Rudolph Achieves Career-Best Finish in NASCAR Tour Finale
Lockport, NY — The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour brought down the curtain on their 2008 season last Sunday afternoon with the 2008 Fall Final at Thompson International Speedway in Connecticut. Ransomville, New York driver Erick Rudolph and the DeLange Racing team persevered to garner a fifth place finish, their best-ever result on the premier Modified series.
Rudolph battled an ill-handling car in the initial stages of the race. The team made the decision to pit early to fine-tune the set-up on the #45 Original Pizza Logs/PrimeTyme Motorsports/Brigham Concrete machine, and then fell in at the rear of the field. From that point the talented 16-year-old driver used a blend of patience and power to steadily work his way forward. At the checkered flag he crossed the finish line in fifth place, ending his rookie Tour season with his peak performance.
“At the beginning of the race we didn’t like how the car was handling,” explained Rudolph. “We pitted early to make some adjustments, figuring we would have enough laps left to get to the front. After that the car was where it needed to be to go the distance. My style is usually not to be aggressive so the car stayed good the rest of the race. Most of the other cars still had to pit so I didn’t have to pass my way to the front to gain track position. The restarts didn’t help us because it took a couple of laps for my car to get going, but the longer stretches of green flag racing worked to our advantage. I think if it had stayed green at the end of the race we could have gained another position or two, but we’re happy with our finish today.”
The DeLange team was very pleased with their season Tour results. Erick was named the Sunoco Rookie of the Race at the Fall Final, his sixth such award on the 2008 Tour schedule in nine races. He ended the season with five top-ten finishes, including his last four starts on the foremost Modified series. It will give the DeLange team and their exceptional young driver a boost over the winter as they prepare to run the full NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule in 2009.
One race remains of the 2008 DeLange Racing calendar. They will compete in the Sixth Annual John Blewett III Memorial North-South Shootout at Concord Motorsport Park in Concord, North Carolina on November 7-8.
Sources: Bruce Boucher/DeLange Racing PR