Quebec native with two races to go in the season, both coming in a matter of days. Andrew Ranger sits third, 25-points back should catastrophe strike.

The NASCAR Pinty’s Series will conclude the 2021 season on Sunday (September 26) with two more races at Delaware Speedway at 3:55 pm and 5:20 pm (approximately), respectively.