Wayne Coury, Jr. posted 10 top-5 and 11 top-10 finishes in the first 13 races of the 2026 Late Model season at Stafford Speedway. While those are results that most any driver would be comfortable with, one thing missing from Coury’s 2026 resume was a feature victory. Coury checked that box by scoring his first win of the season last Friday night, August 21st. The victory came after Coury says he and his team had struggled to find winning speed in his #10 Springfield Thunderbirds car.
“Even though we had a lot of top-5 finishes early in the year, we actually had a slow start and it took us a little while to find the speed that we needed to be a top-3 or winning car,” said Coury. “We definitely had top-5 speed early on, but we didn’t quite have winning speed. Once we found some speed, we had a few good runs going and led a bunch of laps but we broke a couple of times when we were in the lead, which killed us. Thanks to everyone who helps us out with the car, Gary Theriault is kind of the glue that’s held the team together this year along with my Dad and Pat Kretschman. We have a bunch of guys who come and help out in the shop every week and thanks to our sponsors Springfield Thunderbirds, Restore, Stafford Sand and Gravel, Whips Sporting Goods, my dad at Wayne’s Auto Body, and King Gray Coach Lines. We have so many people who help us out and we’re grateful for all they do.”
With Coury and the #10 team notching their first win of the 2026 season, they have moved into third place in the Late Model points standings, only 16 points or 8 positions on the track, behind Adam Gray. Coury and his team have found their stride in the second half of the season with five top-4 finishes in the last six races. That good fortune combined with his feature victory have put Coury right into the thick of the championship race in a time period that Coury says favors him and his team.
“The last couple weeks we’ve got some good momentum back and we’re hoping we can keep it going through the end of the season,” said Coury. “I love racing in the fall and we usually have good runs in September and we want to continue that trend. The goal for us is to keep on bringing winning cars to the track and to not deviate from what we’ve been doing because what we’ve been doing has been working for us. If we can finish all the races and stay focused on the small things, we should be pretty competitive for the last 5 races of the season.”
As tempting as it is for any driver to keep track of points, especially when they have a realistic opportunity to claim a championship, Coury is trying to stay more focused on keeping his routine the same rather than keeping track of where he is in the Late Model standings. “I try to not think too much about points while still racing to get to the front and win races,” said Coury. “It’s obviously hard to not look at the standings and at the same time be excited about being in the mix, but I don’t really want to race any differently than what we’ve been doing all season long. It’s going to be extremely tight these last 5 races. With our finishes the last 3 races, we’re going to be starting towards the back and it’s tough to get through traffic in our division. It’s hard to pass and things get spread out so it’s going to be an uphill battle, but we’re definitely up for the challenge.”
Despite winning races at area tracks all over New England, Coury has yet to win a championship in any division at any track. Should he come out on top of the standings in 2026, it would be a huge accomplishment for Coury and the #10 team. “The championship has always been our goal and we’ve had a couple of seasons where we’ve been in reach, but it’s really hard to make everything click for an entire season,” said Coury. “The championship would mean a lot to us if we’re able to win it and it would be huge for me to win my first championship. We’ve won races at a lot of different tracks but a championship has always been elusive so it would be huge to win and I’m happy to be in the mix. I have guys in the team that have won championships before like my father, Pat Kretschman, and Tom Fearn so now it’s my turn to get the job done as the driver. Between all the experience we have on the team, it’s been very nice how well things have clicked for us and putting things together. Last season we were working some new kinks out of a new car and things have really seemed to click well for us this year.”
Coury will look to continue his surge this Friday, August 28th, which will see the return of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour to Stafford for the first time since the 2021 season for the GAF 150. Stafford’s SK Modified®, Late Model, SK Light, Limited Late Model, and Street Stock cars will all join the WMT in feature action.
