The Chrome Horn - Champ Trail with Phil Smith

Champ Trail - July 18, 2016


  The NASCAR Whelen Modified converged on the New Hampshire Motor Speedway last weekend for two events, the Whelen Modified All-Star Shootout (non-points) and the Eastern Propane and Oil 100. The event drew 31 cars, not including back-ups.
  In a move he may come to regret, Ryan Preece “moved” Ryan Newman on the last lap in order to win the Shootout. Behind the wheel of his No. 6 Simoniz Wax Chevrolet, Preece used a last lap pass of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Newman in turn one of the white-flag lap to take down the win after a hard charge from the back of the field.
  In a random draw for starting positions Preece drew 19th, which put him in the last row for the 35-lap main event. That gave him an uphill battle to make it to the front.
  By the competition caution at lap 20, Preece had climbed inside the top 10. Then, shortly after the green at the restart, Preece worked his way into the top two and began to close on Newman, who had pulled out front. He hit the back bumper of the leader with just eight laps to go and haunted the No. 77 Chevrolet all the way until they hit the line with two laps to go.
  As they went into Turn 1 on the final lap, Preece pulled out to the bottom and drove in under Newman. The two made slight tire contact, Newman went up the track, and Preece went on to pull away and roll into Victory Lane. Newman, who won the inaugural All-Star event in 2014, crossed the line second at the finish. Patrick Emerling, who made his first Whelen Modified Tour start of the season on Friday, finished third. Former champions Andy Seuss and Doug Coby rounded out the top five.
  Donny Lia, Ted Christopher, David Sapienza, Timmy Solomito and Max Zachem rounded out the top 10.
For Preece it ended up being a career signature weekend as he also recorded runner-up finishes in the Whelen Modified Tour and Xfinity series events.
  In the Whelen Modified Tour 100 Bobby Santos ended a long dry spell as he took the win. In the closing stages Santos was locked in a four-race battle for the lead with Doug Coby, Ryan Preece and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Newman. Newman and Coby got together with two laps to go when Newman tried to split the difference between Coby and Santos and take second. The caution pushed the race to 105 laps and gave Santos the opportunity to make a run at Preece, who won Friday's 35-lap non-points Whelen All-Star Shootout.
  On the final green flag, Santos' No. 44 Tinio Racing/ImperialCars.com Chevrolet powered by Preece from the bottom lane and drove away in the final two circuits.
  Santos led just those two laps. He started second, but dropped back early and had to work back through the traffic in the middle of the race.
Preece, who led a race-high 54 laps, settled for second. It was the fifth top-five in six races for the Berlin, Connecticut driver and helped him close the gap to just 39 points to the top of the championship standings despite missing a race.
  David Sapienza also made a late charge through the field and finished third, giving him his second straight podium finish on the Whelen Modified Tour. Brendon Bock scored a fourth place finish while Chase Dowling rounded out the top five.
  Andy Seuss was sixth, followed by Ted Christopher, Max Zachem, Rowan Pennink and Shawn Solomito. Christopher drove almost the entire race with a broken hand suffered in an early race accident,
  Timmy Solomito, who entered the weekend as the points leader, was involved in a multiple-car crash at Lap 20 that took him out of the race. Pennink moved into first by seven over Timmy Solomito, with Eric Goodale 22 points behind. Max Zachem and Justin Bonsignore round out the top five, while Preece is sixth. There were 16 lead changes among four different drivers.
  For those who did not make it to Loudon this past weekend NBC Sports Net will show the Friday event on Thursday, July 20 at 4:30pm and the Saturday event on Thursday, July 20 at 6:00pm.

  The Stafford Speedway suffered its fifth rainout in the past 11 weeks. Stafford returns to action next Friday with the return of the Exit Realty Modified Touring Series for the Lincoln Tech 100. It marks the second event this season at the track for the first year series.

  There was no racing at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday night or was there? Rumor has it that Keith Rocco got another win but that’s only a rumor and rumor has it that Jacob Perry won in the Mini Stocks. No info was released by the track.

  Out on the east end of Long Island at the Riverhead Raceway the Modifieds had the night off but there was no lack of action at the tight quarter mile oval. It was Monster Truck Saturday at Riverhead Raceway with a large crowd on hand on a warm & pleasant evening. In the headlining 50-lap Late Model feature event Chris Turbush of Wading River rewarded his hard working team who burnt the midnight oil during the week to repair a heavily damaged car by making a last lap pass of Kyle Soper of Manorville to claim the win. Rookie driver Michael Rutkoski of Mattituck scored his first career Eagle Auto Mall Modified Crate victory when he topped their non stop 30-lap main event.

  Down in the south land, at the Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem NC, Burt Myers, the defending champion, drew first and led start to finish in the 100 lap Modified feature as he cruised past Brandon Ward. Danny Bohn was third, Myers’ brother Jason was fourth and Chris Fleming was fifth.

  On the speedway stock market scene two of the three speedway stocks ended the week on the negative side. Dover Entertainment went up 0.05 to 2.10 while Speedway Motorsports dropped 0.18 to 17.41 and the International Speedway Corporation dropped 0.45 to 33.50. NASCAR cup sponsor Monster Beverage went up 0.97 to 51.67 while Sunoco (Energy Transfer) went up 0.25 to 20.45 and NASCAR tire supplier Goodyear went up 0.80 to 36.27. The car manufacturers had a good week. Ford went up 0.42 to 11.68 while General Motors went up 1.41 to 36.35 and Toyota went up 1.73 to 110.20. In the home improvement sector, Home Depot went up 0.65 to 152.88 while Lowes dropped 1.09 to 76.06. Big teams sponsors stocks had a wide range. McDonalds dropped 0.99 to 155.28, Coca-Cola went up 8.59 to 235.55, Target Department stores went up 2.15 to 53.22, Aarons Rentals dropped 0.09 to 37.75 and Fedex went up 0.55 to 219.06.

  On the tube this week:

  Wednesday, July 19

5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBC Sports Net
5:00 PM, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Eldora qualifying, Fox Sports 1
7:30 PM, NCWTS Eldora qualifying races, Fox Sports 2
9:00 PM, NCWTS SetUp, FOX Business
9:30 PM, NCWTS Eldora race, FOX Business

  Thursday, July 20
6:00 AM, Empty Cup: Quest for the 1992 NASCAR Championship, FS1
6:30 AM, NCWTS Eldora qualifying races re-air, FS1
8:00 AM, NCWTS Eldora race re-air, FS1
4:30 PM, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour All Star New Hampshire, NBC Sports Net
6:00 PM, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour New Hampshire 100, NBC Sports Net
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
6:30 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

  Friday, July 21
7:00 AM, NASCAR Special, NBCSN
1:00 PM, NASCAR Xfinity Series Indianapolis practice, NBC Sports App
3:00 PM, NXS Indianapolis final practice, NBC Sports App
5:00 PM, NASCAR Special, NBCSN

  Saturday, July 22
6:00 AM, NASCAR Special, NBCSN
9:00 AM, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Indianapolis practice, CNBC
11:00 AM, MENCS Indianapolis final practice, CNBC
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
12:30 PM, NXS Indianapolis qualifying, NBCSN
2:00 PM, MENCS Indianapolis final practice re-air, NBCSN
3:00 PM, NXS Countdown to Green, NBCSN
3:30 PM, NXS Indianapolis race, NBCSN
6:00 PM, MENCS Indianapolis qualifying, NBCSN

  Sunday, July 23
12:30 PM, NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
2:00 PM, MENCS Countdown to Green, NBC
2:30 PM, MENCS Indianapolis race, NBC
6:00 PM, MENCS Post Race Show, NBC
11:00 PM, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1

  Monday, July 24
5:00 AM, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
2:30 PM, NASCAR 120: MENCS Indianapolis race re-air, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

   That’s about it for this week from 11 Gardner Drive, Westerly, and R.I.02891. Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467.
E-mail: smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com.

Phil Smith has been a columnist for Speedway Scene and various
other publications for over 3 decades.
 

Source: Phil Smith / Champ Trail
Posted: July 18, 2017

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