NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR POINTS LEADER RONNIE SILK HOPES FOR REPEAT PERFORMANCE IN TOWN FAIR TIRE 150 AT STAFFORD
(Stafford Springs, CT)—When the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour last visited
Stafford Motor Speedway back in May, it was a race to remember for Ronnie
Silk and the #6 T.S. Haulers, Inc. team. Silk won the pole and then led all
125 laps to take his first win of the 2011 season. Since that race at
Stafford, Silk hasn’t finished a race lower than fourth and he has the
points lead as the Tour returns to Stafford for the Town Fair Tire 150.
Silk hopes to recreate the level of domination that he exhibited at Stafford
in May and come away from the Town Fair Tire 150 with the winner’s trophy.
“I hope we can do that again,” said Silk. “We’ll be coming back with the
same stuff and we’ll be looking for another win this week. We’ve always
seemed to qualify and run well at Stafford, we just never had the finishes.
The last four races at Stafford, I don’t think we’ve finished lower than
third, so hopefully our luck has turned around at Stafford and we can be
there at the end of the race and try to win again.”
After a 23rd place finish in the 2011 season opening event, Silk’s stellar
race results have vaulted him to the top of the Whelen Modified Tour points
standings heading into the Town Fair Tire 150, 5 points clear of Rowan
Pennink, who had been the points leader since the first race of the 2011
season.
“I feel like it’s still to early to worry about points,” said Silk. “In
years past, I’ve always been behind in the points at this point of the
season, so it’s nice to be where we are. But there’s a lot of racing left
to go and we just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing this season, and
if we can do that, the points will take care of themselves. We’ve won at
Stafford, Thompson, and New Hampshire, but we haven’t run that well at
Bristol, and Lime Rock is always a wild card although we managed to get a
third there last year. My crew chief, Tom Grasso, has been giving me great
cars at every track and hopefully we can keep that going for the rest of the
season and go for more wins.”
In order for Silk to replicate his May performance at Stafford, he will face
different track conditions and he says that he and his team know what they
will need in order to have another stellar race result.
“It’s still the same track, you have to turn left at the end of the
straightaway, but I’m sure the track will be a little bit different,” said
Silk. “In May we won the pole and led every lap, but that race was 125-laps
and this will be a different kind of race. We didn’t pit in May and with 25
more laps, I’m sure that everyone will have to make a pit stop. We’ve
really neer set a number on when to pit, the race dictates what your
strategy will be. If the car is good, we’ll try to stretch it as long as we
can before we pit, but sometimes your hand is forced if the car is off a
little and you have to pit early. We’ll see how the race goes and we’ll
make a call from there. You need to have a fast car and you need to qualify
well because it’s getting harder to pass with the field being so close to
each other. Track position is going to be important and hopefully we can
have some good track position for when we pit and we can be there at the end
of the race to go for the win.”
Tickets for the 21st Annual Town Fair Tire 150 are on sale now at the
Speedway Box Office and are price at $30.00 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 $32.00 for all ages. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers
free parking with overnight parking available.
For more information, 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