Coby Awaiting First Win of 2017
Doug Coby of Milford, CT was leading Saturday’s Eastern Propane and Oil 100 with four laps to go before a late spin relegated him to an 11th place finish in overtime. Contact with Ryan Newman’s right front sent Coby spinning in turn 3.
“He (Newman) tried to split the difference of the cars, split the gap, and just clobbered me. He came over and apologized and I told him we’re just we’re all trying to win Loudon and you’re gonna put your car places where maybe it shouldn’t go and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t.”
Teams were adjusting to two lanes of VHT compound added to the track to provide more grip.
“From what I understand the cup guys were a little frustrated with where it’s located on the track and for all it did for all of us to have to adjust it was a challenge. It certainly wasn’t the same Loudon we’re all used to. It was more the same today than it was yesterday but still was different and still we were all racing in different lines and the cars had different handling characteristics than we were used to.
“So, I wish they never did it because like I said I don’t think they’re gonna have a better cup race but if they do then it was the right move. That’s they have to do what they feel is necessary to impress the 95,000 or 100,000 fans that are here to see the cup cars tomorrow and hopefully, for their sake, it works ’cause I do think it affected how good our race was. It seems like we all got strung out and it was nobody could really draft the same way. Even when we were all running single-file we weren’t really drafting. We were in the draft but there was not as much bumping going on and not as much. We weren’t able to gain as much on the cars in front of us ’cause I don’t think a lot of us could get off the corner and that was a byproduct of what they put on the track. So, it was fun. It was challenging it was different. But it was not our best day.”
Tire wear was a concern for competitors, especially the right front. NASCAR had a competition caution on lap 12 to check tires.
“Our first one definitely went away pretty bad and it wasn’t that good. I don’t think we had as big a problem as some of the other guys and certainly, on the second set, I think we made a really good adjustment that helped save our right front longer. So, that was pretty cool. But yeah, it was definitely noticeable that there was a problem with the right front. So, just something they’ll have to fix for the next time.”
Coby was in the middle of a torrid battle with Ryan Newman, Ryan Preece, and Bobby Santos, III late in the race.
“It was cool. I think Preece probably had the worst car of the four of us but he found some stuff that worked for him which was kind of neat. It’s cool when you see a guy’s car going away and then all of a sudden he’s back. It’s like oh man how did he do that? I think Santos had the best car of all of us ’cause he ran us all down but then he was at the mercy of what my car and what Preece’s car were doing.”
Crashes have affected the four-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion’s season in all 4 races he finished outside the top 10. The Mayhew Tools/Dunleavy/AJ Romano Chevrolet is seventh in points after Loudon. An 11.2 average finish is his worst through 7 races since 2011 (10.4).
“I think everywhere but Myrtle Beach I think we had a car that could’ve won in certain situations and a lot of other years we would’ve won 2 or 3 races by now and it’s just not happening this year and it’s just our year to have some tough luck and have to keep battling. We’re still fast everywhere we go and even when we don’t look fast we end up contending like today. It didn’t seem like we had a car. It seemed like we were a fourth or fifth place car and then 25 to go here we come and now we’re asserting ourselves as a contender and that’s all we could do. Sooner or later we’ll get a win.”
Coby is optimistic going into his best track August 4 for the Stafford 150. The former Stafford (CT) Motor Speedway champion owns 10 wins at the half-mile oval. He has finished first or second in 6 of his last 7 starts there.
Sources: Nicholas Teto, YankeeRacer.com
Racing-Reference.info