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ROWAN PENNINK
READY TO CONTEND FOR FIRST
NAPA SPRING SIZZLER VICTORY AT STAFFORD WITH BACKUP CAR |
For
Rowan Pennink and the #93 Van Wickle NAPA Auto
Supply team, the 44th Annual edition of the NAPA
Spring Sizzler at Stafford Speedway will see the
team chase the checkered flag with altered plans. A
practice crash in the season opening race at
Thompson Motorsports Park eliminated their primary
car and left Pennink and team scrambling to get
their backup car together. Without practice, Pennink
was still able to qualify 18th out of 35 cars and
came home with a respectable 13th place finish.
While Pennink is bringing the same car to Stafford
for the Sizzler, he is confident that he can have a
good run.
“The car we wrecked is pretty much toast and ready
for the junkyard,” said Pennink. “We won’t be able
to get another new car put together in time for the
Sizzler so we’ll be bringing the backup car to
Stafford. We put a lot of time and effort into the
car that we wrecked and we were really happy with
how it was handling. We weren’t able to get any
practice time with it so it wasn’t where we needed
it to be for the race, but we were able to salvage
what we could out of the weekend and we’ll move on
to the Sizzler.”
Pennink has put together a strong career record at
the NAPA Spring Sizzler. In 7 career starts, Pennink
has posted 4 top-5 and 5 top-10 finishes with a
career best finish of second coming back in 2011.
Pennink has recorded top-5 finishes in four of the
last five Sizzlers and although he will be racing
his backup car, he is confident that he can once
again be among the contenders for the Sizzler
checkered flag.
“We’ll be running the same car at Stafford,
hopefully with a little practice time we can get the
car where we need it to be and have a good run,”
said Pennink. “I think we definitely have the
capabilities of winning the race this year. It’s the
same car we’ve ran the last couple of years and all
of our cars are good. It wasn’t really what we had
planned for the Sizzler, but it’s what we have.”
If Pennink needed any extra motivation, he has Van
Wickle Auto Supply as his primary sponsor this
season, a NAPA store with three locations in New
Jersey. Pennink is relishing the opportunity to win
the NAPA Spring Sizzler with Van Wickle as his
sponsor.
“Van Wickle Auto Supply NAPA has always helped us
out in the past and they came on board with us for
this season,” said Pennink. “It would be awesome to
win the race, the guys at Van Wickle have been a big
help to us and it would be really cool to win the
NAPA Spring Sizzler for them. The Sizzler is the
longest race we run all year so you have stay out of
trouble at the beginning of the race while also
keeping good track position. You have to have a good
pit stop and need to time the pit stop so it plays
out right. If we can do all those things right,
hopefully we can put ourselves in position to go for
the win at the end of the race.”
In addition to his Whelen Modified Tour duties,
Pennink will also look to pick up where he left off
in 2014 in Stafford’s weekly SK Modified® division
behind the wheel of the #99 car owned by Bob
Hitchcock and Kelly Iverson. After a rough start to
the 2014 season, Pennink won 5 races and accumulated
more points than any other driver at Stafford during
the second half of the season. Pennink is looking
forward to repeating that on track performance.
“I don’t see why we can’t do that again,” said
Pennink. “We were really strong at the end of last
season and we’re hoping to stay away from the bad
luck we had at the beginning. We won 5 races in the
second half of 2014 and when we didn’t win we were
right up there in the top-2 or top-3. We’re hoping
to start this year how we ended last year and if we
can do that, I think it will be a very good year for
the whole #99 team.”
The 44th Annual NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler gets
underway Friday, April 24 with a practice session
for Stafford’s weekly divisions. The practice
session will be open to the public at no charge. The
run for the Coors Light Pole position gets underway
on Saturday, April 25 with time trials for the
Whelen Modified Tour cars, along with heat and
consolation races for Stafford’s weekly divisions.
Saturday’s racing action wraps up with feature
events for the SK Light, Limited Late Model, and
DARE Stock divisions as well as a feature event for
the Mr. Rooter Truck Series. The Sizzler concludes
on Sunday, April 27 with the NAPA Auto Parts Pit
Party followed by Stafford’s SK Modifieds® and Late
Models joining the Whelen Modified Tour in feature
action.
Tickets for the “Greatest Race in the History of
Spring” are on sale now at the Speedway Box Office.
Tickets 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. As always,
Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with
overnight parking available. All tickets are good
for both Saturday and Sunday admission. All ticket
prices include 10% CT Admission Tax.
For more information on the 44th Annual NAPA Auto
Parts Spring Sizzler, 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:
April 17, 2015 |
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