ROUGH AND TUMBLE: More Bad Luck For Ryan Preece And Ole Blue
Thompson, CT — As the old adage goes, if it weren’t for bad luck NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver Ryan Preece would have no luck at all.
This time the misfortune reared its ugly head Thursday night at Thompson International Speedway, where Preece had charged up to fourth in the Budweiser King of Beers 150 — only to have something short-circuit in the electrical system of his No. 3 Cape Cod Copper/Mizzy Construction Chevrolet. The car affectionately nicknamed “Ole Blue” rolled to a halt on the long Thompson backstretch, finishing Preece’s night.
The final rundown: A 22nd place finish at a track where he finished second to open the current season back in April.
“That’s the third time we’ve had a short this year. It’s getting old real quick. I don’t know what’s going on,” said Preece, who has five finishes of 16th or worse in 10 starts this season — but top-five finishes in each of his other five races. “I’ve had a lot of bad luck. It seems to be my year so far. I don’t know. Hopefully it turns around quick, because I’m getting sick of it, I can tell you that.”
Preece finished 16th last time out at Stafford Motor Speedway, and three weeks ago he finished 22nd at Monadnock Speedway after mechanical issues forced him off track during the pre-race pace laps.
It was more disappointment on Thursday, where Preece started 11th, used an early pit stop for tires to gain track position and was the fastest car on the track as the race neared the 100-lap mark. But on Lap 97, his car shut down as it exited Turn 2.
“We had a great race car tonight. It was just a little free… We’ve had great cars. We’ve just had no luck. That’s it,” Preece said. “Basically, that’s what I’ve been doing (is staying positive). Hopefully, it will turn around.”
Preece is sixth in the standings now, 225 points behind leader Ted Christopher.
PIT STRATEGY: All but six of the leaders opted to pit under a Lap 41 caution flag, but it turned out with a long green-flag run in the midsection of the race to be a dicey proposition.
Bobby Santos finished third after pitting early, while the two cars in front of him at the checkered flag — Christopher and Ron Silk — each waited to pit until Lap 96.
“We had a good car. Those two had better tires than we did at the end, and it makes a difference,” said Santos, who was unable to challenge Christopher and Silk on a green-white-checker finish following a late caution.
“(Car owner Ed Whelan) tells me all the time, ‘Just use your head,’ ” Christopher said of the dash to the end with fresher rubber underneath him. “I’ve been trying to do that the last couple of years. We had a fast car, and we just had to be smart and keep the wheels on it.”
Silk, too, admitted the new tires made a difference, but Santos thought that had a green flag run from Lap 46-94 lasted another 30 laps or so, it would have neutralized the advantage for those pitting late.
“If I had it to do over again, I’d pray that Ryan (Preece) didn’t have that yellow. I would have hoped it would have waited until about 20 to go and then we would have been all set,” Santos said. “(Car owner Bob Garbarino) made a great call, but those guys — the situation just worked out better for them.”
ROOKIE RUMBLINGS: A problem with his battery ended Justin Bonsignore’s promising run early on Thursday at Thompson, but Bonsignore found solace in the fact that he’d spent most of the night inside the top-five before heading behind the wall on Lap 91.
Bonsignore started from the pole after the top-eight qualifiers redrew for starting position.
“We don’t get the finish we feel we deserve, but to run with these guys as a rookie is such an honor. To not be in their way, and they respect you and they wave — it’s nice. It’s a lot of fun,” Bonsignore said. “We’re really worried just about trying to win the Rookie of the Year right now. We’ve kind of fallen in the points, but still overall it’s a great rookie season.
“We’ve run a lot better than we thought we were going to. I’m really happy. I can’t thank my guys enough.”
Bonsignore has one top-five and three top-10 finishes this season. He lost the opportunity for another one on Thursday.
“I was just riding around waiting for a pit stop (under caution), and then I went to jump the clutch to leave the pit stall and the battery was dead. There’s nothing we can do about that,” he said. “It’s been a rough month, trying to shake this bad luck. We’ve had fast cars, but nothing to show for it.”
OF NOTE: Ted Christopher took the points lead with his dominating win and now holds a 14-point advantage over Bobby Santos with four races remaining… Richie Pallai Jr. finished 14th, the last car on the lead lap, and was the highest finishing rookie in the race… Glen Reen finished 10th for his second top-10 of the season in just six starts.
Sources: Travis Barrett, Special to NASCARHomeTracks.com