Toronto, Ontario – The 2014 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series season launched over the weekend with The Pinty's Clarington 200, the feature event of The Victoria Day Speed-Fest presented by Castrol, at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Toronto.

 

Taking over driver duties for Canadian IndyCar/NASCAR and SportsCar racer, race winner and Indianapolis 500 pole sitter Alex Tagliani of Montreal, rising Edmonton Alberta star Stefan Rzadzinski had a solid debut in the Tagliani Autosport entry.

 

Stefan drove for "Tag" in the Team EpiPen/Dicom Express # 18 Tagliani Autosport Dodge Challenger, while Tagliani was qualifying for the 98th running of The Indianapolis 500, putting The # 68 SFHR/RW Dallara/Honda IndyCar for Sarah Fisher-Hartman Racing on the outside of row eight.

At CTMP, qualifying 11th, just 8/10th's off the pole, Rzadzinski was on the move soon after the green flag. By lap 5 he had improved to 10th and settled in with a calculated, patient attack. Through a series of cautions and pit stops, Stefan had battled up to 5th place by lap 45 when an extended red flag to clean up oil on the track halted the race.

 

The red flag proved to be a very costly break in momentum.

 

Once back underway, Rzadzinski lost several positions when he was punted off-course in the final turn of the final lap in a green-white-checker finish, but brought The Team EpiPen/Dicom Express # 18 home 13th in the 51 lap, 125 mile battle on the iconic road course.

 

"It has been an interesting day at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park," said the rookie Rzadzinski. "I had an awesome time in the EpiPen/Dicom Express Dodge. We had a great run going as the team had given me a great car. I did all I could on track and I was right up there in the top five most of the race. Unfortunately on the very last lap, we had a race incident that pushed us down the field. I am lucky for this opportunity, and I am hoping to get back in the car soon."

 

The Pinty's presents the Clarington 200 will air on TSN on Sunday, May 25 at 12:30 p.m. ET.

 

The next event for the NCATS is slated for June 14th at Autodrome Chaudière, Vallée-Jonction Quebec. It's expected Alex Tagliani will be in the seat for the night race on the .25 mile oval.

 

Partnering with Alex in the new Tagliani Autosport venture is long time friend and business associate Colin Livingston, President of CanTorque Incorporated of Edmonton Alberta.

 

Tagliani's NCATS entry is in partnership as brand ambassador with Pfizer Canada Inc., the Canadian distributor of The EpiPen® epinephrine auto-injector. Alex himself lives and races with a severe allergy to nuts, and carries the allergy awareness/Pfizer/EpiPen message across Canada through his NCATS racing program.

 

With the goal of getting school children actively involved with Team EpiPen, Tagliani's "Summer of Tag" school visits coincided with the launch of his Race Car Design Contest and the second edition of the Helmet Design contest. The winning students in each contest receive tickets to a local race, while the helmet with the winning design will be auctioned off at the end of the season to raise funds for Anaphylaxis Canada.

 

To raise additional funds for Anaphylaxis Canada, The Tagliani Foundation is staging a Golf Classic and Gala at Celine's Le Mirage in Montreal September 30th. For more information on the Foundation: TaglianiFoundation.org

 

Fans are invited to follow Alex and The Tagliani Autosport Team on Facebook and Twitter all season long: Summeroftag.com Tagliani.com TaglianiAutosport.com

 

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series is the only national racing sanction/series in Canada with eleven events from Edmonton, AB to Antigonish, NS from May to September. They race on road courses, street circuits and oval tracks. For more information on the 2014 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, visit: NASCARHometracks.com