NWMT: Solomito Named Rookie of the Year
Timmy Solomito of Islip, NY enters the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season finale this weekend with the Sunoco Rookie of the Year in hand. The 22-year-old Islip, NY driver started the year with plans for a partial schedule, but changed them to pursue a full season. Solomito clinched the award after the Fall Final at Stafford, with two top fives and three top 10s in 12 races.
“It’s always a good feeling,” Solomito said. “You can kind of only win that one time, so really looking forward to the weekend. I think we’re going to have a pretty good piece here really excited see what practice brings to us and hopefully we can put together a good car for tomorrow.”
Solmotio is not driving the family car he used to record a pair of top 10s at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park this season. Solomito will use the car with the spec engine that debuted at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last month.
“This is the first time this one’s been here,” Solomito said. “This is the one that we’ve run at most races this year … We wanted to give it a shot and see what we got and maybe have a little more power down the straightaway. We’ll see, it will be a first for us with this car and this motor here, so might be a little bit different, but hopefully we get the speed out of it that we’re looking for.”
“We kind of came into this not knowing what was going to happen,” Solomito said. “…Really proud of the guys for sticking with it. …When it became fulltime, everybody was onboard for it and we grew as a team and everybody worked together to make the cars better and that’s all you can ask for. We’ve got a great bunch of guys behind us and hopefully we can put something together to do this again next year and |maybe run even stronger.”
Solomito expects to contend for a top five finish on Sunday.
“I’m hoping to be in striking distance for the win on Sunday and I think we’ll be a top five car hopefully,” Solomito said. “That’s our goals and hopefully we can be there at the end and finish in one piece and maybe give it a shot for the win.”
Solomito may race his Modified at Wall Stadium in New Jersey next month for the Turkey Derby. Otherwise, Solomito is focused on getting the cars ready for next season.
“I really gotta thank Wayne Anderson and Eastport Feeds,” Solomito said. “They really stepped it up and gave us a helping hand. Dunleavy’s Truck and Trailer Repair came onboard for this weekend, gotta thank them, Bold Worldwide, American Tank Company, just a lot of guys put a lot of effort in it to get us here, and I really appreciate it.”
Sources: Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com