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TIMMY
SOLOMITO LOOKING TO CONTINUE
DREAM START TO 2017 SEASON |
 Timmy
Solomito is looking to continue his good fortunes
when the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour visits Stafford
Motor Speedway on April 29-30 for the 46th Annual
NAPA Spring Sizzler®. Solomito and the #16 Starrett
Tools team won the season opening race at Myrtle
Beach and followed that up by sitting on the pole
and finishing runner-up in the second event of 2017
at Thompson.
“It’s been a pretty good start to the season so
far,” said Solomito. “We’re taking things race by
race and trying to do the same things we did last
year and get better each time we come to the
racetrack. We’ve been strong at Stafford and have
been close to winning in the past but haven’t been
able to seal the deal. The start to the season has
given us an extra boost of confidence and momentum
is picking up for us. We have Myrtle Beach and
Thompson behind us and now the focus is on putting
together a good car for Stafford. Hopefully with
what we’ve learned and my experience behind the
wheel we can take that to Stafford and be even
better.”
One area that Solomito will have to improve on if he
is to carry his early season momentum to Stafford
will be a good qualifying lap to get a starting spot
towards the front of the field. In 14 previous NWMT
starts, Solomito has qualified in the top-5 only
twice but feels that a recent rule change might play
to his benefit for qualifying this season.
“We haven’t quite hit the qualifying like we need to
yet at Stafford,” said Solomito. “I think our best
qualifying there has been a third. I’m hoping the
new procedure of going out by practice times will
help us out. We’ve usually gotten an early draw and
Stafford is a track where a later draw can really
help you out. We never seemed to have much luck
pulling a late number for qualifying so we’re hoping
to have a good practice lap that will allow us to go
out a little bit later in the qualifying session. No
matter if you have 50 laps or 200 laps at Stafford,
passing is tough. The cars are getting more and more
equal and teams are making each other step their
games up. Track position is going to be huge and a
good qualifying effort is a good start for track
position.”
Stafford hasn’t always been Solomito’s favorite
track as his first seven starts he netted only one
top-10 finish. But in his last seven starts, he has
6 top-8 finishes, including a best finish of second
in last year’s NAPA Fall Final. Solomito has also
yet to lead a lap at Stafford during his career,
winning the NAPA Spring Sizzler® would be huge for
Solomito.
“The Sizzler is a race that you always want to win,”
said Solomito. “I think last year we dragged a jack
down pit road when we were running third and we had
to go to the back of the pack and ended up finishing
fourth. The Sizzler would be huge to win with the
history behind the race for the entire team.
Hopefully we have a good car and we can be in a
position to go for the win as the race gets close to
the end.”
With the NAPA Spring Sizzler® being 200 laps in
length, the race strategy varies differently from
many of the standard 150-lap events that the Whelen
Modified Tour partakes in. With the majority of the
NWMT field utilizing the NASCAR Spec Engine, teams
will have to pit twice for fuel and tires but the
question remains when is the best time and what is
the best combination for teams to use when making
the two pit stops during the race? For the tire
stop, there is a new rule that allows teams to bolt
on a softer right rear tire than they start the race
on, which brings up the possibility of a late pit
stop to make a charge back through the field.
“Usually we try to see how the race goes and play
things from there,” said Solomito. “Most guys
usually come around lap-50 or lap-60 for fuel and an
adjustment to the car and then kind of ride until
the tire stop, which is when everything usually
breaks loose. I’m sure there’s still some guys that
can pit late and charge back through the field
although it’ll be tough. We have the new rule where
you can put a softer tire on the right rear so I
think it could be done but it’ll be tough. You’ll
need to have a really good car since the tires fall
off pretty quickly.”
The “Greatest Race in the History of Spring,” the
46th Annual NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler®, takes
the green flag on April 29-30. Tickets are available
and on sale now at the Speedway Box Office. Tickets
are priced at $40.00 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. Tickets are good for both Saturday and
Sunday admission. All ticket prices include 10% CT
Admission Tax. Discount Tickets are now available at
all 71 participating NAPA Auto Parts stores. For a
full list of the 71 locations throughout
Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island,
and Vermont, please call the speedway office or visit us on the
web at
www.staffordmotorspeedway.com/participating-napa-auto-parts-stores.
For more information or to order tickets for the
46th Annual NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler®, 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, 2017 |
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