Rising Stars Set Aim for Doug Coby

New Crop of Challengers Head To Myrtle Beach for NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Opener

As the green flag gets set to fly on the 2018 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, all eyes are on the fight for the championship. Doug Coby enters the new campaign having won the last four titles, and five of the last six, as he continues to shatter the record books on NASCAR’s oldest touring series.

However, when the season revs up on Saturday at South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach Speedway, Coby has a long list of rising talent looking to chase him down and make a name for themselves in the process. An early-look at the season shows that some of the youngest drivers in the history of the series could be the ones challenging Coby for victories through the 16-race points schedule.

AUDIO: Rising Stars Set For Challenge In 2018 

Take Roxbury, Connecticut, driver Chase Dowling as just one example.

Dowling is ready for a full-time effort with LFR Chassis and Rob Fuller in 2018, and has plenty of momentum on his side. He finished second in the SK Modified points standings at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway last year, and captured his first career pole award driving for Fuller in the Whelen Modified Tour finale at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.

That front-row starting spot helped propel him to a second-place finish in the Sunoco World Series — his best in his 41 career starts.

“I’m really looking forward to this year,” said Dowling, the 2015 Sunoco Rookie of the Year. “Rob Fuller is giving me one of the best opportunities I have had in my racing career. Last year, being a part-time team, we got some top fives and we were close to winning a few races, but we just had some bad luck. That pole at Thompson was a really good way for us to finish the season. I think we have a good team together for this year.”

For the 20-year-old Dowling, the combination with LFR and Fuller may actually be the perfect fit. When Coby won the title in 2015, in his first season with LFR, he scored seven victories, and has followed it up with six more since driving for the company. Last year, Bobby Santos III swept both races at New Hampshire driving for LFR, and the team has also added Justin Bonsignore to their stable for this year.

In nine races driving the car last year, Dowling scored five finishes that were inside the top five.

RACING-REFERENCE: Chase Dowling

“I think we’ll be pretty good, we need some luck on our side,” Dowling said. “I think we will be able to pull of a couple of wins, I know that’s the expectations for Rob as the owner. We tested a lot last year and we had some good solid runs. We feel prepared for this season. I think we will be up front.”

And in some ways, this is everything Dowling could have hoped for on the Whelen Modified Tour. Dowling has been successful at Stafford for many years — both in the SK Light and SK Modifieds — and he is hoping that valuable experience will help him get going on the right foot.

“All of the SK guys at Thompson, Stafford, they are all basically trying to get into the Whelen Modified Tour at some point in their career, and I’m there now,” Dowling said. “I’m pretty fortunate to have what I have for an opportunity.”

And much like Dowling, there is another former Sunoco Rookie of the Year winner looking to take his game to the next level this year. Calvin Carroll, who won the Sunoco Rookie award just last year, has a brand new car and a brand new crew chief with hopes of contending for his first win in 2018.

“We’ve done a whole lot to prepare for this season, with a new crew chief, I think it will make a new difference for us,” Carroll said. “We have a brand new car, brand new spec engine and a brand new Troyer chassis. I think the new crew chief, new car, it’ll come together and make a big difference for us. We are all really excited and we think we will do 10 times better than we did last year.”

Although he failed to finish four races last season, Carroll still earned a 12th place finish in the championship standings, and scored a best finish of 13th during points-paying races. However, in October, Carroll finished third in the non-points event at Charlotte, which he is hoping helps give him a little bit more motivation and momentum going into the new year. The 17-year-old is expecting to get to the front of the pack right from the drop of the green flag at Myrtle Beach.

RACING-REFERENCE: Calvin Carroll

“I think we’ll be good coming straight out of the trailer,” Carroll said. “I want to win races. I think we will have a good finish in the points, I think we have a great combination here.”

And right alongside Dowling and Carroll, Craig Lutz is another driver who will be putting his foot to the floor looking to make a name for himself this season. After driving his family-owned modified for much of his career, Lutz connected with Goodie Motorsports halfway through last season, running the final nine races in the No. 46 Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet.

Now, with some experience under his belt at just 23-years-old — including a pole award at Stafford in just his first start with his new team last August — Lutz is ready to see the green flag on a full season.

“My crew chief prepares awesome race cars, and we’ve been really close right off the trailer. It just makes everything easier,” Lutz said. “Everyone is always going to be pumped up when you’re fast. If we keep unloading close and we make the right calls, we can be there at the end of these races.”

Lutz got the season started in February when he traveled to New Smyrna Speedway for the 52nd annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing. The opportunity to compete at the half-mile opened the door for him to knock some offseason bugs from the car, and help for the team to continue to gain confidence in preparation for the Tour kick-off.

“I think it’s an advantage, just being able to kick the season off before you go and run full-time on the Tour,” said Lutz, who enters the year with a best career finish of seventh. “We were lucky enough to run down there. We had some really fast cars, we had some good runs, and we had some tough breaks. I’m really excited to start the season off.”

RACING-REFERENCE: Craig Lutz

For Lutz, the opportunity with Goodie Motorsports gives him the best chance to win races he has been given in his career.

“We just try to do our best every week, the goal is to finish races, and hopefully be able to contend for some wins this year,” the Miller Place, New York, driver said. “We had fast cars last year, I just couldn’t put the whole race together. I hope that’s something we can work on this year.”

Along with these three rising stars, NASCAR New York state champion Tommy Catalano will make his Whelen Modified Tour debut on Saturday. Catalano is coming off championships at Holland and Spencer in the Empire State last season. As of Wednesday, there are 30 cars entered for the season-opener.

The 16-race schedule for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour gets underway Saturday at Myrtle Beach, with the running of the Performance Plus 150 presented by Safety-Kleen. The green flag is scheduled to fly at 5:35 p.m.

RELATED: PERFORMANCE PLUS 150 RACE NOTES | Myrtle Beach Entry List

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