Stefanik Adds Bristol To Wins List

By admin August 21, 2013 Bristol, NASCAR WMT, NASCAR WSMT

74th Career Victory For 7-Time Whelen Modified Tour Champion

Mike Stefanik says he is coming to the end of the road, but showed his old form Wednesday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The 55-year-old seven-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion took the lead from Todd Szegedy with 11 laps to go in the TitanRoof 150 and went on to collect his second win of the season in the annual combination event with the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour. The victory also extended his Whelen Modified Tour career record for wins to 74.

“I’m playing it cool right now, but I’m freaking out inside,” said Stefanik. “This is a huge, huge win in my career. This is right at the top of the list, if not the top.”

Photo Galleries by Brad Newman:
[NASCAR WMT – Titan Roof 150]
[NASCAR CWTS – UNOH 200]

Szegedy settled for second place for his second runner-up finish at Bristol in as many years. Ron Yuhas Jr. followed in third which equals his best career finish first established at Thompson (Conn.) Speedway in 2007. Whelen Modified Tour points leader Ryan Preece finished in the fourth position with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competitor Ryan Newman just behind in fifth.

Woody Pitkat, Eric Goodale, Justin Bonsignore, Burt Myers and Jimmy Zacharias completed the top 10. Myers was the top-finishing Southern Modified Tour competitor.

Coors Light Pole Award winner Donny Lia led the first 91 circuits but was involved in an accident on Lap 92 and was scored in 30th in the final rundown.

Preece assumed the lead after Lia tangled with then-third place Justin Bonsignore on that restart, and led until Lap 102, when he was overtook by Szegedy.

Szegedy then appeared positioned for the elusive Bristol win – and to halt a 26-race winless drought – but he bobbled a bit on Lap 125 and Stefanik was right there to take advantage and move to the lead that he would not relinquish.

The TitanRoof 150 triumph at Bristol marked the 17th different track that Stefanik has registered a victory at during his illustrious Whelen Modified Tour career. Although he’s piled up the lofty career total, Wednesday’s win marked the first time since 2002 that he’s been victorious multiple times in a season.

A nine-time NASCAR champion overall, Stefanik has accomplished many things during his racing career, but he was almost giddy in Victory Lane Wednesday evening after adding Bristol to his wins list.

“This is huge. Bristol – are you kidding me? I can say I just win at Bristol,” Stefanik said. “Everyone knows Bristol Motor Speedway. It’s the mega short track.”

The TitanRoof 150 had three lead changes among four drivers with 10 caution periods. The race was shortened from the scheduled 150 laps to 135 due to time constraints. The race was also delayed for 10 minutes at the start due to a passing shower.

In the Whelen Modified Tour championship standings Preece extended his lead on Doug Coby to 28 points with four races to go in the season while George Brunnhoelzl III leads Kyle Ebersole by 20 tallies in the Southern Modified Tour season standings with Burt Myers trailing at 21 points off the pace.

The NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour is back on the track on Saturday, Aug. 31 for the Newport News Shipbuilding/Bayport Credit Union 150 on Saturday, Aug. 31 at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va., while the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will return to Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway for the Green Earth Technologies 200 on Saturday, Sept. 14.

Sources: Shon Sbarra/NASCAR PR

NWMT-NWSMT Bristol 8/21/13 Unofficial Results
Whelen Modified Tour
Race: NWMT Bristol 8/21/13

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Points B/Points Status
1 18 22 Mike Stefanik Robert B. Our Co./Canto & Sons Paving Ford 135 47N 4 Running
2 5 2 Todd Szegedy UNOH/Dunleavy Repair Ford 135 43N 1 Running
3 16 64 Ron Yuhas, Jr. Fast Track Elect./Complete Const. Chevrolet 135 41N Running
4 3 16 Ryan Preece East West Marine/Diversified Metals Ford 135 41N 1 Running
5 19 7 Ryan Newman Menards/Wix Filters Chevrolet 135 39N Running
6 14 79 Woody Pitkat Mr. Rooter/Coors Light Pontiac 135 38N Running
7 4 58 Eric Goodale Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet 135 37N Running
8 10 51 Justin Bonsignore M3 Technology Chevrolet 135 36N Running
9 9 1 Burt Myers CitruSafe/Adams Towing & Recovery Ford 135 43S Running
10 21 71 Jimmy Zacharias * Vist-Pro Automotive Chevrolet 135 42S Running
11 26 72 Chuck Hossfeld Jerry Gradl Motors Chevrolet 135 35N Running
12 24 6 Ron Silk TS Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet 135 34N Running
13 25 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating Ford 135 41S Running
14 11 28 George Brunnhoelzl III Epox-Z/Oval Speed Chevrolet 135 40S Running
15 23 25 John Smith G-Oil/Shady Grady Racing Chevrolet 135 39S Running
16 7 2 Tim Brown Hayes Jewelers/T&C Motorsports Chevrolet 135 38S Running
17 8 3 Ted Christopher Silver Dollar Const./Cape Cod Copper Chevrolet 135 33N Running
18 33 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood/Mehner Racing Ford 134 32N Running
19 13 97 Bryan Dauzat O.B. Builders Chevrolet 134 37S Running
20 32 77 Gary Putnam Stock Car Steel Chevrolet 133 36S Running
21 29 26 Ed Flemke, Jr. Ron Bouchard’s Auto Stores Chevrolet 133 31N Running
22 31 99 Jamie Tomaino Supreme Manufacturing Chevrolet 132 30N Running
23 6 52 Doug Coby Furnace & Duct/Seekonk Grand Prix Chevrolet 130 29N Running
24 20 46 Eric Berndt North End Auto Parts/Cape Cod Agrgts. Chevrolet 129 28N Accident
25 15 11 Andy Seuss Phoenix Pre-Owned Chevrolet 125 35S Accident
26 35 33 Wade Cole Performance Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan’s Chevrolet 111 27N Too Slow
27 36 70 Jeremy Gerstner * GMR Complete Lawn Care/Fountain Mtspts. Chevrolet 109 34S Running
28 22 15 Rob Fuller 15-40 Connection Chevrolet 104 26N Accident
29 27 40 Luke Fleming * Koma Unwind/Autos by Nelson.com Ford 102 33S Accident
30 1 4 Donny Lia Circle Track Magazine Dodge 93 27N 2 Accident
31 30 73 Cole Powell * Tricar Developments Chevrolet 93 24N Running
32 17 44 Bobby Santos Tinio Corporation/Cape Cod Aggregates Chevrolet 77 23N Fire
33 12 93 Rowan Pennink Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner Chevrolet 76 22N Accident
34 28 14 Jason Myers Mark Moorefield Performance Ford 32 32S Accident
35 34 21 J.R. Bertuccio Gershow Recycling Chevrolet 30 31S Accident
36 2 88 Bryon Chew Buzz Chew Chevrolet/Elbow East Chevrolet 9 21N Accident

RACE STATISTICS
Fastest Qualifier: Donny Lia, Time: 14.806 Seconds, Speed: 128.867 mph
Failed to Qualify: 20 Steve Park, 07 Patrick Emerling, 54 Jeff Fultz, 8 Dalton Baldwin, 04 David Calabrese
Time of Race: 1 hrs., 14 mins, 46 secs Average Speed: 57.744 mph Margin of Victory: 0.092 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 2-4; 10-16; 32-39; 76-77; 86-91; 93-95; 98-101; 105-109; 115-118; 126-132. 10 for 49 laps.
Lap Leaders: Donny Lia 1-91, Ryan Preece 92-102, Todd Szegedy 103-124, Mike Stefanik 125-135.
Total Laps Led: Donny Lia 91, Todd Szegedy 22, Ryan Preece 11, Mike Stefanik 11. 3 changes involving 4 drivers.