Coby Edges Solomito For NASCAR Whelen Modified Title

Doug Coby (left) secured his fourth straight NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship on Sunday at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, while Timmy Solomito (right) scored his fifth series victory of the season. Photos by Adam Glanzman/NASCAR

Back in April, Doug Coby walked away from a wrecked race car without even completing one lap in the Icebreaker 150 at Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.

Six months later, Coby capped the season at Thompson by completing an unthinkable comeback to win his fifth NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship.

Sunday’s fifth-place finish in the Sunoco World Series 150 was enough to completely erase his disastrous start to the season and wrap up his fourth straight title.

The Milford, Connecticut driver becomes the first driver since the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour began in 1984 to accomplish the feat and only the third in the history of NASCAR Modifieds, joining NASCAR Hall of Famers Richie Evans and Jerry Cook.

“We just kind of tugged away this year,” Coby said. “We won one race in 2014 when we won the championship and we only won once this year. We were just so consistent.”

Timmy Solomito, who entered the race third in the championship standings and one of six drivers still in contention for the crown, used a pass with just two laps remaining to capture the victory the race that was pushed to 155 laps because of a late caution.

The victory was the fifth of the season for the Islip, New York, driver but it wasn’t enough to get him the title.

Coby finished with 604 points, six ahead of Solomito. Justin Bonsignore finished third, 10 points back of Solomito, while Rowan Pennink and Eric Goodale rounded out the top five in the championship standings.

Coby was determined to control his own destiny. The points leader entering the finale, he started on the front row with polesitter Chase Dowling and immediately jumped to the front to lead the first 82 laps to clinch the bonus points for most laps led.

After his first pit stop, he restarted outside the top 10 and wasn’t able to get all the way back to the front. But it didn’t matter. A late charge was enough to hand him the championship behind the wheel of his No. 2 Mayhew Tools Chevrolet.

“We were good all year and we were kind of under the radar. This was a different championship because we to crawl all summer because we had to get back in it,” Coby said. “We had to chip away this year. The common denominator in all of these titles was a team that never quit.”

Dowling finished second – crossing the finish line .043 seconds behind Solomito — while Ron Silk was third and Pennink fourth.

Andrew Krause finished sixth, followed by Woody Pitkat, Dave Sapienza, Jamie Tomaino and Bonsignore.

Ryan Preece finished 26th in the race and fell to sixth in points. However, he was able to wrap up the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour owner’s championship for Ed Partridge.

Preece missed two races – one for his wedding and one to run the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Kentucky Speedway – and combined with George Brunnhoelzl III and Jon McKennedy to win the title for Partridge’s No. 6 TS Hauler Chevrolet team.

Coby and Partridge will be honored as champion of the unified Whelen Modified Tour as part of the champions celebration in Charlotte, North Carolina in December.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park – Thompson, CT
Sunoco World Series 150 – October 15, 2017

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Points B/Points Status
1 8 16 Timmy Solomito Starrett Racing Ford 155 47 4 Running
2 1 15 Chase Dowling 15-40 Connection Chevrolet 155 42 Running
3 10 85 Ron Silk Stuarts Automotiive/J&R Pre-Cast Chevrolet 155 42 1 Running
4 6 3 Rowan Pennink Cape Cod Copper/JDL/USNE Chevrolet 155 40 Running
5 2 2 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools/Dunleavy/AJ Romano Chevrolet 155 41 2 Running
6 19 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Manufacturing Co. Inc. Chevrolet 155 38 Running
7 21 82 Woody Pitkat Horton Avenue Materials Chevrolet 155 37 Running
8 18 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprise Chevrolet 155 36 Running
9 33 99 Jamie Tomaino Dunleavy’s Repair/Atlantic Sprinkler Chevrolet 155 35 Running
10 14 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. Chevrolet 155 35 1 Running
11 17 77 Gary Putnam Curb Records Chevrolet 155 33 Running
12 4 64 Rob Summers Hoosier Tire East/Fast Track Elect/Hughes Motors 155 32 Running
13 7 11 Burt Myers Dunleavy Truck & Repairs/LFR/Citrusafe Chevrolet 155 31 Running
14 23 89 Matt Swanson Starrett Tools Ford 155 30 Running
15 27 39 Calvin Carroll * Power with Prestige/Cruising w/Betty Chevrolet 155 29 Running
16 16 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing Chevrolet 155 28 Running
17 13 88 Spencer Davis Danny’s Gaspool Service Chevrolet 155 27 Running
18 29 33 Wade Cole Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil Ford 155 26 Running
19 9 76 Jimmy Blewett John Blewett Inc/Starrett Tools Chevrolet 154 25 Running
20 5 46 Craig Lutz Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet 154 25 1 Running
21 25 20 Danny Cugini * Anytime Realty/Lu-Mac’s Chevrolet 147 23 Accident
22 35 14 Cory Oslund * Keith Grimes Excavating Chevrolet 143 22 Accident
23 34 38 Manny Dias * Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil Chevrolet 138 21 Handling
24 15 48 Kyle Soper * Eastport Feeds Chevrolet 137 20 Accident
25 12 21 Ronnie Williams * Gershow Recycling Chevrolet 131 19 Accident
26 3 6 Ryan Preece TS Hauler/Hoosier Tire of Calverton Chevrolet 117 18 Running
27 32 78 Walter Sutcliffe Jr. * Last Minute Racing Chevrolet 113 17 Handling
28 24 63 Austin Pickens * West Orange Nurseries Chevrolet 80 16 Accident
29 11 44 Bobby Santos Sully Tinio/Olivas Market Chevrolet 52 15 Ignition
30 31 1 Melissa Fifield Eastern Propane & Oil Chevrolet 19 14 Clutch
31 30 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape /TRC Electric Chevrolet 9 13 Accident
32 20 92 Anthony Nocella Nocella Paving/Airgas Chevrolet 0 12 Accident
33 22 0 Andy Seuss Brady Bunch Racing/Copeland Toyota Chevrolet 0 11 Accident
34 26 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Chevrolet 0 10 Accident
35 28 17 John Baker Staria Automotive Chevrolet 0 9 Accident

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*Denotes Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender

RACE STATISTICS

Fastest Qualifier: Chase Dowling, Time: 18.991 Seconds, Speed: 118.477 mph

Time of Race: 1 hrs., 29 mins, 0 secs Average Speed: 65.309 mph Margin of Victory:0.043 Seconds

Caution Flags: Laps 1-8; 14-17; 30-32; 62-65; 80-84; 88-92; 105-110; 126-130; 132-135; 138-140; 142-146; 148-152.  12 for 57 laps.

Lap Leaders: Doug Coby 1-82, Craig Lutz 83-107, Ron Silk 108-144, Justin Bonsignore 145, Ron Silk 146-153, Timmy Solomito 154-155.

Total Laps Led: Doug Coby 82, Ron Silk 45, Craig Lutz 25, Timmy Solomito 2, Justin Bonsignore 1.  5 changes involving 5 drivers.

Top 10 Driver Points: Doug Coby 604, Timmy Solomito 598, Justin Bonsignore 588, Rowan Pennink 570, Eric Goodale 566, Ryan Preece 562, DaveSapienza 511, Matt Swanson 484, Rob Summers 474, Craig Lutz 429

 

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