![\"Stafford\"](\"http:\/\/maineracer.com\/images\/stafford.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
(Stafford Springs, CT)—With the 2011 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series
\nseason at Stafford Speedway nearing the halfway point, the Limited Late
\nModel season has been a dream year for Shawn Thibeault and the #58
\nEnterprise Rental Cars team. They have scored 2 wins this season and they
\nhave finished on the podium in 7 of 8 races with a worst finish thusfar of
\nfourth. This white-hot streak of consistency has Thibeualt at the top of
\nthe points standings and he credits his success all to a simple change in
\nhis driving philosophy.
\n
\n\u201cI\u2019ve changed my driving style a bit this season, and it\u2019s been paying off
\nfor me so far,\u201d said Thibeault. \u201cWe\u2019ve always had a fast car and In the
\npast, I was pretty aggressive. Looking back on it now, I can see how I was
\naggressive with other drivers and sometimes I would put myself into
\nsituations that would put a damper on the car and our race as a whole. This
\nyear we have a fast car again and I\u2019m trying to let the race come to me. We
\nhaven\u2019t finished lower than fourth so far, so it\u2019s been working out.\u201d
\nThibeault began the 2011 season with a third place in the season opening
\nCARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler and after 2 consecutive 2nd place finishes,
\nhe picked up his first win of the year on May 20th which put him into the
\npoints lead. Thibeault has been the point leader every week since his first
\nvictory with a second win and three more podium finishes. Being the points
\nleader is a new experience for Thibeault, but he seems to be pretty
\ncomfortable with his position at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we had the points lead for one week last year, but we lost it the
\nnext week,\u201d said Thibeault. \u201cWe\u2019ve always had fast cars here at Stafford,
\nbut our finishes didn\u2019t always reflect the speed we had in the car. This
\nyear has gone a lot better than I expected. It can be difficult to get to
\nthe front if we start deep in the field and the race goes green to checker,
\nbut twenty laps is plenty of time to get the car to the front. One of my
\ngoals last year and for this year was to win the championship, and
\neverything is fitting in right now with my taking it easier approach.\u201d
\nAs good as Thibeault has been this season in the Limited Late Model
\ndivision, he says that he and his crew are still searching to find the right
\nsetup combination.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main thing we\u2019re working on right now is the car seems to drop off in
\nthe heat of the summer,\u201d said Thibeault. \u201cWe struggled a little at the
\nstart of the season, but we went back to some of our older setup stuff and
\nit has worked out for us. Our setup hasn\u2019t changed that much from last
\nyear, we\u2019re just trying to make the car more consistent and fast in the
\nsummer heat. These new Hoosier tires that we\u2019re racing on this year have
\nbeen working out for us, we seem to be able to get a little more tire
\ncontact with the track than the American Racer tires with how the Hoosier
\ntires mount on the 7-inch rims.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the 2011 season set for its second half, Thibeault has his sights set
\nsquarely on continuing his consistent finishes and being a championship
\ncontender.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe championship is our goal, we\u2019ve been shooting for that ever since we
\ngot started in the Limited Late Model division,\u201d said Thibeault. \u201cWe have
\ntwo wins so far this year and if we can get another win and beat our 2 wins
\nfrom the last 2 seasons, that would be great. We\u2019re not going to push
\nthings just to get to that, there\u2019s a lot of good cars that we race with
\nevery week. Being in the division for 4 years now, it would be great if we
\ncould win the championship. I\u2019d like to move up to the Late Model division,
\nwhether it\u2019s our own car or if we could put together a deal to drive someone
\n\u2019s Late Model, that would be awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thibeault has posted an average finish of 2.3 through the first 8 races of
\nthe 2011 season. Thibeault\u2019s main championship rivals also have stellar
\naverage finish numbers with Kevin Gambacorta at 3.4, George Nocera, Jr. at
\n3.9, and Norm Sears at 4.4. If Thibeault and his crew can find the key to
\nkeeping their car fast during the summer heat while maintaining their level
\nof consistency, then they just may realize their dream of being a champion
\nwhen the curtain closes on the 2011 season at Stafford.<\/p>\n
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at (Stafford Springs, CT)—With the 2011 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series season at Stafford Speedway nearing the halfway point, the Limited Late Model season has been a dream year for Shawn Thibeault and the #58 Enterprise Rental Cars team. They have scored 2 wins this season and they have finished on the podium in 7 of 8 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[196,126,197],"tags":[72],"class_list":["post-5942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecticut","category-new-england","category-stafford-connecticut","tag-stafford"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com
\n