Louden, NH PR (September 16, 2006)
Contact: Penny Aicardi
(508) 234-8684
Loudon, NH (September 16, 2006): Most drivers would be thrilled to finish a high-profile race at New Hampshire International Speedway in the top-five.
And for the most, Whelen Modified Tour driver Mike Stefanik and his Flamingo Motorsports team are happy to bring home a fourth place finish in the Sylvania 100. But being content with top-five’s is not what earned Stefanik eight NASCAR Championships. He’s still searching for better.
“You can’t be upset with a fourth place finish, but you want to have a car that you can really put on a show with and it just wasn’t happening that day. Our car was good in the corners, but it just did not seem to go like it needed to,” he said. “We want to be winning races.”
Stefanik started the No. 16 Diversified Metals/Sheraton Harborside Portsmouth Chevrolet from the pole after rain washed out qualifying Thursday afternoon, and the Coventry, RI-driver didn’t hesitate to pull right out in front of Ted Christopher to lead the first lap. But Todd Szegedy was the man on the move, and by lap two, Stefanik had shuffled back.
“He had a pretty strong car and he used the draft to pass by me,” Stefanik said of Szegedy. “I didn’t have as strong a car as he did on the straightaway, so we got the green light from his crew chief to push if we wanted to. It didn’t really seem like I could push him away so the lead just kept swapping around.”
Stefanik maintained a top-five position throughout the first caution-free 48 laps, and decided to pit with most of the field at halfway.
“Everybody pitted except for Hirschman and one other car. We came in and put four tires on and made a stagger adjustment. We were tight,” said Stefanik. “We had a good pit stop and got out pretty quick.”
Racing resumed at lap 60 with lead changes the rule rather than the exception, but the race’s second and final caution waved just a few laps later for a multi-car crash in turn four.
“We were able to get on the bottom and make a good move out of four when the 2 got into the back of the 79. We were able to pick up a bunch of spots.”
On the restart, Stefanik drove the Flamingo Motorsports entry to the front of the pack to lead lap 68, but it was short-lived as Eddie Flemke passed him the following circuit. Stefanik returned to the point at lap 72, but again, his time out front was limited with Christopher getting by for the lead at lap 76.
“Ted Christopher helped me get the lead and then he passed me. I tried to get back by Teddy and I fell back to eighth. Nobody really wanted to go with me when I tried to get by him. I certainly didn’t have anybody that wanted to run the bottom with me.”
“Our car was really good in the corners, but we just couldn’t pull off those bottom shot fly jobs,” Stefanik continued. “I couldn’t pull out a line and have any momentum heading out of the corner. We never showed enough speed on the straightaways to make it happen. We tried running the bottom and we did okay, but after a while, the cars were getting by me.”
Since the bottom wasn’t working, Stefanik moved to the higher groove. He was able to keep in the top-five for the remainder of the event, and even gained a spot in the closing laps to finish fourth.
“I got back to fifth and I refused to go to the bottom anymore, and it was really tough to pass anybody on the top. I got by Teddy there on the last lap. I don’t know what it was between him and the 28, but something was brewing and I was able to pick up another spot. If we can get a gift like that, we take it, but I didn’t have enough muscle to get out front. I took enough beating on the bottom earlier in the race, that I just settled with what I could get on top.”
Stefanik heads to Waterford Speedbowl on September 24th as the point leader – 104 points over Ted Christopher.