Twice
before, Ryan Newman drove the venerable 7NY Modified
to Victory Lane in a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver did it again
Friday. This time, the win came in the non-points
inaugural Whelen All-Star Shootout. The latest
victory came with the familiar frantic swapping of
the lead synonymous with the open-wheeled cars on
the 1.058-mile.
Newman lost the lead to Justin Bonsignore into Turn
1 of the white-flag lap, but got it back in Turn 3
and won the drag-race to the checkered flag.
"I didn't know if he was going to have somebody
follow him; I didn't know if he was getting pushed
or what," said Newman. "I really can't see that. I
could see someone showing their nose and my
spotter's talking to me, but it's kind of hard to
process all that at once. So once he slid by, I knew
I was going to get some kind of tow off him. I
didn't know if I was going to have somebody pushing
me or if he was going to shove me into Turn 3 way
faster than I wanted to go, or what it was going to
turn out to be. And it turned out good."
Bonsignore held on for second, followed by Mike
Stefanik, Ron Silk and Bobby Santos.
"We really haven't been in position to win up here,"
said Bonsignore. "I tried to throw the block, but he
had a good head of steam and we do have to run these
cars (Saturday)."
Newman has run 14 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races
for the 7NY Modified team put together by Gary
Putnam and NASCAR Sprint Cup crew chief Kevin "Bono"
Manion. He also has a pair of wins at Bristol Motor
Speedway.
"Just a good effort by everybody at Gary Putnam
Racing," said Newman, "and Bono and Slugger (Labbe)
and all the guys that volunteer their time to do
what they do in North Carolina so we can come up
here and play.
"It's awesome what Whelen does for this series. I've
always been a big fan of the Modifieds and getting
to come up here and race them is still a big honor
for me. So to win the all-star race is pretty cool."
For Bonsignore, it was the second time he's finished
second to Newman. But he welcomed the Sprint Cup
driver's presence in the tour races.
"He's in the exact same equipment as everybody else
out here," Bonsignore said. "He's at that level for
a reason. He knew what move to make at the end. And
he was in position."
Stefanik, the nine-time NASCAR champion, was making
his second appearance of the season after cutting
back his racing schedule.
"I had a lot of fun," Stefanik said. "I've been
missing out on this. It was a good time, I enjoyed
it."
Ryan Preece, Chuck Hossfeld, Todd Szegedy, Ted
Christopher and JR Bertuccio rounded out the top 10.
Silk held the lead over Patrick Emerling and Ryan
Preece into the halfway break at Lap 20. A random
draw determined a 10-car invert and put Doug Coby
and Bonsignore on the front row, with Newman
restarting fifth. The race featured six official
lead changes and Newman was credited with leading
the final 16 laps.
"We were way off when we unloaded. And we weren't
great during the race, but we were good enough,"
Newman said.
The event was called after 37 laps when it reached
its 30-minute time limit.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour was be back on track
Saturday with its championship points race at New
Hampshire.
The Whelen All-Star Shootout will air on FOX Sports
1 on Sunday, July 20 at 2 p.m. The Sunoco 100 will
air on FOX Sports 1 on Friday, July 18 at noon.
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NASCAR Whelen Modified -
Whelen All-Star Shootout Results
Friday At New Hampshire International Speedway, Loudon, N.H.
Lap length: 1.058 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (14) Ryan Newman, South Bend, In., Chevrolet, 37 laps, 74.712 mph.
2. (12) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 37.
3. (17) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Ford, 37.
4. (8) Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 37.
5. (2) Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Chevrolet, 37.
6. (6) Ryan Preece, Berlin, Conn., Ford, 37.
7. (7) Chuck Hossfeld, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 37.
8. (18) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Chevrolet, 37.
9. (19) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 37.
10. (1) JR Bertuccio, Centereach, N.Y., Chevrolet, 37.
11. (13) Cole Powell, Mount Brydges, Ont., Chevrolet, 37.
12. (20) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 36.
13. (10) Andy Seuss, Hampstead, N.H., Chevrolet, 36.
14. (9) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 36.
15. (11) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 29, engine.
16. (15) Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Chevrolet, 27, accident.
17. (4) Donny Lia, Jericho, N.Y., Dodge, 26, accident.
18. (3) Ken Heagy, Calverton, N.Y., Ford, 11, handling.
19. (5) Glen Reen, Wilbraham, Mass., Chevrolet, 8, handling.
20. (16) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 6, electrical.
Race Statistics
Time of Race: 31 minutes 12 seconds
Margin of Victory: 0.151 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: . ( mph, seconds)
Caution Flags: 1 for 8 laps.
Lead Changes: 6 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J. Bertuccio 1; R. Preece 2-3; R. Silk 4-16; R. Preece
17; R. Silk 18-20; M. Stefanik 21; R. Newman 22-37. |
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