Doug Coby Finishes 12th in Rain-shortened Spring Sizzler at Stafford Motor Speedway
STAFFORD, Conn. — Doug Coby wrapped the 49th annual NAPA Spring Sizzler at Stafford Motor Speedway with a 12th place finish in the rain-shortened event on Friday, April 30. Coby qualified the Mayhew Tools No. 10 in the fourth position and ran inside the top-five for the first portion of the race, taking the lead from Matt Swanson just after lap 50.
A caution shortly after saw Coby head to pit road for a fresh tire, and from there, the team prepared for the final pit stop of the night — where the plan was to take two fresh Hoosier Tires. Coby pulled down pit road, took the two tires and went back out, but it didn’t end the way he was hoping. With 32 laps to go, contact sent Coby spinning in turn one, and that was the final caution of the race. Persistent rain hit the Connecticut area and NASCAR officials had no choice but to call the race complete.
Coby’s No. 10 Mayhew Tools machine showed plenty of speed in his search for a fifth Spring Sizzler win at Stafford, leading laps, and Coby feels like without the contact, and rain, he would have had a good chance to finish on the podium.
“We stuck to our strategy,” Coby said. “But we had a caution, came back in, and as far as I’m concerned, I had a car that could have won the race. I felt it. I know what a car needs here, and I felt it. We rolled the dice good enough in the beginning, we knew what we needed to change, and at the end, I was happy with how the car was.”
Doug Coby Racing returns to the track on Saturday, May 15, at Riverhead Raceway in New York. For more information on Doug Coby, visit Doug Coby Racing on Facebook.
Sources: Souza Media/Kyle Souza