NOTEBOOK: Strategy Yields Sizzling Finish
Varied Pit Work Helps Get Drivers To Podium
STAFFORD, Conn. – After winning his ninth career Coors Light Pole Award on Saturday afternoon, Bobby Santos said that track position was more crucial at Stafford Motor Speedway than it is anywhere else on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule.
And after leading a whopping 197 of 200 laps in the CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler 200 on Sunday afternoon at the half-mile oval, Santos proved his point. Even over a handful of restarts in the final quarter of the event, Santos was able to steer away from trouble and win virtually unchallenged.
But he also made quick note that there was cause for concern on restarts.
“On those restarts, anything can happen. Especially with Ryan (Preece) outside of me, you don’t really want him out there. Anything can happen with him,” Santos said. “I think the biggest thing is just the equipment. I’m lucky to have really good equipment I’m driving.”
For others further back in the Top-10, namely runner-up Justin Bonsignore and third-place finish Ted Christopher – the all-time winningest Whelen Modified Tour driver in Spring Sizzler history with five victories – the restarts proved crucial to correctly playing their hand in the pit strategy game.
With passing so hard to complete on the track, gambling on when to make tire stops became especially significant.
“I would have liked to have pitted early (in the race), just for an adjustment,” said Bonsignore, who started 14th in the 26-car field. “But we had already gotten to like eighth or ninth early on, and you don’t want to give up the seven or eight spots that you already got to start the race. You’ve kind of got to do what the leader does when you’re in that realm.
“Santos was a little bit better than everybody, but even if he got off strategy, you’re not going to just drive through the field. Once you drive to the front, it’s pretty much going to level out. At a track like this, yeah, it’s definitely tough to go off strategy.”
Christopher, however, has made a habit – and a profitable one, at that – of late-pitting in longer races to capitalize on fresh rubber when it matters most. While virtually every lead lap car pitted for tires on a Lap 103 caution, Christopher pitted for chassis adjustments but held off on bolting tires on his machine.
His tire stop didn’t come until a Lap 143 caution period.
“You know what it is with these things? Restarts are so key, especially if you’re on a different cycle,” said Christopher, who has 12 career Whelen Modified Tour wins at Stafford and is the track’s winningest driver with 118 career victories across all series and divisions. “As soon as you run six or seven laps (of green), everybody evens out and there’s no passing. It’s just the way the tires are. Unless somebody starts to get in and gets a little loose, then you can get them.
“But it’s really hard to make inroads on them, even if you have newer tires.”
Christopher made the late restarts count, going from ninth to third across three restarts over the final 45 laps.
“It played out pretty good. I wanted to pit with like 35 to go, but I guess 60 worked out pretty good,” Christopher said.
EMOTIONAL WIN: Santos was moved to tears following his dominating performance in the Spring Sizzler 200.
Santos lost a young cousin in the days leading up to the second race of the Whelen Modified Tour season.
“I really feel like I had an angel riding with me all weekend,” Santos said. “This win means the world. I dedicate this win to my whole family. I lost one of my little cousins this week, and this is for my Uncle Jay, Alicia, and they’re whole family. They support every race for me.”
The victory was the second in this race for the 2010 Tour champion, and it was his fifth career Stafford win. He swept the top spots in practice, qualifying and the race – and he did it without his family in tow.
“They couldn’t be here because they were all at a wake today,” Santos said, “but this win’s for them.”
NEW ATTITUDE: Bonsignore made a decision midway through the Spring Sizzler 200 that he was going to be a new driver.
After some bumping and banging in the back half of the Top-10, Bonsignore decided he’d had enough “take” in the “give-and-take” game of close-quarters racing.
“Some people like to dish it out, but they don’t like when you give it back,” Bonsignore said. “Then they give it back ten-fold. At that point, it kind of lit a fire under me.”
Bonsignore sits fifth in the Whelen Modified Tour standings through two races, having finished eighth at Thompson International Speedway two weeks ago in the season opener.
He’s decided he’s not going to let people wonder any longer if the cars are capable of more.
“It’s my fourth year (as a regular on the Tour), and at some point the owner might start to look at the driver (as the issue),” Bonsignore said. “I don’t want that to ever be the excuse. I want them to know that I’m here and I’m here to win races.”
The tide might finally be turning for Bonsignore, too. After being setback previously by things like practice crashes at Stafford, he ran out of gas coming to the checkered flag Sunday and preserved his runner-up finish.
A little good luck never hurt.
“Yeah, you’re not kidding, especially at this place,” Bonsignore said. “It’s been a long time coming. We’ve run well here in the past, just haven’t had the results to show for it.”
Sources: Travis Barrett, Special To NASCAR Home Tracks