Chew Set to Join Whelen Modified Tour
Former K&N Pro Series East Driver Coming to Open-Wheel Racing
Daytona Beach, FL — A former competitor in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, Bryon Chew will trade fenders for nerf bars and compete full-time in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour starting in 2011.
Chew, from Mattituck on New York’s Long Island, made 129 starts in the K&N Pro Series East from 1999-2008. His stint in the series was highlighted by a win at Holland (N.Y.) NASCAR Motorsports Complex in 2006 and a pair of poles, the first at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway in 2004, and the second at Adirondack International Speedway in Lowville, N.Y., during the 2008 campaign.
His best season in the K&N Pro Series East came in 2006 when he recorded the Holland win, seven top fives and 10 top 10s in 11 races to finish third in points.
Chew has been a longtime admirer of open-wheel Modified racing. After sitting out the 2009 racing season, Chew got behind the wheel of a Modified for the first time in 2010 and ran approximately 10 races in different divisions in upstate New York and in New England.
“I’ve always had a passion to run the Modified Tour,” Chew said. “We just decided with the professionalism of the Whelen Modified Tour and the people who drive in it, I wanted to be a competitor in it.”
Chew serves as general manager of the family business, Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac on Long Island. The dealership has a storied history with Modified racing in the northeast as a former sponsor for drivers Tom Baldwin, Charlie Jarzombek, and Greg Sacks.
Chew will pilot the No. 88 GT Vodka/Buzz Chew Chevrolet – with a Troyer chassis – on the Whelen Modified Tour in 2011 with his father, Buzz, the car owner and Ron Ste-Marie the crew chief.
The 2011 Whelen Modified Tour season will begin with the Icebreaker at Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway, April 9-10.
Sources: Jason Cunningham, NASCAR WMT PR