Column By: BRITTANY NUTILE / RPW – STAFFORD SPRINGS, CT – Craig Lutz took home the Fall Final NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at Stafford Motor Speedway.
This is Craig’s first win on the tour. He has had 3 2nd place finishes and 9 top 5s this season. He led 34 laps of the race today and made good moves on the racetrack, his crew made awesome pit stops and were able to get home out in the top 5 for the final restart of the race.
He had Bonsignore and Coby right behind after the restart and got away from them a little bit. He had a fast car and was able to hold both of the heavy weights of the tour series off to win his first race.
Justin Bonsignore finished 2nd in the race. He started the race in 4th place. Justin had a good race at Stafford, he stayed up in the top 5 throughout the first few laps then, dropped back a little in the beginning of the race because he was saving tires and fuel and staying out of trouble to compete for the win at the end of the race.
Doug Coby had a pretty good race, he is normally on the pole of races at Thompson but, today he started the race 2nd and stayed behind Pasteryak in the beginning of the race, who had gotten the pole and quickly got the lead from the start with Coby right behind him. Doug led 43 laps of the race but, Lutz just was a little bit faster than him and Bonsignore at the last restart. He had a good car and the races at Stafford are good for guys like Coby who have a good car and good pit crews and good pit stops and strategy. Doug just came up two positions short but, still has the points lead going into the last race of the season at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park for the World Series.
We go into the final race of the season in two weeks at Thompson Speedway. The point standings are close between the points leader, Doug Coby, and the 2nd place, Justin Bonsignore by 19 points. It all comes down to the World Series which will be interesting to watch because Justin is very good at Thompson, he has won 2 races at Thompson this year and 6 wins total between 2018 and 2019. Justin was going for another win in August to keep his undefeated streak going at Thompson but, Coby dethroned him and took the win there.
Top 5 finishers:
1. Craig Lutz
2. Justin Bonsignore
3. Doug Coby
4. Chuck Hossfeld
5. Matt Swanson
Top 5 in points
1. Doug Coby 624points +19
2. Justin Bonsignore 605points -19
3. Ron Silk 556points -68
4. Craig Lutz 552points -72
5. Matt Swanson 481points -143
