Richie Pallai, Jr. Looks for Repeat of Spring Sizzler Success at CARQUEST Fall Final with Whelen Mod Tour Debut and SK Mod® Victory
Stafford Springs, CT — As the 2009 season draws to a close this weekend at Stafford Motor Speedway with the 37th Annual CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend, SK Modified® competitor Richie Pallai, Jr. will be looking to end his season with a repeat performance of the season opening CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler. Pallai will attempt to make his Whelen Modified Tour debut while at the same time trying to bookend his SK Modified® season with a victory.
In May, Pallai attempted to qualify a car owned by Mike Smeriglio, III, who owns Todd Szegedy’s car, and he came up .004 seconds short of making the field. Pallai will debut his family owned car for this weekend’s CARQUEST Fall Final, and he feels confident about his chances of putting the car in the field and racing well.
“May was the first time I had ever time trialed, and we missed by .004 seconds, so I feel pretty confident this time around,” said Pallai. “The May deal was a Mike Smeriglio owned car and this time around is our own equipment, so I think there’s a comfort level that I have with this car that I didn’t have in May. I definitely have to thank Mike for the opportunity that he gave me to drive one of his cars.”
Pallai and his team tested their car a little over a week ago, and according to Pallai, all systems were go.
“The test went awesome, the car was fast right off the truck,” said Pallai. “We did a mock time trial run and we ran fast enough to have made the show in August, so we’re feeling pretty good about our chances. Dennis Pruchnik has come on board as the crew chief, and we have the same Billy the Kid engines that Eric Rudolph runs in his car, so we have good equipment, and we’re looking forward to the race. I think that a top-15 finish would be a realistic goal for us, but with what we have, there is no reason why we can’t get a top-10 finish. We just have to be consistent, be smart, and hopefully things will fall into place for us this weekend.”
In addition to his Whelen Modified Tour duties, Pallai will also be part of the SK Modified® field, where he will look to pick up a second victory for 2009 and bookend his season opening Tech-Net Spring Sizzler feature victory. Pallai found tough sledding after his season opening win, but he and his team have turned their 2009 season around with top-10 runs in 7 of the last 9 SK Modified® feature events to climb up to 9th place in the points standings heading into this weekend.
“Another win this weekend would be great,” said Pallai. “At the beginning of the year, we tried a little something different with the suspension. We ultimately went back to our Sizzler setup and we’ve been making small changes to the car week by week and we’re getting faster. My chemistry with my crew chief Chuck Madigan is getting better, and I can make suggestions on what to do to the car for the setup. I want to be able to win for my dad and Chuck. They work on the car all week and it would great to be able to get another win for them to reward them for their hard work this year. I think that if we can run a full season like we’ve been able to run these last couple of weeks that we can contend for a championship.”
Pallai’s busy weekend gets started with NASCAR Whelen All-American Series practice on Friday, October 2nd from 2:00 to 6:30pm. The general admission grandstands will be open the public at no charge for the Friday practice session.
Pallai’s weekend continues Saturday, October 3rd with practice sessions for the Whelen Modified Tour and SK Modified® division at 10:00am, followed by Tour time trials at 1:30pm and heat races for the SK Modified® car at 2:30pm.
The weekend concludes Sunday, October 4th with the CARQUEST Belts & Hose Pit Party from 11:00am-noon with feature racing starting at 1:00pm.
Tickets for the 37th Annual CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend are now on sale at the Stafford Motor Speedway Box Office. Tickets are priced at $35.00 for adult general admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, $38.00 for reserved seats, and free for children ages 5 & under. Tickets are good for admission to the Saturday, October 3, and Sunday, October 4 portions of the Fall Final. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers plenty of free parking with overnight weekend parking available.
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.
Sources:Scott Running/Stafford Motor Speedway PR