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SEUSS MAKES HISTORY WITH
NASCAR WHELEN SOUTHERN MODIFIED TOUR CROWN
Becomes Third Driver To Win Back-To-Back Titles |
Looking
back one year ago, Andy Seuss was going through
mixed emotions.
He had just won his first NASCAR Whelen Southern
Modified Tour championship, recently gotten engaged
to girlfriend Jenn Demarco and was preparing to
accept his award along with car owner and crew chief
Eddie Harvey.
Fast forward one year and while some things have
changed for Seuss, one thing remains the same – he’s
a champion again.
Seuss married Jenn in June, rebounded from a rough
start to the 2016 season and will once again step up
on stage Saturday night as a NASCAR champion.
The 28 year-old credits some of those changes during
the season for helping him and his team rebound this
season.
“It was a great year obviously for me on and off the
track especially from midway on,” Seuss said. “Jenn
and I got married in June and my season really
turned around after our wedding so I have to give
her some credit for our turnaround.”
Seuss finished in last place in the season opener in
March after getting collected in an early-race
accident. It was his first showing at the bottom of
the results since 2012 and just the fifth time in
his career of 104 starts.
It didn’t take long for the Harvey-led crew to help
him turn things around as they drove the No. 11
Ideal Finance/Northeast Race Cars Chevrolet back to
Victory Lane two weeks later at Caraway Speedway in
Sophia, North Carolina.
“Eddie and all the guys on the crew did a great job
getting the car ready and our team prepared to race
for the win the next time out,” Seuss said. “We had
a great race at Caraway to get the win but then we
still had some trouble.”
At South Boston Speedway in Virginia a couple of
weeks later Seuss was involved in another race
accident and finished 16th.
After that incident, Seuss felt they might have
fallen too far behind in the points standings to
repeat as champions.
“Last year there was a lot of pressure on the entire
team because we knew everybody was gunning for us
each week when we had the lead in the points,” he
said. “After (South Boston accident) we just decided
to focus on winning races and didn’t even think
about the points and that took the pressure off of
us and we had a lot of fun.”
The Hampstead, New Hampshire, native who now calls
Salisbury, North Carolina home knew his team
wouldn’t stop working hard no matter where they
stood in the standings.
“That’s the great thing about this team in that they
never give up,” Seuss said. “After we fell way back
in the points, someone said well you might as well
take a race off and I wasn’t about too because no
one on this team quits and I wasn’t either.”
The team, led by Harvey along with Reggie Newman,
Justin Wells, Jimmy Harvey, Steve Seuss, Mike Paris,
T.J. Moran, Sammy Williams, Paul Farmer and Charli
Brown rebounded after the accident at South Boston
in April and went to work and it paid dividends.
Over the next seven races, Seuss didn’t finish lower
than seventh and picked up a pair of wins at Bristol
and the fall return trip to South Boston. It was
after the last win it dawned on him that he had a
chance to join Junior Miller and George Brunnhoelzl
III as a back-to-back champion.
“I didn’t even realize we had the points lead until
after we won South Boston in September because I
honestly thought we didn’t have a chance of catching
up,” he said. “Once we realized we had a chance we
went to work even harder to close out the season and
get that trophy.”
Seuss finished sixth to edge George Brunnhoelzl III
in the closest points battle in the history of the
NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour to win the
title and the success he’s enjoyed still amazes the
second generation driver.
“I’ve been so blessed driving because I feel I’ve
been fortunate enough to exceed every goal I set out
to achieve when my family and I decided to come down
south years ago and race,” Seuss said. “I just
wanted a shot to prove to myself I was able to race
and compete for wins much less championships.”
Seuss is second to only Brunnhoelzl in career tour
wins and while he’s accomplished every goal he set
when he began racing in the division full-time in
2008, he’s already thinking ahead for the next
challenge for he and his team.
“We’ve decided to update our equipment and make some
changes with the chassis we will run next year so we
are ready for a new challenge and we’re going to
keep going after wins and run up front as much as
possible,” Seuss said. “I can’t wait to get going
but first we’re going to celebrate a little this
weekend first.”
Connecticut-based Whelen Engineering is the series’
title sponsor. Whelen Engineering is a leading
manufacturer of automotive, aviation, industrial and
emergency lighting. NASCAR tracks and pace cars are
among the many showcases for Whelen products.
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Source:
Tim Southers /
NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour
Posted:
December 7, 2015 |
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