Whelen Mods at Bristol ... on YOUR TV!

[Todd McCreary]

7:00pm Eastern on Speed.

if Newman is actually going to turn 1000 laps at Bristol this week he has to get out of this race alive.

http://www.speedtv.com/schedule/

the truck race is on after.

[Benny The Mule]

Thanks Todd, I'd almost forgot about the mods.

[sunshinestateracing1]

What a race

That mod race was a great one to watch

[Winger]

How about a report for those of us that don't have SPEED? I love the mods.

[sunshinestateracing1]

Was a good race lost of side by side action, I know Teddy Christopher was 2nd, the rest of the run down I did not see or remember the names

Wish I could give you a better recap, but hope that helps you a littel bit.

[Jim Fenton]

From the Bristol Herald Courier:

An all-star collection of drivers from the Northeast and South competed in the first NASCAR Whelen Modified Series event at BMS. To the delight of the rowdy northeastern fan contingent, a familiar face emerged as the winner of the University of Northwestern Ohio Perfect Storm 150.

Driving an iconic Dodge dubbed the Mystic Missile, Donny Lia of Jericho, N.Y., posted his second win of the season. Lia also won the June 27 New England 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Lia, who finished 12th in last year’s Camping World Truck Series at BMS, admitted that conquering one of NASCAR’s most popular venues carries extra significance.
“To win here at Bristol is amazing,” Lia said. “I want to thank everybody that put this race on for us, because there’s no better racing than the modifieds. Hopefully we showed that today.”

Lia, the 2007 series champion, recorded the fastest overall lap of Wednesday’s three practice sessions with a time of 14.924 seconds at 128.571 mph. Since qualifying was rained out, all 40 cars that entered were allowed to race.

Ted Christopher, the 2008 series champion and current points leader, started from the pole and dominated until the planned intermission at lap 75. Lia’s crew took advantage of the break to add wedge and remove stagger from his car.

Displaying a mix of aggression and guile, Lia executed a clean pass for the lead on lap 107 and then quickly pulled away. Lia was forced to relinquish the lead to Christopher the lead on lap 137 when he jumped the restart, but he quickly reassumed control.

“It would have been pretty bad if I gave the race away like that,” Lia said. “I got a little nervous there, but was able to get back around.”

Christopher unofficially broke Ryan Newman’s all-time BMS track record during a Feb. 24 modified test at BMS with a lap of 14.479 seconds. Christopher was also fastest car during Tuesday’s night practice session, but he was forced to settle for a second place finish.
“You don’t know what your car is going to do until you race the race,” Christopher said. “It wasn’t a bad day. We just tightened the car up too much. It was real tight up off the turn, and that’s where Donny got by me.”

After the first caution period, Christopher admitted to feeling concerned. Only three more cautions followed, with the second caution unfolding on lap 74 for a single-car incident.
“I thought it was going to be a little ugly after that first wreck, but we only had a few spins after that,” Christopher said. “It was definitely interesting with lapped traffic. For some of the guys… I think their spotters went for a hot dog or something.”

Ryan Preece, southern division points leader George Brunnhoelzl and Woody Pitkat rounded out the top five finishers. Mike Stefanik, the series record holder with 69 victories, settled for 25th.

The field, which included drivers from the northern and southern modified tours, featured a pair of NASCAR Sprint Cup regulars in Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman.

Newman was involved in a five-car crash on the opening lap. It was just the third career modified start for Newman, a former USAC Silver Crown competitor who was driving a car owned by Sprint Cup crew chief Kevin “Bono” Mannion. Newman finished 37th.

Kahne, who nearly lost control of his car twice in Wednesday’s final practice, recorded a 28th-place finish.

To compensate for the unique demands of Bristol, all teams were forced to make adjustments in terms of springs and shocks. Lia said the experiences of last year’s BMS truck race paid few dividends.

“It helps anytime you can run laps at a track, but the trucks and modifieds are just so different,” said Lia, who admitted to being surprised by the G-forces involved in competing at BMS. “It’s pretty much a clean slate here every other truck we run.”

Lia is anxious for another Bristol test after recording his 13th career victory.
“I’ve got to thank all these fans for coming out,” Lia said. “I hope we can come back and put on an even better show next time.”

The modifieds, which feature 650 horsepower engines, are wider and lighter than the full-bodied cars used at the top levels of NASCAR.

NOTES: The modifieds are the oldest division in NASCAR. A locally based modified series was once held at BMS, with the last race held 1961… A NASCAR Whelen Modified Series race is held each fall at Martinsville Speedway.


Unofficial Finish

[Winger]

Thanks for the report. Wish I had been there.

[Todd McCreary]

Todd Szegedy ran right on Christopher's tail for almost all of the first 75 laps but never really made any move on him. it looked like Szegedy was just cruising, winding laps down. from the in car, you could see that he was just eating Christopher up as they came up onto the straight. and he and Christopher walked off and left 3rd place by something like 3/4 of a second and had up to 15th lapped by the intermission.

after they came back out, Szegedy fell WAY off and Lia who had been running 3rd went up and took the lead away from Christopher. then, just to prove it wasn't a fluke he "jumped" a restart, gave Christopher the lead and then passed him right back again.

not often you see a leader black flagged for jumping the start.

[georgep]

Was there, up in the third turn under the roof. GREAT SHOW what they DID not tell you was in practice, Lea was at 128.987 and the tested at 131.124. NASCAR did not want that out.
Modifieds where worth the $30.00 the pick up trucks where NAP TIME sorry the BIG DEAL was the Kyle Busch reaction from the fans.
IF they have them back I will go again but the show at NSS for the Richie Evans was 100% better.

[AJ14]

The mods have always been a great show . I think they showed they can run Bristol with no problems . They have a big mountain to climb to get NASCAR to put them in more shows . The mods are useless to NASCAR because there is no manufacturer tie in that they can milk . The car makers aren't going to spend the money to promote the mods because they don't have marketing value . And if the France family can't pull big money out of someone , then it isn't worth them doing anything . Nevermind that the fans would like to see the mods .
Did i just miss it or was there no starting lineup shown on tv during the pace laps before the start ? I never saw one and it took a while to find out who was in the race .

[georgep]

The mods have always been a great show . I think they showed they can run Bristol with no problems . They have a big mountain to climb to get NASCAR to put them in more shows . The mods are useless to NASCAR because there is no manufacturer tie in that they can milk . The car makers aren't going to spend the money to promote the mods because they don't have marketing value . And if the France family can't pull big money out of someone , then it isn't worth them doing anything . Nevermind that the fans would like to see the mods .
Did i just miss it or was there no starting lineup shown on tv during the pace laps before the start ? I never saw one and it took a while to find out who was in the race .

Missed nothing. They where not even in the PROGRAM and there was NO INFO even as a handout. That was a one and done. I think they will be at the Rock but speaking to Bohler (owns the #3) they do not expect to be back since they where FORCED to HARD Hoosiers to slow them down and GOODYEAR was not happy about Hosier being in the house at all. Remember TIRE WARS.