MILLIS, MA :: Many people had high expectations for Tommy Barrett Jr’s first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, but so far it hasn’t lived up to the hype.
He crashed in practice at Thompson (Conn.) Speedway Motorsports Park before even completing one lap. He started to make his way to the front in his backup car before ignition issues ended his day 50 laps early.
“It hasn’t gotten off on the way we had hoped,” said Barrett. “No one’s fault. We just haven’t had things go our way.”
After winning a lot of races on the Valenti Modified Racing Series the last couple years Barrett was signed by Chris Our to take over the seat of the Our Racing no. 22 that was piloted by seven-time Tour champion Mike Stefanik last season.
But the slow start to the season hasn’t robbed the 19-year-old Massachusetts native of his confidence.
“If you’re not confident then how do you expect to win?” he replied. “You could compare that to a lot of things in life.”
Entering the third race of the season on Friday night Barrett said he thinks he’ll definitely win this season. He expects to win.
“Once we get the monkey off our back we’ll be hard to beat week in and week out,” said Barrett. “It’s coming soon. I’ve got the best team behind me, so I don’t see why it can’t happen.”
And being a rookie hasn’t tempered his expectations at all.
“I feel that it is just a yellow stripe on the bumper,” he said. “Do I have as much experience as most of these guys? No, but as a driver you can’t think of it like that. You just have to think or know that you can beat anyone at any time.”
