Waterford Yields First DNF of Season

This past Saturday evening, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour made its first of two stops at New London’s Waterford Speedbowl (CT).

When the green flag dropped on the 30-car field, it quickly became evident that the 1/3-mile oval was a one-groove track. Starting deep in the field, Renee battled back and forth – taking advantage of the seven caution periods (for a race total of 38 laps) to make chassis adjustments. Following a caution on lap 88, Renee finally became successful in running the outside line – advancing several positions. However, just a few laps later, Renee slowed briefly to avoid a multi-car wreck in front of her and was clobbered from behind. Struggling to make it to the pits for necessary repairs, Renee was unable to make it back to the racing surface.

"When you run the outside – especially at a tight track like Waterford – you take the chance of getting caught with no place to escape a wreck," explained Renee. "Tonight there was one groove, with everyone just lining-up on the bottom. Follow the leader wasn’t working for us – so to try to gain positions we worked to get the car to run the outside. We finally got it to work – but then got trapped with no place to go."

The disappointing 25th place finish marked the only DNF (did not finish) for the team in the 2005 season. Surprisingly, the team moved up one position in the points battle and is now ranked 15th in the standings.

Next Sunday (July 3) the WMT is slated to return to the ½-mile Stafford Motor Speedway to complete the rain postponed 150-lap race originally scheduled for May 27.

In other news, prior to the Waterford race the No. 90 team participated in Whelen Engineering’s ‘open-house’ in scenic Chester, CT. The event was open to the public and all in attendance (Whelen employees, fans and media) were invited to tour Whelen’s sprawling facility and take a close-up look at the NASCAR Modifieds on display.