Dylan Kopec Hopes to Continue Winning Ways at Stafford After White Hot Start to 2012 SK Light Season
Stafford Springs, CT — The 2012 SK Light Modified season at Stafford Motor Speedway has been a dream ride thusfar for Dylan Kopec and his #66 Kopec’s Auto & Truck Service team. They opened the 2012 season with a victory in the CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler and have followed up that victory with wins in two of the next three races to put themselves into a tie with Zach Aszklar in the SK Light points standings heading into this Friday night’s USG Event Night program.
After a 2011 rookie season in which Kopec was only able to post 4 top-10 finishes with a best finish of 6th, the white hot start to his 2012 season comes as a complete surprise to Kopec.
“This season has been more of a surprise than anything,” said Kopec. “We came into the year wanting to make it better than last year and that first win at the Sizzler was a big boost and we’ve kept going from there. I was expecting to just finish races this year and keep the car in one piece. It’s wicked cool to have three out of four so far. You know it’s a big confidence boost at that point, you don’t want it to be one win at the beginning of the year and one win at the end of the year. If you win two in a row, the goal is to win three in a row, it’s a big confidence boost and it brings your self-esteem up a ton. The guys on the team are always smiling but they still pick on me.”
So how does a driver go from a rookie season with no top-5 finishes to his second season winning three out of the first four races? Kopec says that it all comes down to patience and experience.
“I think it’s mostly what I’ve learned from last year and I’ve put it all together this year,” said Kopec. “Patience is the key with getting up front this year. We took all of our notes from last year to help the car run better and we worked on the car all winter long. We changed the body, made it look a little bit cooler, but it’s the same car as last year.”
As good as Kopec’s start to the 2012 season has been, he is currently tied for the points lead with Zach Aszklar. Kopec is hopeful that he and his team can continue their run of good fortune and worry about the points in the final stretches of the season.
“I’m hoping it continues to go good, but anything can happen,” said Kopec. “I’d like to see some more wins this year. It’s a team effort and if we’re both on our game hopefully we can get some more wins. It’s still pretty early in the year to be looking at points, we could still have a bunch of bad weeks. We just need to finish races. That 8th place finish killed me, but you win some and you lose some. It’s pretty close right now but we just need to keep finishing races and getting good finishes.”
In order to keep on getting good finishes this season, Kopec will have to come from the back of the pack with Stafford’s handicapping system in qualifying. But Kopec prefers to be at the back of the pack, and when the driver is happy, good things usually happen.
“Myself personally I hate starting up front,” said Kopec. “It’s a lot of pressure and I’m not the best at restarts and shifting and all that. When you start in the back, you can make your way up and it shows how much you have compared to everyone else and you can work on that. You can tell how much you had in the race and you can fix the car. The only thing you worry about staring in the back is missing the wrecks. I have a great crew with Rico Mariani, Pops Kopec, Mickey Krol, Shawn Kopec, Johnny Kopec, Chris Kopec, Paul and his son Kyle Schlesinger, Trey St. Louis, Michael Forcier. If I forgot anyone, I’m sure I’ll hear about it, and we have great support from Kopec’s Auto & Truck Service, Ceric Fabrication, TR Stone Trucking, Hamm’s Welding, Astronaut Pizza, R.A.D. Automachine, and Northeast Racecars.”
Should the dream ride continue for Kopec during the 2012 season, he will be among the championship contenders towards the end of the season. But in order to keep winning races, Kopec will have to best a field of drivers who are hungry to get a taste of the success that Kopec has enjoyed thusfar.
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