Rowan Pennink celebrates in victory lane Sunday at Stafford Motor Speedway (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
STAFFORD – Despite finishing the season with five victories, the opening few weeks of the 2014 season in the SK Modified division at Stafford Motor Speedway was nothing Rowan Pennink wanted to remember.
Pennink finished outside the top-10 in his first five starts of the season in the SK Modified division at Stafford.
Sunday Pennink made sure there would be no worries about getting out of the gate slow at Stafford this year.
Pennink, of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., held off Glen Reen over the closing laps to win the 40-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified feature at the NAPA Spring Sizzler at Stafford.
“This is definitely one on top of my win list that I always wanted to get,” Pennink said. “This car was amazing. … Everyone knew this thing was bad fast all weekend. We just had to come out here and show them that thing was still fast as hell. I can’t thank all my guys enough.”
Reen, of Wilbraham, Mass., held on for second and Ryan Preece of Berlin was third.
Preece went early from his third starting spot to the lead until he was passed for the top spot by Keith Rocco on lap 15. Pennink went by Preece for second on a lap 16 restart.
On lap 20 restart, Rocco was black flag and penalized to the rear of the field for aggressively driving against Pennink. On lap 24 Reen went by Preece for second
Reen went by Pennink for the lead on a lap 27 restart, but Pennink rallied back to regain the lead on lap 32 and never trailed again.
“It was long hours and a lot of work in the offseason to get this thing ready to go,” Reen said. “This team is awesome.”
Said Preece: “It’s a great way to start the season. We’ve got plenty to improve on. … We’ve got some work to do, but we’ll be trying to get to victory lane soon.”
What did Rocco do to get blacked flagged?
Steve,
Was told he was too aggressive on a restart. That’s all I know.
Never heard such a thing??? Jumping the start yes
They blew that call! The 6 was pushing Rocco on that restart, that’s why Rocco got squirley and he got into Pennink.
If you watched the race and not reading twitter he got pushed ! So unfair !
Nothing about Chris Jones driving over the top of the 82 on the last lap? I had not been able to make it to Stafford for a few years, but I was pretty sure that guy had been “banned for life” several times.
Not hard to see who the favorite is once again at Stafford in the SK’s. The golden child, nascar next guy got the call again and the 88 SK got shafted again. Stafford officials should be embarrassed over the blatant, overt favoritism they show to Preece week in and week out. It’s sickening. He drove into Rocco so hard during that restart that MY neck hurts, never mind how the driver of the 88 feels today after that hit. Doesn’t Stafford have about 50 cameras on every facet of the race but no one saw what truly happened there? Absolutely despicable.
I didn’t see exactly what happened there but you have to control your own car. I give you exhibit A. On Saturday they BF Ted for the Williams incident in 1 and 2. It wasn’t his fault and after doing all he could to stay off RW he was still pushed from behind into the flailing 59 and eventually turned him. He took the penalty and I don’t remember hearing any crying about it. Now lets really fire up the” kid dump” fans. Which one of you is going to be man enough to acknowledge what he did to Cipriano in 3 and 4 ? Flat out just drilled the 84. He’s lucky that young wheelman hung onto it or Rocco was going to the back again.
I didn’t see what Rocco did to that cipriano road block. It is a fact though that pretty much every driver in the field hates racing with the 84. He can’t seem to hold a lane. Not sure if he is in the mirror or he is just plain terrible.
Rocco moved Pennick up the track coming out of turn four on the restart. It looked like he spun the tires which got Rocco’s car a little sideways and they bumped a couple of times. If he didn’t move him up to begin with, it probably would have been a clean start.
That call was about as bad as the call to let the leader (and eventual winner) of the legends feature to get his spot back despite spinning himself out in turn 4. How does one get their lead spot back after spinning and bringing out a caution?
Try listening to the 84 spotter telling him to ” ride em up, ride em up” every time someone’s outside of him on the track. That’s Sylvia Crunden on the radio, the worlds worst pro stock driver ever. She’s gonna get someone killed. Wait til he fences someone again…
Easy fix..lose the radios. The older i get the better this idea seams.
I have a better fix all the grand stand drivers let the racers race . If u want to run your mouths get a car and go race.the last time I checked the spotter doesn’t hold the steering wheel .
Well charley I have heard Sylvia spot before and never heard her say that before. Hold your line yes not push them up or mabe she should say pull over kid rock is behind you LOL.Also never seen joey (FENCE) some one befor (there every week for 10 + years).And lastly what # pro stock did you drive or any race car for that matter so I can look up your stat’s