STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. – Ryan Preece gambled on tires during a late pit stop and roared to victory in Friday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour GAF Roofing 150 Friday at Stafford Motor Speedway.
Preece led the field to the green flag after earning the pole in qualifying and took the early lead with Jon McKennedy, Justin Bonsignore, Eric Goodale and Doug Coby lined up behind him. By lap 20, Preece was still in the lead but Bonsignore had slid back to fifth as McKennedy was still second followed now by Goodale and Coby in third and fourth.
As the race approached lap 40, Preece was still in command but Goodale was applying heavy pressure to the back bumper of McKennedy in the fight for second. Goodale looked to have the quicker car, but he couldn’t make a pass on McKennedy despite trying several times to get to the inside of the No. 7 car. Bonsignore was still in fifth behind Preece, McKennedy, Goodale, and Coby with Ronnie Williams in sixth, Craig Lutz in seventh, Kyle Bonsignore in eighth, Ron Silk in ninth, and Matt Swanson in tenth.
Coby took second from McKennedy on lap 63 while Preece was still comfortably in the lead. McKennedy dropped back to third with Goodale still in fourth and Williams up to fifth. Williams made a move to get around Goodale and move into fourth place on lap 81 and he took third from McKennedy two laps later. McKennedy would slide back to sixth place over the next several laps as Goodale was now fourth with Craig Lutz in fifth. The caution flew for the first time with 95 laps complete for debris on the track.
Preece had lapped up to ninth place in the first 95 laps and under the caution the lead lap cars all came to pit road for tires and adjustments. Preece won the race off pit road followed by Coby, McKennedy, Williams, Justin Bonsignore, Kyle Bonsignore, Lutz, and Goodale.
Preece and Coby led the field back to green with Preece charging back into the lead but Coby drove right up to Preece’s back bumper and nearly made a pass for the lead on lap 102. Coby was able to get alongside Preece on lap-107 but Preece was still the leader at the line by a nose. Coby got clear into the lead on lap-108 and his move brought Justin Bonsignore up to second and dropped Preece back to third. McKennedy was fourth in line with Williams in fifth. The caution came back out on lap-110 for Swanson, who took a trip through the backstretch grass. Under the caution, Preece came back to pit road along with McKennedy and Williams and he restarted in seventh.
Kyle Bonsignore and Lutz came together on the backstretch and spun to bring the caution back out on lap 116. McKennedy nearly went three-wide with Coby and Justin Bonsignore on the lap 122 restart and Williams spun in the middle of turns 1+2 while Dave Sapienza came to a stop against the wall to bring the caution back out on lap 124.
Justin Bonsignore ran side by side with Coby on the restart and he took the lead from Coby on lap 133. McKennedy was now side by side with Coby for second with Preece in fourth. McKennedy took second with Preece taking third on lap 134 and Preece then went by McKennedy to move into second on lap 135. Coby was back to fourth place with Ron Silk up to fifth.
With 10 laps to go, Preece was right on Justin Bonsignore’s back bumper in the fight for the lead. Preece got to the inside of Bonsignore on lap 142 and he completed the pass on lap 143 with 7 laps remaining in the race. McKennedy was still third with Coby in fourth and Silk in fifth. Preece led Bonsignore to the checkered flag to win the GAF Roofing 150. McKennedy finished third with Coby and Silk rounding out the top-five.
The finish:
Ryan Preece, Justin Bonsignore, Jon McKennedy, Doug Coby, Ron Silk, Woody Pitkat, Patrick Emerling, Ronnie Williams, Eric Goodale, Tommy Catalano, Anthony Nocella, Tyler Rypkema, Matt Swanson, Timmy Solomito, Andrew Krause, Kyle Soper, J.B. Fortin, Ken Heagy, Dave Sapienza, Craig Lutz, Kyle Bonsignore, Melissa Fifield, Walt Sutcliffe Jr.