RPW Column By DOMINIC KONARESKI / RPW – STAFFORD SPRINGS, CT – October 2nd, 2020. Coming out of the final turn, Michael Christopher Jr takes the lead from Keith Rocco to win the SK Modified feature. With a third place finish (after tangling with Todd Owen) Keith Rocco will be named the 2020 Stafford Motor Speedway SK Modified Track Champion.
This took place on the second-to-last race of the season at the Connecticut oval, as he would stop Ronnie Williams (-72) from capturing his third-straight championship.
Keith Rocco’s 2020 Championship was unlike any other and most likely will never be duplicated by another driver for generations to come. This was his fourth track championship at Stafford and 18th NASCAR division championship…in turn, setting the national record.
The 2020 racing season was a very unpredictable year and in the sport. It was ten times worse as many drivers didn’t know if there would even be a racing season due to the Coronavirus. Thankfully, the season got going at Stafford, but was shortened to only 14 events.
We saw many talented drivers have off years due to the late start. However, nothing seemed to faze the Berlin, CT chauffeur as he moved up to third on the all-time wins list at Stafford. His total now stands at 78.
To be honest, Rocco absolutely dominated the season at Stafford. He claimed six wins out of those 14 events. That’s a 42.9% winning percentage. He also took home 10 top 5’s and finished in the top 10 for every single race. He had an average finish of third (actually, it was 3.3) and ended the 2020 campaign with a total of 636 points. This was the most points scored in the Stafford Motor Speedway weekly racing division among the other 2020 champions.
Overall, Keith Rocco had a season that many would dream of. With that, it seems only fitting that he would, in turn, make NASCAR history at the end of it.