Eric Berndt Looking to Continue Wave of Positive Momentum in Coors Light Xtra Mart Xtra D 80 at Stafford
Stafford Springs, CT — For Eric Berndt and the North End Auto Parts / Cos’ Central Auto team, the 2013 SK Modified® season didn’t get off to the best of starts as they posted finishes of 27th, 16th, and 23rd in the first three races. After running his familiar #54 car in the season opening CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler feature, Berndt and his team made the swap over to his current #66 ride. After two tough races in the #66, Berndt has caught fire with five top-9 finishes in the last 6 races. Berndt is looking to keep his positive momentum going as he prepares to tackle the 40th Annual Coors Light Xtra Mart Xtra D 80-lapper this Friday at Stafford Motor Speedway.
“Both cars are housed at my shop and the 66 is a car that one of my sponsors bought as a backup. We got to running it this year and it’s been treating us better,” said Berndt. “When you’re at midseason and you’re running in the top-5 every week do you want to swap back? We put the 66 car together last year and we ran it a few times. Over the winter we put a new front clip on the car and now we have the car right where we want it. We’ve been fine-tuning on it every week to try to get it perfect. You have to be perfect at Stafford to win. Everything has to go your way, you need to be handling well, and you have to have a good motor. We’re close, we’re just not 100% there yet. I’d say we’re about 95% there.”
With a second and two third place finishes among Berndt’s run of 5 top-9 finishes in his last 6 starts, he is making progress towards securing his first checkered flag of the 2013 season. Berndt has won extra distance features at Stafford in previous years and with 80 laps to get to the front, the Coors Light Xtra Mart Xtra D 80 would be the perfect race for Berndt to take down his first win this year and also take home a share of the $1,500 that Xtra Mart Convenience Stores is putting up for the top-5 finishers.
“I sure hope so. We’ve been knocking on the door, we just haven’t been as good as the car that won that night or we’ve started a little deeper than the winner and it’s about who can get to the front first,” said Berndt. “Right now you can throw a blanket over the top-5 cars, we’re running almost identical lap times. I hope we can get a long green flag run since that’s what my car seems to like. If we can do that, maybe things will play out a little better for us. A win would definitely be huge for us. We put ourselves in a bit of a hole to start off the season and we’ve been chipping away a little at a time so if we can keep this momentum up that we’ve had for the past couple weeks, hopefully we’ll catapult ourselves up in the points. Taking home some of that Xtra Mart money would be awesome. Any time you can get some extra money it’s a definite bonus.”
A good finish in the Coors Light Xtra Mart Xtra D 80 could also help Berndt and his team maintain their string of good finishes throughout the second half of the 2013 season. After the first three races, Berndt was in 25th place in the SK Modified® points standings. Berndt has since climbed 14 places in the standings and currently sits in 11th place. He is hopeful that he can continue to climb his way up the standings in the second half of the season, starting with a good finish in the Coors Light Xtra Mart Xtra D 80.
“I’m hoping that things keep going the way they’ve been going,” said Berndt. “You can make one wrong turn at Stafford and the season can change on you. We’ll just keep our heads down and go the same speed we’ve been going and try to keep on getting top-5 finishes.”
The 40th Annual Coors Light SK Modified® 80 Xtra Mart Xtra D event is scheduled for July 19th. Tickets are priced at $20.00 for adult general admission, $5.00 for children ages 6-14 general admission, and Free for Children ages 5 & under. Reserved seating is available for $23.00 for all ages. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking available.
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.
Sources: Scott Running/Stafford Motor Speedway PR