BRISTOL, Tenn :: With only four races remaining to crown the 2014 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion, Doug Coby and Justin Bonsignore have successfully separated themselves from the rest of the pack.
They have not, however, separated themselves from each other.
Coby can only claim a narrow four point advantage over his championship rival. He was satisfied though as he survived one of the more traditionally chaotic and wreck-filled events of the season on the lead lap, something he has not been able to say in quite some time.
“I wish we could have extended (our points lead) more but I can’t complain because this is the first time that I’ve been running on the lead lap here in three tries,” Coby told Race22.com. “All three times, I’ve come to Bristol and have been up in the points and have always had to make up ground leaving Bristol.
“Today, this is one more race complete in the checklist for a championship. I’m really happy and there are just four more races left.”
Bonsignore had several reasons to leave Bristol unhappy. He won the pole and led the most laps but was unable to secure his fourth victory of the season. His sixth-place finish was worse than Coby’s fourth, causing him to lose one point in the standings, something that could eventually prove the difference.
Despite all of that, he took his afternoon at Thunder Valley in stride.
“We just got worse and couldn’t get to the throttle,” Bonsignore said. “I thought we had it fixed early in the second half and we caught the leaders, led a few laps and it happened all over again. But I’m happy to leave here sixth when the guys we’re chasing finished fourth.
“We don’t points race. We come to the track to win every week but we’re certainly keeping track of how this is starting to play out and I feel good about our chances.”
Teddy Christopher entered the race third in the standings and 21 points back despite having not yet won a race this season. But a 20th-place finish on Wednesday combined with the leaders running up front dealt a heavy-handed blow to his chances as he left Tennessee 33 markers behind Coby.
The overall NASCAR Modified Tour standings can be found below.
- Doug Coby Ldr.
- Justin Bonsignore -4
- Ted Christopher -33
- Bobby Santos III -34
- Ron Silk -39
- Ryan Preece -45
- Timmy Solomito -67
- Eric Goodale -71
- Woody Pitkat -74
- Matt Hirschman -75
- Patrick Emerling -98
- Donny Lia -108
- Tommy Barrett, Jr. -116
- Glen Reen -117
- Ron Yuhas -118
