DAYTONA BEACH, FL :: Despite an early season injury, Keith Rocco expects to be a contender in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national point race. Rocco was the series’ 2010 national champion and placed second to Lee Pulliam for the 2012 national title. Pulliam is off to an early lead in the 2013 national point race.
Rocco, 28, of Wallingford, Conn., is maintaining a winning pace despite injury. He broke a bone near his left wrist in an SK Modified heat race accident at Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl on April 27. After finishing fourth in that night’s feature event, he went to a hospital where the injury was diagnosed and placed in a “soft” cast. He started the following day’s SK Modified feature at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway. Under the first caution, seven-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Mike Stefanik hopped in the car and drove it to a seventh-place finish.
With no more need for a relief driver, Rocco returned to Waterford’s Victory Lane May 4. A runner-up finish to Ryan Preece at Stafford last Friday pushed Rocco’s eight-race record for the season to four wins, six top-fives and seven top-10s. He leads the Connecticut state point race and is seventh in the national standings.
“It’s definitely hard on me, but we’re not giving up,” Rocco said. “We are absolutely not out of the running.”
Pulliam took advantage of March track openings in Virginia and North Carolina and made the most of them. He’s made a series-leading 17 starts. Last weekend he posted his ninth and 10th wins of the season in two 75-lap NASCAR Late Model features at South Boston (Va.) Speedway. He ran his first NASCAR Whelen All-American Series point race of the season March 2 at Southern National Motorsports Park in Kenly, N.C., and got his first win on March 9 at South Boston. He later won at Southern National and Caraway Speedway in Sophia, N.C. In addition to 10 wins, Pulliam’s racing record includes 15 top-fives. Pulliam, 24, of Semora, N.C., leads South Boston’s track point race and is sixth in standings at Southern National. He leads the national standings with 586 points.
Deac McCaskill of Raleigh, N.C., is second in national standings with 487 points. His 14-race record in Late Models at South Boston and Southern National includes five wins, 10 top-fives and 13 top-10s. Tommy Lemons Jr. of Troy, N.C. is third in national standings with 453 points. Racing Late Models at South Boston, Caraway and Southern National, his 14-race record includes three wins, 11 top-fives and 13 top 10s. Anthony Anders of Easley, S.C., is ranked fourth with 415 points. He races Late Models at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway, Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway, Kingsport (Tenn.) Speedway and Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Speedway. His 16-race record includes seven wins, 12 top-fives and 14 top-10s. CE Falk III, of Virginia Beach, Va., is fifth in the standings. With 10 starts at South Boston (Va.) Speedway and Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va., he has three wins and nine top-fives, finishing outside the top-10 only once. Pulliam also leads the Virginia state NASCAR standings with 353 points. Falk is second with 331 points.
Rocco is focused on getting 100-percent out of his racing efforts this year.
“I’m hungrier than ever to win. I’m racing a Late Model full-time at Waterford. The cars are just awesome. I ran in five divisions opening day and won three of them. I ran nine or 10 races in two weeks.”
Rocco leads the Waterford track point races in the both NASCAR Division I SK Modifieds and the NASCAR Division II Late Models. He also leads the Sunoco Modified division track standings at Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway. He’s third in Stafford SK Modified standings behind leader Ryan Preece and second place Todd Owen. Just 14 points separate the three.
“Things are actually looking in our favor this year,” Rocco said. “I was running the (NASCAR Whelen Modified) Tour last year and missed some weekly races. We’re strictly back in the weekly racing business.”
Over the past six years Rocco finished no lower than fourth in the national point race. In addition to his 2010 national title, he placed second in standings in 2009 and 2011-12.
Now in its 32nd season, the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series is NASCAR’s national championship program for weekly short track auto racing. There are 55 sanctioned tracks throughout the United States and Canada that participate.
A NASCAR Division I driver’s best 18 results through the Sept. 15 closing date count toward their state and national point totals and the champions are decided on overall point total. Once a driver reaches 18 starts, their point total increases incrementally as they replace some poorer runs with better results.
Under the point structure for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, a race winner receives two points for every car in the event up to 20 cars. Second place receives two fewer points and so on through the field. Race winners receive an additional five points. For example, if 20 cars are in the field, the winner receives 45 points, second place 38 and third 36. If there are 15 cars, the winner receives 35 points, second 28 and third, 26.
Track operators also designate support classes as NASCAR Divisions II-V and drivers in those divisions compete for points in the NASCAR Finalist program. The program brings added recognition to support division drivers. Points are kept separately for asphalt and dirt tracks.
