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09/20/2012 |
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WHELEN
MODIFIED TOUR POINTS LEADER DOUG COBY
LOOKS TO GET BACK ON TRACK IN CARQUEST FALL FINAL AT
STAFFORD |
 When
the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour comes to Stafford
Motor Speedway next weekend for the 40th Annual
CARQUEST Fall Final, Doug Coby will be looking to
put his recent string of bad luck behind him. After
he finished 8th in the season opening race, Coby ran
off a string of seven consecutive top-3 finishes,
including wins in all three Stafford races thusfar.
But after finishes of 17th, 13th, and 22nd in the
last three races, Coby has seen his points lead
shrink from 54 points down to 9 points.
"I think winning the first three doesn't make us the
favorite to win the fourth," said Coby. "I feel
confident we have a car that will contend for the
win, but whether we do win or not will come down to
the factors that go into racing. We've had a little
streak of bad luck, we've had 3 races in a row out
of the top-10, but only one of those was a bad race.
The Thompson race we missed the setup, but at
Bristol we were running in the top-5 with 20 to go
and got wrecked and at Riverhead we were up to
second battling for the lead 60 laps into the race
and we lost the motor. What are you going to do,
that's just one of those deals. If the bad luck
continues, the championship will be right out the
window, but we're hoping to have a solid run at
Stafford. If we had got the finishes we deserved at
Bristol and Riverhead, I think we would still have
had a 50-something point lead, but I'd still rather
be 9 points up than 9 down."
While the recent down turn in luck might be tempting
for Coby and the #52 Furnace and Duct team to change
things up, Coby says it will be business as usual
and he is confident in his team's ability to make
changes on his car if the car is not where he wants
it to be with the setup.
"It's going to be business as usual for us," said
Coby. "I don't think we were planning on using the
motor we blew up at Riverhead in the last three
races, so we still have the motor we planned on
running. Obviously my guys are going to quadruple
check things on the car, and make sure it's how they
want it to be. The last couple races, we've had to
make some serious changes to help the car qualify
decent and then we keep making changes for the race
that are working out in our favor. Like at
Riverhead, I wasn't thrilled with the car in
practice and John McKenna made some changes for the
feature and the car was awesome. I'm really
confident in my team's ability to take a bad car and
make it good. But you never know what you're going
to have when you show up. We showed up at Thompson
with what we thought was a race winning setup. We
were fastest in practice, we qualified third, just
shy of the pole, and then we went out for the race
and we were terrible. So that puts a little doubt in
your mind, but we're going to come to Stafford with
the same general setup that we've won the three
races with. We're going to bring the car that we won
the Sizzler with, it's a good car and we're hoping
it's going to be good for the Fall Final. I've seen
too many times where people change what they do and
it ruins what they accomplished all year long
because they tried to do something different."
Although Coby says he and his team will be preparing
the same for the final races just as they have all
season long, he knows that he has to be aggressive
on the track and get every position he can.
"The way it looks, it's going to come down to three
teams and drivers that will have a chance to win the
championship," said Coby. "You really can't give up
any spots to anybody and you're going to have to get
every spot you can because it's going to come down
to literally a couple spots on the track as to who
wins the championship. It's such a competitive
series, if you look at the top-7 in the standings, I
think we all have the same number of top-10
finishes. The only reason why we're still leading is
we have a couple more wins than everyone else. It's
just a couple of spots here and there that gets you
those extra points, and leading laps is important
for bonus points."
Tickets for the September 29th & Sept. 30th 40th
Annual CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend are priced at
$38.50 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 will be priced at
$42.00 for all ages. All CARQUEST Fall Final tickets
are good for admission on both Saturday and Sunday.
All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax and
Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with
overnight parking available.
For more information on the 40th Annual CARQUEST
Fall Final Weekend, 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: September
20, 2012 |
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