Cayden Lapcevich wasn’t able to defend his Pinty’s Series championship from a season ago, however he did close out his 2017 campaign on a positive note.

Lapcevich overcame problems early in the race and passed Donald Theetge with a bump and run on the final lap to score his sixth career win and third of the season Saturday at Jukasa Motor Speedway.

L.P. Dumoulin came home third with Kevin Lacroix and J.F. Dumoulin completing the top five.

Before Lapcevich caught Theetge to battle for the lead, he and pole winner D.J. Kennington got together on Lap 180 ending the two-time champion’s chance for his first win of the season.

Kennington and Lapcevich and several members of his crew exchanged words and a few shoves after the race in the pits. Theetge also shared his displeasure with the move on the final lap as well at the end of the race.

Labbe entered the night just needing to take the green flag to clinch his first NASCAR Pinty’s Series championship and it was a good thing. He made hard contact with the wall in Turn 2 on Lap 42 forcing him to the pits for repairs.

He finished in 20th-place but still outdistanced Lacroix by 16 points to become the sixth champion in the history of the series.

Alex Tagliani was sixth with Larry Jackson, Donald Chisholm, Noel Dowler and Andrew Ranger completing the top 10.