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09/10/2014 |
DOUG COBY
HOPING TO CONTINUE STAFFORD SPEEDWAY SUCCESS IN
42nd ANNUAL NAPA AUTO PARTS FALL FINAL WEEKEND
SEPT. 27-28 |
 For
the past two seasons on the NASCAR Whelen Modified
Tour, Doug Coby and Ryan Preece have been the two
main protagonists in the chase for the championship
with Coby beating Preece by 11 points in 2012 and
Preece beating Coby last year by a 32 point margin.
Fast forward to the 2014 season and Coby is once
again in the thick of the NWMT championship race,
only this time around his main rival is Justin
Bonsignore.
When it comes to Whelen Modified Tour racing at
Stafford, Coby would seem to have a slight upper
hand on Bonsignore. In the three Stafford races this
season, Coby has finishes of second and fourth to go
along with a victory in the June TSI Harley-Davidson
125 for an average finish of 2.3 while Bonsignore
has recorded finishes of fifth, second, and eighth
for an average finish of 5.0. While Bonsignore’s
average finish of 5.0 is hardly something to sneeze
at, it doesn’t quite match the 2.3 average of Coby,
which is way Coby says he prefers to be right where
he is in the driver’s seat in the championship race.
“I think I’d rather be leading the points at any
time during the season than be chasing,” said Coby.
“When you’re chasing points, it can get a bit
frustrating when you have good finishes and the guy
that you’re chasing is also having good runs kind of
like I did last year when I was chasing Ryan
[Preece]. Both Justin and myself have been getting
good finishes so I don’t think there’s a lot of
pressure on either of us. The last time out at
Stafford we were just a little bit off with the car
and we finished fourth, so that’s definitely a good
feeling to have knowing the car was a little off and
we still managed to finish fourth. We know why the
car was a little off so for the Fall Final we’ll
make changes to the car that we wish we had made
before the feature in August and we feel pretty
confident we’ll have another good car. Stafford is a
track where if you’re fast in time trials, you’re
usually going to have a fast car in the race where
at Riverhead, you might not have a car that will
last for 200 laps and at New Hampshire your car
might not be that good in the draft and you can
slide backwards. I think that Stafford has proven to
be my strongest track on the Tour the last couple of
years and I’m hoping that it stays that way.”
Coby and Bonsignore are separated by only 4 points
and with races upcoming at Riverhead and New
Hampshire before the Tour comes to Stafford on Sept.
27-28 for the NAPA Auto Parts Fall Final weekend,
who will be leading the points standings heading to
Stafford is anyone’s guess.
“I would say those two tracks are wildcards for
everybody,” said Coby. “You never know what is going
to happen at those places. It’s easy to get caught
up in something at Riverhead and at a place like New
Hampshire, you can be running good and have a late
race caution and then if you get caught up in a
wreck you could finish 25th. Whether it’s me,
Justin, Teddy, Bobby, Ryan, or any of those guys in
the points race, we all run pretty well at the
remaining tracks on the schedule and we just have to
keep on doing what we’ve been doing all season long
and race for every position we can at all the
tracks. I think it’s going to come down to who
doesn’t screw up during the last 4 races of the
season.”
Coby joined forces with the Mike Smeriglio owned #2
team in the off-season and the new combination paid
immediate dividends as they won the season opening
non-points feature at Daytona. Coby says that win
has helped carry the team to the position that they
now enjoy at the head of the point standings.
“I think the race at Daytona certainly set the tone
for the season and it definitely helped our
confidence,” said Coby. “When you’re going into the
season and you’re not sure if thing are going to
work out or not, winning at Daytona made our season
a success regardless of what happens the rest of the
year. I think everyone on the team is comfortable
with each other and we’re all pretty well jelled
together at this point. Everyone on the team, from
me as the driver, to Phil [Moran] as the crew chief,
down to the crew guys, we all do whatever the team
needs us to do and everyone is on the same page. We
feel pretty confident and we’ll see what happens
these last four races.”
The Whelen Modified Tour cars will qualify for the
NAPA Fall Final 150 on Saturday, Sept. 27 before
hitting the track for 150 laps on Sunday, Sept. 28.
Tickets for the 42nd Annual NAPA Auto Parts 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 is priced at $42.00 for all ages. All NAPA
Fall Final tickets are good for admission on both
Saturday and Sunday and ticket prices include 10% CT
Admission Tax. Visit your local participating NAPA
Auto Parts Store for discount ticket offers.
For more information on the 42nd Annual NAPA Auto
Parts 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 10, 2014 |
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