As Stafford Speedway’s SK Modified® teams gear up for their biggest race of the season, the NAPA SK 5k this Friday, August 7th, Troy Talman and the #6 Casella Waste Systems team will be looking to continue their wave of momentum.
In the last 7 races going into the NAPA SK 5k, Talman and the #6 team have recorded back to back wins on July 10th and July 24th as part of 4 top-5 and 6 top-10 finishes. Having won the extra distance Senators’ Cup 50-lap event on July 24th, Talman and his team are looking forward to continuing their good fortunes in the NAPA SK 5k.
“We’re feeling really good about the race,” said Talman. “The car has been really stout and it reacts very well to changes. It seems like every adjustment we throw at it goes in the right direction. Last week when we finished 8th we missed it a little, but we’re still feeling pretty good about the race. I’m not really sure about my track record in the 5k, but I feel like the longer races play into our hands a little. I think I’m a smart and calculated driver and the 5k won’t be a rat race to the front like a 40-lapper is so you can afford to take your time and the good cars will wind up at the front of the field.”
The catalyst for Talman’s hot streak came to the team almost by accident. As a result of a wreck in the May 22nd SK Modified® feature event, Talman’s car needed a new front clip. Rather than spend time and effort on putting the car back together, they had a second car that was ready to go so they decided to utilize that car as their primary car and the on track results have spoken for themselves over the last 7 races.
“The car that we started the year off with was the car that we’ve had so much success with the last 2 seasons but it ended up needing a front clip,” said Talman. “Instead of scrambling around, we had this car that was ready to go so we made that our SK car. We rented the track on May 29th and the car was really good and we ended up finishing second that night and the car has been pretty good to us since then. Confidence is a big deal in racing and for me being confident allows me to be more aggressive on the track and we’re super confident right now with this car.”
While Talman and his team have their sights set on winning the NAPA SK 5k to continue their winning momentum as the second half of the SK Modified® season gets underway, they also have another form of motivation for winning the race. With the NAPA SK 5k serving as the third and final race of the Sign Pro Triple Crown, there is an over 19,000 piece Mac Daddy JR Fastener Assortment that is provided by BoltsandNuts.com that will be awarded to the winner of the Triple Crown. Talman is tied with Andrew Molleur for fourth place in the Triple Crown standings, only 8 points behind Glen Reen, and Talman says he and his team would benefit greatly from taking home that prize.
“A win would mean everything for us,” said Talman. “We’ve come a long way the last couple years and with the 5k not only being the biggest race of the season, we have a shot at winning the Sign Pro Triple Crown and the Mac Daddy Fastener set. Our shop isn’t the most organized and we’d love to be able to take that home since we’re always looking for nuts and bolts and washers. We’d definitely put that thing to some good use.”
As with any race, a good starting position always helps and the NAPA SK 5k will have a unique qualifying format that utilizes the USAC Passing Points system. Talman will be hoping to repeat his qualifying performance from the Senator’s Cup night where he started fourth and won his heat which placed him on the pole position for the 50-lap feature, which he won.
“The passing points in the qualifying heats are going to make things interesting,” said Talman. “Normally you finish in the top-5 and you get handicapped no matter where you finish in the top-5. But with the passing points, you want to start somewhere around mid-pack and pass as many cars as you can. In the Casella 80 we drew pole position and finished 4th in our heat so we started in the back half of the field and we don’t want to have to do that again.”
Winning the NAPA SK 5k is part of Talman’s strategy going into the second half of the 2026 season. Talman has climbed from 16th to 6th over the last 7 races in the SK standings, but he is 90 points behind Keith Rocco so he and the team are focused on winning more races.
