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JUSTIN
BONSIGNORE SEEKING FIRST STAFFORD WIN
IN NAPA SPRING SIZZLER |
 When
it comes to NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour racing at
Stafford Motor Speedway, Long Island native Justin
Bonsignore will be the first to admit that Stafford
hasn’t been one of his better tracks. Bonsignore has
racked up 9 top-5 and 16 top-10 finishes in 28
career NWMT starts at Stafford in addition to one
career pole position coming at the 2011 NAPA Fall
Final but is still in search of that elusive first
career Stafford win.
“I’m really excited to get back to Stafford,” said
Bonsignore. “On one hand it hasn’t been my best or
easiest tracks for results, but we had a lot of
speed at Stafford last time out for the Fall Final
and we had a freak issue with the kill switch take
us out of contention. We’re hoping we can carry over
our speed from the Fall Final to the Sizzler. We
sure hope we can get our first win in the Sizzler.
If I were to ever get that first win at Stafford,
what better race to get it at than the Sizzler? It’s
the biggest race of the year at Stafford so to get
our first win at the Sizzler would mean a little
more and it would be nice to drink the milk in
victory lane.”
If Bonsignore needs inspiration, he needs to look no
further back than the NAPA Fall Final last season.
Bonsignore and the #51 Phoenix Communications team
won at New Hampshire last September and he followed
that win up with a 4th place finish in the Fall
Final.
“We’ve continually gotten better at Stafford and
were able to win at New Hampshire with something
that hit really well, we brought that to Stafford
for the Fall Final last year,” said Bonsignore. “It
was a night and day difference for us to be able to
compete with Doug [Coby] because he’s been the car
to beat the last couple of years at Stafford. We’re
bringing something similar back to what we had in
the fall for the Sizzler and we’re optimistic about
our chances.”
One area where Bonsignore may be able to one up the
competition is in the race strategy department. With
the majority of NWMT teams utilizing the NASCAR Spec
Engine, those teams will all have to come to pit
road for fuel at some point during the 200-lap race
along with making a second stop for tires. New for
2017 is a rule that allows teams to change 4 tires
rather than the customary three tires and teams can
fit a softer right rear tire than the right rear
tire they have to qualify and start the race on.
“The new tire rule is something that a lot of the
teams have been asking for,” said Bonsignore. “It’s
definitely going to throw some more strategy into
the mix as we saw at Myrtle Beach and I think we
would have been able to have a better finish than we
did at Thompson by pitting late for one more tire.
We’re going to have to make a fuel stop at Stafford
so I think the strategy game is going to be pretty
interesting. We might take 3 tires at one point and
save the right rear for later in the race. If you’re
leading with a good car late in the race you
probably won’t pit but if you’re running eighth or
ninth with no shot at winning, you might come into
the pits for a tire that might help you charge back
through the field. It’s definitely going to add
another element for the teams and the fans to follow
along during the race. I think most guys are going
to short pit early for fuel within the first 50 laps
and then get to at least halfway before they start
putting tires on. There’s a lot of crazy minds with
crazy ideas between all the crew chiefs on pit road,
so you might see something that you weren’t
expecting. We’ve kind of had strategy work against
us so far in the first 2 races of the season, but
our cars have been fast. Hopefully we can bounce
back at Stafford and a Sizzler win would be huge for
us.”
A good run at Stafford on Sunday begins with a good
qualifying lap on Saturday for a starting spot
towards the front of the pack. A good qualifying
effort will give the driver and team the opportunity
to pick a premium pit stall on pit road as well as
giving them good track position to work with when
the green flag falls.
“Track position is always key with the Whelen
Modified Tour,” said Bonsignore. “With the pit stall
selection based off of qualifying now, it’s
important to have a good qualifying lap to get a
good pit stall. You normally want to be at the
beginning or the end of the pit road at Stafford and
not be jammed up in the middle. No matter how many
laps the race is, 100, 150, or 200, it’s always nice
to have good track position at Stafford.”
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. 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 21, 2017 |
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