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ERIC GOODALE
LOOKING FOR
FIRST WIN OF 2017 IN STAFFORD 150 |
 When
the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour comes to Stafford
this Friday, August 4th, one driver eager to pick up
a victory is Eric Goodale, driver of the #58 GAF
Roofing / Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet.
Goodale comes into the Stafford 150 third in the
NWMT points standings and he has posted 4 top-5 and
5 top-10 finishes this season but has yet to reach
victory lane. Stafford has been good to Goodale over
the past 2 seasons as he has posted 3 top-5 finishes
at the Connecticut half-mile in 5 starts and he
thinks that he can come out of Stafford with his
first win of the 2017 season.
“I’m excited, we’ve had a really fast car at
Stafford over the last year or two but we just
haven’t been able to put it all together and put a
complete race together,” said Goodale. “We’re coming
in to Stafford going through a little bit of a
slump. We finished 15th our last time out at Loudon
and we haven’t had the finishes that we deserve in
the open shows that we’ve run. Stafford is a place
where we’ve run consistent over the years and we’re
looking to get back on track and put ourselves in
better position in the championship standings. We’ve
been fast all season long and we’ve consistently
been a top-5 car regardless if we get a good finish
or not. Getting our first win of the season would be
huge to get over the hurdle and it would be a big
confidence boost for us going forward.”
One area that Goodale and the #58 team might have
held an advantage over the NWMT field has been
negated with the new pit road rules for the Stafford
150, only allowing for one tire change per pit stop.
Goodale feels like he has one of, if not the best,
teams on pit road but with the new rule in effect,
he will have to come up with a strategy move that
will get the #58 team up front all while the other
27 teams in the race will be trying different
strategies than what they had been used to in prior
Stafford races where you could change 3 tires per
stop.
“I think we can take advantage of it but the one
thing that will hurt is there’s going to be a whole
bunch of different strategies being playing out,”
said Goodale. “I feel like this year we were able to
assemble one of the most talented groups on pit road
and when we do a full service stop, we’ve been first
off of pit road in a lot of those battles. I can’t
say I agree with the one tire rule, but it is what
it is and everyone will have to deal with it so
hopefully we can make the right strategy call and
put ourselves in position to win the race at the end
of the night. From our team standpoint, you have the
one opportunity to come into the pits and make your
adjustments and get back out and we’ve been really
consistent on gaining spots on pit road. Now that
takes some of this away with the one tire and it
evens the playing field across the board, so I think
it might hurt us a little more than some other
teams. Track position at Stafford is probably more
important than any other track we race at on the
Tour and I think you’ll see teams with good cars,
maybe not winning cars, pull some strategy out of
the hat to gain track position and that will throw a
wrench into the 7 or 8 cars that are competing for
the win.”
Where the #58 team may be hurt slightly with the new
pit rules, Goodale feels like he might benefit from
the new group qualifying that will take place for
the Stafford 150. Drivers will be grouped into 5
minute qualifying sessions to take as many laps as
they need to set a fast time that will determine
their starting position. While Goodale hasn’t always
been the best qualifier at Stafford, he did qualify
third for the NAPA Spring Sizzler® back in April and
he thinks that the group qualifying might help him
to repeat or even better that third place effort.
“I’m certainly a fan of the group qualifying,” said
Goodale. “I was never really a great qualifier and I
think the group qualifying helps take some of the
pressure off of the driver. Instead of just having
two laps that you have to throw down, if you want to
run 3 laps, you can run 3 laps or more instead. When
we do our mock up qualifying run during practice,
I’ve consistently run faster on my third lap so that
might help us out to get a good starting spot for
the race.”
A good run in the Stafford 150 will also set Goodale
down the path to keeping himself and the #58 team in
the thick of the championship race. The Stafford 150
kicks off a 5 race in 5 week stretch for the Tour,
which is slightly more than half of the remaining 9
races on the 2017 schedule.
“A good run at Stafford is definitely important,”
said Goodale. “We’re coming up on a good stretch for
us on the schedule with Stafford, Thompson, and
Bristol, so everyone is real excited and it’ll be
really important to get off to a good start at
Stafford. Consistency will be the key for us, but
right now we’re focused on trying to win some races.
We’ve been struggling lately with getting finishes
that we deserve so our goal first and foremost is
try to win the race and if we can’t win then get a
top-5 finish.”
Tickets for the August 4 Stafford 150 are available
and on sale now at the Stafford Speedway Box Office.
Tickets are priced at $35.00 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 seat
tickets are $37.00 for all ages. All ticket prices
include 10% CT Admission Tax. Stafford Motor
Speedway offers plenty of free parking along with
overnight parking available for self contained
Recreational Vehicles. Stafford’s five NASCAR Whelen
All-American Series divisions will join the NASCAR
Whelen Modified Tour cars in feature action.
For more information, 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:
August 2, 2017 |
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