STAFFORD, CT :: Tommy Barrett Jr. captured his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Coors Light Pole award in just his fourth career start at Stafford Motor Speedway on Saturday. Barrett’s lap of 18.221 seconds was just .04 second than Woody Pitkat’s lap, but that was enough.
“It means a lot to me,” said Barrett. “I started racing modifieds here when I was 15. I got a lot of wins that year. I got my first Modified Racing Series win here. And now I’ve got my first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour pole.”
Barrett was sixth fastest in practice earlier in the day, but he said he thinks that the pole could be a sign of things to come for tomorrow’s Spring Sizzler 200-lap race.
“We’ve got 200 laps. We’ve got a lot of time, but we should be running up front,” said Barrett.
Barrett’s first race with the Chris Our organization was a struggle at the Icebreaker at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, but he said that the team didn’t want to let those memories linger.
“That weekend was really a bummer,” he said. “We didn’t want to hang our heads so they worked on the cars real hard.”
The young driver from Millis, Massachusetts is three days away from his 19th birthday. He was forced to wear the “21 Means 21” hat rather than the traditional Coors Light Pole Award hat.
Woody Pitkat, Justin Bonsignore, Doug Coby and Ryan Preece round out the top five starting positions.
Spring Sizzler 200 Starting Lineup:
1) Tommy Barrett Jr.
2) Woody Pitkat
3) Justin Bonsignore
4) Doug Coby
5) Ryan Preece
6) Rowan Pennink
7) Ron Silk
8) Bobby Santos
9) Jimmy Zacharias
10) Ron Yuhas
11) Matt Hirschman
12) Donny Lia
13) Ted Christopher
14) Eric Goodale
15) Timmy Solomito
16) Keith Rocco
17) Richie Pallai Jr.
18) Patrick Emerling
19) Glen Reen
20) Jamie Tomaino
21) Gary Putnam
22) Ken Heagy
23) Wade Cole
24) Dave Salzarulo
25) T.J. Zacharias
26) Gary McDonald
27) Melissa Fifield
