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05/23/2014 |
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JUSTIN
BONSIGNORE LEADS NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR TO
STAFFORD SPEEDWAY FOR THE 24th ANNUAL TSI HARLEY-DAVIDSON
125 |
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As
the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to Stafford
Speedway on May 23rd for the TSI Harley-Davidson
125, Justin Bonsignore, driver of the #51 chem3.com
Chevrolet finds himself in an unfamiliar position.
For the very first time in his NWMT career,
Bonsignore is at the top of the points standings
thanks to his win in the season opening race at
Thompson and a 5th place finish in the NAPA Auto
Parts Spring Sizzler last month at Stafford.
“It’s my first time leading the points and hopefully
we can stay up there,” said Bonsignore. “It’s not so
much leading the points, but knowing we’ve gotten
off to a good start this season. We’ve been on the
other side of it where we’ve had a big hole to dig
out of at the beginning of the season, which is
nearly impossible with the short schedule we have.
More than anything, we want to continue our good
start, go for top-5 finishes, and take wins if
they’re there and we’re in position. The competition
on the Tour is very tough, there’s 10 to 12 guys
each week that can win. Especially guys like Doug
and Woody, they’re off to hot starts as well. Some
of the other guys like Ryan and Bobby, they’ve had
one or two bad races so they have a little bit to
dig out of but you know at some point in the season
they’ll be right there with us. If we can keep doing
what we’ve been doing and have great finishes and
maybe win a few races, we should be able to maintain
up there.”
When it comes to NWMT competition at Stafford,
Bonsignore has had a somewhat checkered past.
Bonsignore has won 2 of his 3 career pole positions
at Stafford, but in 17 career starts his average
finish is only 13th. But on a positive note,
Bonsignore has recorded top-5 finishes in 3 of his
last 5 Stafford starts and he is feeling good about
his chances of collecting his first Stafford victory
in the TSI Harley-Davidson 125.
“I think every time we go to the racetrack we have a
car that can win the race,” said Bonsignore. “The
last time out at Stafford for the Sizzler we missed
a little for the race, but I think we learned some
things from that and hopefully we can improve upon
that. We were still able to get a fifth place finish
on a day that we probably didn’t deserve a fifth
place finish. When you can make something good out
of having a not so great racecar, I think that just
shows how good of a race team we can be.”
With the TSI Harley-Davidson 125 being 75 laps
shorter than the NAPA Spring Sizzler was, teams will
have to employ a different strategy in order to win
the race. The TSI Harley-Davidson 125 has been won
in years past by drivers running the entire 125 lap
distance without pitting, and the last 2 races have
seen Doug Coby and Ryan Preece come through the pack
after an early race pit stop to win. While
Bonsignore has been discussing different strategy
options, he says his strategy of choice will most
likely be determined after the green flag falls.
“We were actually just talking about how we’re going
to approach the race and if we’re going to pit or
not,” said Bonsignore. “It’s probably going to be an
in-race decision once we see how the car is going.
With the race being an impound race, you’re really
taking your best educated guess on what the
racetrack is going to do and what the racecar will
do. If you’re out front or in the top-3 or top-4,
you might not pit but if circumstances come up where
something happens and you find yourself in the back
and you need to take advantage of two fresh tires,
we’ll definitely do that. The setup will probably be
pretty close to what we had for the Sizzler. I don’t
really get into that side of it with the crew, but
all in all it should be a pretty similar package and
hopefully it will be as quick as we were for the
Sizzler. With very minimal adjustments allowed after
qualifying, you pretty much have to be in race mode
the whole time so we’ll work on race runs all day
during practice and hopefully we’ll have a really
good car for when the night time comes.”
One key area to taking home a good finish will be to
get a good qualifying lap and starting position for
the race. With 2 Stafford poles to his credit,
Bonsignore knows the fast way around the track and
he is hoping to improve on his top-5 qualifying
effort from the NAPA Spring Sizzler last month to
capitalize on having good track position for the
start of the race.
“I think it showed during the Sizzler we had to pit
for fuel and we had a good car but it was really
tough to come back through traffic,” said
Bonsignore. “The competition was so good and so
close that track position was really tough to come
by. Hopefully we can qualify in the top-5 and stay
up there all night and make the night a little
easier. Any track that you can qualify up front at
is definitely a positive. Last year we crashed with
Ryan on lap-0 and he didn’t have any damage and was
able to come back through the field and win and we
had a little damage to our car and we came back to
seventh. If you have a good enough car, you can
definitely come back through the field, but why make
things difficult, we want to make it as easy a night
as we can.”
Since TSI Harley-Davidson took over the title
sponsorship of Stafford’s Memorial Day Weekend NWMT
event, there have been 6 different winners in the 6
races under the TSI banner since 2008. Also, the
past four winners of the TSI Harley-Davidson 125
have gone on to win the championship in the same
season. With the points lead already in his hands
coming into the race, Bonsignore will look to add
his name to both lists as the 7th different TSI
Harley-Davidson 125 winner and 2014 NWMT champion.
Tickets for the TSI Harley-Davidson 125 are
available and on sale now at the Speedway Box
Office. Tickets are priced at $33.00 for adult
general admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages
6-14, and children ages 5 and under are admitted
free of charge when accompanied by an adult.
Reserved seating is priced at $35.00 for all ages.
All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax.
Stafford Motor Speedway offers plenty of free
parking along with overnight parking in self
contained Recreational Vehicles.
For more information on the TSI Harley-Davidson 125,
or to order tickets, contact the Stafford Motor
Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us on
the web at
www.staffordspeedway.com. |
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Source: Scott Running / Stafford Motor Speedway
Posted: May
23, 2014 |
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