NOTEBOOK: When Finishing Strong, Drivers Put Emphasis On Where They Start
Thompson, CT — Four drivers enter the Sunoco World Series of Speedway Racing in contention for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship, and all four of them turned in stellar qualifying efforts on Saturday as the first step toward finding success on Sunday.
Points leader Bobby Santos, Mike Stefanik, Ron Silk and Ted Christopher were all among the five fastest of the 37 cars in time trials at Thompson International Speedway on Saturday. Santos was the only driver to top the 120-mph barrier on a day when only six cars in the field found times lower than 19 seconds.
“It’s an exciting way to end the year here,” said Santos, who has four wins in his first full season on the Tour. “Hopefully we can have one more good run tomorrow.”
Key to a good finish, he said, is where he starts.
“It’s important to start up front every race,” Santos said. “There’s a lot of competition there… It’s very important to start up front.”
Santos drew the pole position after the traditional redraw of the top six qualifiers. Christopher (fourth in the standings, 113 points behind Santos) will start third Sunday, Stefanik (second, 37 behind) rolls off fourth and Silk (third, 99 behind) sixth.
Stefanik insisted he feels little pressure this weekend, despite owning seven career Whelen Modified Tour titles and nine NASCAR championships overall — including two K&N Pro Series East titles. A 10th championship would give him more than any driver in NASCAR touring history.
“If there’s any pressure, it’s on him,” Stefanik said of Santos. “He’s the one that had the points lead most of the year and has (the lead) to lose. We never even led it.
“I don’t feel any pressure. I know I’m in a points battle — but trust me, this is the least amount of points-battle pressure I have ever felt going into a final race where I have a shot to win a championship.”
Stefanik won Tour championships in 1989, 1991, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2006. He also has a series-high 14 career wins at Thompson — but none since 2006.
HEAD START: Todd Szegedy has already started preparations for 2011.
Szegedy and his team have rolled out a brand new, sparkling white No. 2 Wisk/Snuggle Ford for the World Series of Speedway Racing — taking it to the race track for the second straight outing.
“You’ve got to start sometime. We weren’t in the points anymore, so it was now time to experiment,” Szegedy said. “The best test is a race.”
Szegedy qualified 15th for the season finale. He’s a three-time winner at Thompson.
“The steering is messed up on it. I can’t even make a clear judgment on it,” Szegedy said. “The only thing I do notice (with the new car) is that you control with the throttle a lot more than a chassis car. If you want to make it loose, you make it loose with the throttle. And I notice that it cuts down better and drives off better.
“But with the steering being so messed up, it’s throwing me all off.”
NOTES: Burt Myers, who won the Whelen Southern Modified Tour championship with a win in the season finale at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Thursday, qualified 14th at Thompson. It’s his second visit to the track where he finished 14th in the Tour season opener back in April … James Civali encountered rear end trouble early in practice Saturday morning but recovered to qualify the No. 79 ninth for Sunday’s race … Ron Yuhas Jr. qualified 20th and is the only driver in the 32-car field making his first Tour start of the year … Five drivers did not qualify for the main event — Kevin Goodale, Tony Ferrante Jr., Tom Rogers Jr., Rick Gentes and Joe Hartmann.
Sources: Travis Barrett, Special To NASCARHomeTracks.com