POINTED REMARKS: Complexion Of Tour Standings Changes After Town Fair Tire 150
Stafford, CT — When the dust settled on the Town Fair Tire 150 at Stafford Motor Speedway Friday night, neither of the series’ top two drivers found any cause for celebration — despite a dramatic change atop the Whelen Modified Tour standings.
Ted Christopher’s fifth-place finish, coupled with leader Bobby Santos’ early exit from the event, slashed Christopher’s deficit to a mere six points with five races remaining.
That 61-point swing meant little to Christopher, however.
“I’d have to say it was probably a good points day, though… But we’ve still got five more races left,” Christopher shrugged. “(I’m frustrated) because I didn’t win.”
That’s not surprising at all for Christopher, the 2008 Modified Tour champion, who has 108 career victories at Stafford Motor Speedway — including 10 Tour victories and 91 SK Modified wins.
“We just were a little too loose,” Christopher said of his night. “It got really, really tight entering (the corners) about 20 laps into that first run. I didn’t know if it was a flat tire or what, so we came in and the stagger was down some — so we increased it but we should have put wedge to it, too, to help it up off (the corners).
“The last 40 laps I drove my (butt) off. Oh my god, I was so loose.”
It was equally unsurprising for Santos to be at a loss for words. Santos qualified outside the top-10 for the second straight week in 14th, spun twice and then retired after just 100 laps with engine woes. He finished 23rd.
“I don’t know,” Santos said, pausing and trying to find words to express his emotions. “A rough night — and topped it off with a motor problem. Not very good.
“I’m just disappointed we didn’t run the way we were (before). It’s just everything. It’s frustrating.”
Santos’ struggles in the No. 4, though, did more than just open the door for Christopher to take the lead from him as early as next week at Thompson — but it also gave second-place finisher Mike Stefanik hope that an eighth Tour championship could be in reach.
Stefanik moved, unofficially, to just 56 points behind Santos for the lead. Race winner Todd Szegedy closed to 83 points out of the lead, bunching the top-4 in the standings all to within 100 points.
STREAKING: Coors Light Pole Award winner Ron Silk finished third for his fifth straight top-5 finish, a streak dating back to his fifth-place run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June. It was also Silk’s fourth-straight third-place finish — and it comes on the heels of three straight finishes of 13th or worse from April 25-June 6.
“I mean, we could have won a couple races in the beginning of the year and just had some bad luck,” Silk said. “I think this is really an indication of where this car should be running all the time. We’ll keep plugging away.”
But there is a small bit of frustration starting to set in.
“It’s good to keep finishing third, I guess, but when you keep finishing that close to the front, you want to get a win,” said Silk, who has four career Tour wins. “Hopefully next week at Thompson, we can work on getting one.”
LONG MEMORY: Szegedy snapped a nearly two-year winless stretch on the Whelen Modified Tour, something he didn’t forget as the laps counted down and he extended his lead over Stefanik and Silk.
Even when his spotter told him he had a “six-car” length lead, Szegedy kept pressing.
“I looked in my mirror and didn’t see anybody. I thought, ‘Man, that’s a long six cars,'” said Szegedy, whose margin of victory was nearly three full seconds — far more than six car lengths on the half-mile track. “But you know what? I’ve lost races with a car tailing me like that.
“I lost a race back to Jerry Marquis (in 2003) with a lapped car on the final lap. I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I wanted to catch the car in front of me, get by and get going.”
Szegedy said that not winning became in and of itself a powerful motivator.
“You know, it gives you motivation when you lose so much. It wears on you big-time,” the 2003 Tour champion with 14 career victories. “You think you go home and it doesn’t bother you (but) it does. It affects your job, because you go to work and you think about it all the time. When you lose, it’s horrible.
“To win, this is awesome.”
NOTES: Michael Speeney made his Whelen Modified Tour debut and finished 19th after starting shotgun on the 30-car field … Eric Goodale started 21st and rallied to finish seventh for the second consecutive event … Richie Pallai Jr. finished 11th as the top-finishing rookie … There was one red flag period for clean up on Lap 100 that lasted 11 minutes.
Sources: Travis Barrett/NASCARHomeTracks.com