Career Best Finish in CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler Has Kelsey Rottino Looking for Big Things in 2013 at SMS
Stafford Springs, CT — For Willimantic native Kelsey Rottino, the 2013 CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler was a race that was 6 years in the making. Prior to the Sizzler race, Rottino’s career best finish in Stafford’s DARE Stock division was a fifth place finish in last year’s CARQUEST Fall Final. After an off-season filled with changes to his #36 Don’s Home Improvement / Lintec Steel Chevrolet, including a new DARE Stock Spec Engine, Rottino collected a career best 4th place finish and he is looking forward to bigger and better things as the 2013 season unfolds.
“I think the Sizzler was a show of more things to come from us this year,” said Rottino. “We really have the car rocking and rolling right now. During the winter we went through the car and we overhauled just about everything. We have the new spec engine, new transmission, we rebuilt the rear end, and we got a new gear ratio for the spec engine. I think that we had one of the fastest cars all weekend long and after 6 years, it was about time we got the car good. It was nice to be a front running car and racing with guys like Kris Fluckiger, and Jeremy Lavoie. I like racing with those guys, you know you’re going to get a good clean run.”
With a career best finish under his belt, the next box to check off for Rottino and the #36 team will be to put the car into CARQUEST Victory Lane this season. Rottino’s car has been to victory lane before as the car was formerly driven by Victoria Bergenty and Stacey Botticello, and Rottino thinks he and his team can finally realize their goal of winning a race.
“I have a crazy goal of winning multiple races this year,” said Rottino. “This car was Victoria Bergenty’s old car and it was Stacey Botticello’s car before that, so it’s pretty cool that Stacey is back in the division this year and I get to race against her in her old car. I really think that we can be a team that gets talked to in victory lane a lot this year. I know it’s real early in the season to be talking about the championship, but our goal for this year is trying to run for the championship.”
Rottino has several new sponsors as well as some new car knowledge that he feels like will help him and the #36 team to achieve their goals this year.
“We have a lot of new sponsors that came on board with us that weren’t on the car last year,” said Rottino. “We have Don’s Home Improvement, Lintec Steel, Ackert Electric, and Francesca’s Italian Bistro as our sponsors and I learned a lot at the NASCAR Technical Institute. It’s a 2-year college in Mooresville, NC and I went in not knowing much about the car or the engine and now I have a good idea of what I need in the car and the engine. I have a great crew chief in Mike Cote, he’s 100% amazing when it comes to knowing what I want and what I need in the car. I also have to thank John Bergenty for his help with the car and the Rent A Racecar guys, they’ve given me a lot of help with this car.”
Another reason why Rottino is looking for his first victory would be an entry into the season ending Paradiso-Muska Shoot-Out All-Star race for the DARE Stock division.
“I really want to get into the Paradiso-Muska Shootout,” said Rottino. “That is a race that I haven’t been able to be a part of yet. If you had come up to me 3 years ago and told me that we had a good shot at winning a race, I probably would have laughed at you. But I think that if we can keep on making the car better and get it to go good in the outside groove where no one else runs, and we’re able to hit our restarts, I think we have a really good shot at getting into victory lane this year. A win would be huge for us and it would show everyone that we’re going to be one of the teams to beat this year instead of being someone who runs in the back of the pack every week.”
Rottino’s next shot at capturing his first career victory will be this Friday night, May 10th, which is BFF Night at SMS. All adults who purchase one general admission ticket will receive one free general admission ticket for a friend to use. May is Youth Organization Month at SMS, and all kids 14 & under who wear a team shirt are admitted free when accompanied by an adult.
For more information, or to order tickets, 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