Stafford Start & Park
This past weekend NASCAR’s Whelen Modified Tour returned to Stafford Motor Speedway (Stafford Springs, CT) for the running of the 37th annual Carquest Fall Final.
Despite persistent rain showers on Saturday, the WMT hit the track for a few rounds of practice. And, despite posting the 10th fastest practice time during the brief session, the No. 90 car unexpectedly developed a problem under the hood.
After weighing all their options, the team principals decided to take a provisional starting position into Sunday’s field – then do a ‘start and park’ during the race.
“After putting our heads together we came up with a few options, but realistically none of them were any good,” said Renee. “We opted for a ‘start and park’ because we just can’t take the chance of hurting this engine. Looking at the big picture, basically we sacrificed Stafford so we could have the engine back together in time for the season-ending race at Thompson.”
As Renee stated, next up on the WMT’s schedule is Thompson International Speedway’s annual World Series of Speedway Racing. The three-day event – featuring 14 different divisions – will run on October 16-18.
Return to NHMS Nets Improvement
NASCAR’s Whelen Modified Tour made the second of two stops to New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Loudon, NH) on Saturday, September 19th. The 100-lap race aired from 1-2:30 PM on SPEED (garnering a .5 rating; meaning 349,000 total households – or 442,000 viewers – tuned in).
A field of 40 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour cars take the green at NHMS. Dupuis Photo.
Long before the cameras rolled, after arriving at the Speedway on Wednesday evening, for the WMT faithful, the extended event began at the crack of dawn on Thursday; after registration and inspection, an early afternoon practice session was followed by qualifying. In the end, Renee qualified the No. 90 UNION Insurance Group/SpaceFitters Chevrolet to the 17th position (in total, 40 cars participated in time trials).
With no WMT activity scheduled for Friday, the team returned to the track on Saturday – for an 8:30 AM practice and 12:45 PM green flag. The No. 90 machine started the caution-filled race from the inside of the ninth row. When the caution flew on lap 35, the No. 90 was scored in the 13th position. On lap 50, when some of the leaders pitted, they restarted from the 9th spot.
“After the caution we started to get loose and began dropping like a stone,” explained Renee. “There had been so many cautions, I figured we would quickly catch another and pit for tires. However, the race went green for 20 laps.”
When the caution finally flew on lap 70 the team brought the No. 90 car into the pits for a three tire change and fuel. During the caution just a few cars pitted so, despite a great stop by the pit crew, the car returned to the track all the way back in the 28th position.
The crew enjoyed a traditional New England treat - courtesy of Crew Chief Jason and City Fish (Wethersfield, CT) - on Friday.
“Donnie (Clifford – the team’s tire expert) came across the radio and told me that – with just 8½ pounds in the left rear – we clearly had a tire going down. As a result, the stagger had drastically opened up to 4¼ inches. I guess we got lucky because, in my opinion, losing a tire here would be catastrophic. Regardless, the 4¼ inches made it pretty clear why we had gotten so loose.”
With their problem solved, Renee began to pick off spots and by the time the caution waved again on lap 87 she had made it back to the 16th position. When the checkered flag was unfurled Ronnie Silk was credited with the win, with Renee crossing the line 14th.
“There were three or four really big wrecks that happened right in front of us today and I have to hand it to Brian (Kingsbury – the team’s spotter) – for keeping us out of those accidents. I had a pretty good seat to see all the action, but I’m looking forward to watching the SPEED coverage to see just how close some of those actually were.”
While the WMT will next be in action at Martinsville Speedway (Martinsville, VA) on Sunday, September 27, the No. 90 team will return to action on Sunday, October 4 for Stafford Motor Speedway’s (Stafford Springs, CT) annual Fall Final event.
In the meantime, please be sure to visit our gallery for photos from the New Hampshire event.
SPEED to Televise New Hampshire Event
When the Whelen Modified Tour returns to New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Loudon, NH), on Saturday, September 19th, the cameras from SPEED will again be rolling.
SPEED will air the race from the ‘Magic Mile’ on a slight tape-delay. The race, which is scheduled to go green at 12:50 PM, will air at 1:30 PM – with the ever-knowledgeable Mike Joy and Dick Berggren calling the action from the NHMS booth.
For those that can’t make it to the track, SPEED will provide an excellent opportunity for viewers to catch all the action from the always entertaining race.