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  • Doug Coby Wins Whelen Modified Race and Sets Sights on Repeat Championship

    Doug Coby Wins Whelen Modified Race and Sets Sights on Repeat Championship

    In a race where the lead changes were frenetic, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, Doug Coby, driver of the No. 52 Furnace & Duct Supply/Seekonk Grand Prix Chevrolet, made the pass when it counted most and took the checkered flag in the Town Fair 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

    Although the reigning champ, this was Coby’s first win of the season, his second New Hampshire victory and his eighth career Modified Tour Victory. And after sitting out the last race at Riverhead Raceway due to a qualifying wreck, he is back in championship contention, hoping for a repeat performance.

    “It’s really neat to be in Victory Lane here,” Coby said. “I’ve been really close a lot of times.”

    Coby has most certainly done his homework on New Hampshire Motor Speedway, including trying to plot out the best strategy to get him into the winner’s circle.

    “I’ve really studied the draft here and watched a lot of video when I missed a win or an opportunity to finish in the top-five,” Coby said. “It’s not going to happen all the time but I feel that I have a great understanding of where I need to be positioned at the end of the race.”

    “And it’s just a matter if I can get there,” Coby continued. “Both wins, I wanted to be running second on the last lap because I think that’s the best place to be to get a win here.”

    “It just so happens that we had a caution and we won last race in September here and I think the 3 and the 16 running side by side gave me an opportunity to start moving my car around and not giving them a chance to get a good draft on me,” Coby said. “There were about four lapped cars as well that I could use their air to pull me forward.”

    “Then it was just crazy and chaotic because you’re listening to your spotter and looking everywhere and thinking to yourself, am I doing the right thing?” Coby continued. “I’m coming to the white flag and saying I’m not going to win this thing.”

    “ So, just one of those deals where I don’t know how the heck it happens but you’re in.”

    Coby’s victory was especially sweet after having wrecked out of the race at Riverhead the previous race weekend. The driver of the No. 52 actually had to sit on the sidelines and watch as he had no backup car available to him.

    “We didn’t come here with Riverhead on our minds,” Coby said. “We came here with defending our race win at Loudon on our minds.”

    “I knew in practice that we have every bit as good of a car that we had in September,” Coby continued. “So, that gave me a little extra confidence.”

    Coby also hopes that his win, along with the Modifieds being on one of the biggest stages at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, will call more attention to the series. He said that the Whelen Tour has the best combination of drivers of all different ages and capabilities.

    “Loudon’s still the biggest race on the schedule in terms of putting the Modifieds out in front of the public,” Coby said. “I hope when I win and get to do interviews, that it makes other people interested  in seeing the Modifieds and learning more about our drivers and the personalities that we have.”

    “Teddy (Christopher) is in his 50’s, I’m in my 30’s and Ryan (Preece) is 22 and that’s who was battling for the win out there,” Coby said. “I think that says something about the skill level and our series and for Ryan, the maturity that he possesses and of course Ted, the knowledge that he has.”

    “And I guess I’m somewhere in the middle.”

    While Coby does have thoughts of the championship repeat on his mind, he acknowledged that he and his team have work to do to be able to truly compete.

    “I think we have a way to go before I assess the championship fully,” Coby said. “I have to get through the August Bristol race.”

    “If you’re anywhere in an arm’s length distance of the championship, then you still have a shot.”

    Coby assessed the championship competition and shared his opinion that young driver Ryan Preece is the one to beat for that honor.

    “Obviously the 16 team of Ryan Preece has it going on this year,” Coby said. “They changed a motor this week and he went out and led most of the second half of the race.”

    “Ryan is the strongest competitor hands down,” Coby continued. “But there are eight of us out there really and it’s the same eight cars battling for the top spots.”

    “For us, it’s a matter of getting back to where we’re at,” Coby said. “We won the championship last year for a reason and we’re in Loudon victory lane for a reason.”

    “We’re coming back and we’re not going to let it be easy on anybody.”

    Coby also gave a nod to another Ryan in the field, Cup competitor Ryan Newman, who finished fifth in his No. 7 Menards/Wix Filters Chevrolet.

    “Ryan Newman did not time trial well but then Ryan Newman blew right by me before the break,” Coby said. “Obviously they have tremendous equipment and he is a Cup driver so he knows what he’s doing here.”

    “It’s great to have him in our field,” Coby continued. “They take it very serious and want to win races.”

    “And I’m sure they’re just as unhappy as every other Modified team that didn’t win today.”

    Ted Christopher, veteran driver of the No. 3 Silver Dollar Construction/Cape Cod Copper Chevrolet, came in second and Ryan Preece, who was also making his debut in the Nationwide race, finished third in his No. 16 East West Marine/Diversified Metals Ford.

    “Our cars usually do put on a show,” Christopher said. “Just came up a little short.”

    “Really want to thank the guys for giving me a car capable to win here in a bunch of years,” Christopher continued. “The last cautions just brought everybody closer but it was the three of us at the end.”

    “Anytime you have a day where you can take the car off the trailer, run up front and lead laps is a good day,” Preece said. “We had a head gasket that went in practice, so we had to swap motors.”

    “For them to put that back up motor and time trial twelfth, I knew we had a good race car,” Preece continued. “We were fourth on that restart and then made our way up front in the top three.”

    “It’s great to be a part of this team and I’m looking forward to running 200 laps in that Nationwide race.”

    Andy Seuss and Ryan Newman rounded out the top five and Woody Pitkat, Eric Berndt, Chuck Hossfeld, Richie Pallai Jr., and Jamie Tomaino completed the top-10 finishers in the Town Fair Tire 100.

     

  • Mike Stefanik Wins by Narrowest of Margins in NASCAR Whelen Modified Race

    [media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]While it was almost too close to call, veteran NASCAR Whelen Modified racer Mike Stefanik took the checkered flag in the Town Fair Tire 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

    Stefanik, in the No. 66 Canto & Sons Paving/Robert B. Our Co. Ford, scored his 72nd career win over competitor Ron Silk by just 0.003 seconds. He is the sole leader with Modified victories at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with eight, including two of the last three.

    “Believe it or not, I came out of Turn 4 and I thought this was going to be tight,” Stefanik said. “I actually physically sat up in the seat as much as I could and peered over the front of the car and rolled my eyes to see which bumper was ahead.”

    “I just wanted to win after such a hard fought battle,” Stefanik continued. “You hate to give them away because they don’t come often enough.”

    For Stefanik, this was indeed the closest finish of his long and storied career. And he made clear that he never tires of that winning feeling.

    “I’ve lost them, but not by that little bit,” Stefanik said. “Literally, I was looking across the cars to see which one was ahead. I’ve never done before that in my 36 years of racing.”

    “This feeling I have today never gets old,” Stefanik said. “I’m 54 years old and I still feel like I’m 21.”

    Stefanik has also been very good at the ‘Magic Mile’, a track that he has raced since the days of the Busch North Series. And his magic recipe for winning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is fairly simple.

    “Put yourself in real good equipment, surround yourself with smart people, that’s A-1 because you can’t do it with a slug,” Stefanik said. “I like to overdrive the entry in this type of format and have a ballet-type perfect balance.”

    “It’s just a style of racing that I picked up on in the 90s and I don’t care if you win practice or where you start, just give me that nice set the tires down in the corner and some steam under the hood and we’ll be all set.”

    Stefanik’s prime competitor was Ron Silk, who finished that very close second in his No. 6 Reynolds Auto Wrecking/Schnitzer race car.

    “It was a lot of fun,” Silk said. “Whenever you get in the lead draft at New Hampshire, crazy stuff is happening the whole time.”

    “I don’t know what it looked like but it was a lot of fun in the car,” Silk continued. “Mike did an awesome job.”

    “I ran him up and he was able to hang onto it and beat me back to the line,” Silk said. “Congratulations to him.”

    This was also the closest finish that Silk has seen in his racing career. In fact, he was not sure even at the end of the race who won.

    “If it was 0.003 of a second, I’d say it was the closest finish I’ve been involved in,” Silk said. “But it sucks being on the wrong end of it I can tell you that.”

    The driver of the No. 52 Reynolds Auto Wrecking/Furnace & Duct race car, Doug Coby finished third. And he had to overcome quite a bit of adversity to achieve his best career finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

    “My race was a little different than Ron’s because I pitted four times before the break, “ Coby said. “We were just struggling on that Nationwide rubber and Cup rubber really bad.”

    “We made the right adjustments at the break,” Coby continued. “We tried to make some smart moves at the end and ended up third.”

    “It feels awesome.”

    Eric Beers, piloting the No. 45 Horwith Freightliner/John Blewett, inc., and Todd Szegedy, driving the No. 2 Dunleavy Repair/A&J Romano Construction Ford, rounded out the top five finishers in the Modified Tour.

    Cup driver Ryan Newman, behind the wheel of the No. 7 Menards/Aggressive Hydraulics, finished 30th after a tire problem ended his promising run.

  • Ryan Newman Works Magic for Third Consecutive Whelen Modified Series Win

    Ryan Newman worked his magic at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway by winning his third consecutive Whelen Modified race. And Newman did so in style, taking the No. 7 Aggressive Hydraulics/Menards Chevrolet from the pole position to victory lane in the F.W. Webb 100.

    [media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”213″][/media-credit]This was Newman’s 8th career Modified Series start and his 4th career win. Three of those victories have come consecutively at the New Hampshire track known as the ‘Magic Mile.’

    “We had a really good car today and I’m proud of this team,” Newman said, holding his daughter in Victory Lane. “We didn’t know what was going to happen if a yellow came out. But it all worked out.”

    “I didn’t really know what to expect with the race and how it was going to unfold,” Newman said. “Typically we have multiple cautions here.”

    “Our car was really loose and I really had to manage the steering wheel,” Newman continued. “It seemed like the track wasn’t like it was in practice and we struggled a little bit with that part.”

    “We were the tightest of the loose guys and that was all it took,” Newman said. “We had a lot of fun.”

    Kevin ‘Bono’ Manion, Newman’s team owner and crew chief, echoed his driver’s thoughts on the historic win.

    “It’s really special,” Manion said. “We won here as a team in the early 90’s and as a kid to come up and race with the Cup guys was really cool.”

    “So, to come back here and learning the aspects of owning a car, it’s really special.”

    Newman and Bono both reiterated their desire to see more Cup and Whelen Modified race combination dates, naming Richmond, Phoenix and Martinsville as just a few possibilities.

    “The one mile tracks for sure fit this car,” Manion said. “I think Richmond would be an incredible Modified track. This is a great Series and they put on a great race.”

    “We just like it when it’s convenient,” Newman said. “And at the same time, it’s good for NASCAR Whelen Modified Racing to have quite a few people sitting in the grandstands. So, it works out good.”

    Runner up Todd Szegedy, driver of the No. 2 Wisk Detergent/A&J Romano Construction Ford, secured his fourth top-five finish in six races of the 2011 season.

    “Second to me was kind of a win,” Szegedy said. “We beat all the regulars.”

    “We’ve had some bad luck here for the last three or four races so this was definitely a good run,” Szegedy continued. “We had a great car.”

    “At the end, I went into fuel conservation mode, so I started backing out of it a little bit,” Szegedy said. “I could run up on Ryan a little bit but I’d get free off so I never could make a good move on him.”

    “Ryan made it interesting,” Szegedy continued. “So, good for him anyways.”

    “I think we’ve got some work to do,” Szegedy said. “We’ve got to drive the track different and set the car up different. He’s not unbeatable. We’ll just have to work harder.”

    Ron Silk, driver of the No. 6 T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet, scored the third position. This was Silk’s fourth podium finish in six races this year.

    “I was surprised how long it went green,” Silk said. “All my guys did a great job all weekend and we made about a thousand adjustments since we got here.”

    “I got a little bit close to Newman on the last lap but I just got up in the loose stuff,” Silk continued. “And once you get up there, you just can’t get out.”

    Matt Hirschman, driving the No. 3 Cape Cod Copper/Riverview Chevrolet, finished fourth. And Doug Coby, behind the wheel of the No. 52 Reynolds Auto Wrecking Chevrolet, rounded out the top five.