Digging Out: Woody Pitkat, Kevin Stuart Motorsports Looking For Mod Tour Upturn At NHMS

Kevin Stuart (left) and Woody Pitkat work together in the garage at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Kevin Stuart (left) and Woody Pitkat work together in the garage at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

LOUDON, N.H. – New Hampshire Motor Speedway has long been the site for the best of fairy tale story endings to come true for teams of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

One can always expect the unexpected when it comes to finishes for the division when they compete on the 1.058-mile oval in Loudon.

And Kevin Stuart Motorsports is hoping this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway can produce the positive simple positive the team has been desperately searching for in 2016.

Owner Kevin Stuart made the decision to run a part-time schedule this season with 2015 championship contender Woody Pitkat driving his car. Pitkat lost his full-time ride on the series after Buzz Chew Racing decided to shut down their Modified Tour operation following the 2015 season.

Optimism reigned though for Stuart and Pitkat when they announced they would team up for 2016.

“I’ve never been through anything like this,” Stuart said of the string of bad luck that has plagued the team thus far this season.

The team has started five of six events this year and their only race completion was a 10th place in the season opener on April 10 at Thompson Speedway.

Since then Pitkat has been involved in wrecks in the last four events the team has run, at Stafford Motor Speedway (April 24, June 3), the New London-Waterford Speedbowl (May 14) and Thompson (June 15).

“I guess I can’t really complain because the last couple years have been really good for me so I can understand having a little bit of bad luck this year, but it’s just been pretty unreal,” Pitkat said recently during a test at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “But the guys have been working real hard just to get us to finish a race and we haven’t really been able to do that. It’s been very disappointing and frustrating. But it’s got nothing to do with a lack of effort. Kevin has no problems getting whatever we need and [crew chief Kenny Stuart] will do whatever I need him to do and the guys are there every night working on this thing. We’re just pretty much on the bottom so we can’t dig any deeper, we’ll be in China. So hopefully we can start digging out of the hole.

“I said day one it was going to be tough with basically starting a new team on the [Whelen Modified Tour]. But, everybody has gelled right away. Everybody helps each other and everyone has got everybody’s back. We’re just trying to work really to just finish.”

Stuart said he isn’t losing hope that the positive is coming soon for the team.

“That’s why we keep coming back,” Stuart said. “It’s got to change sooner or later. I’ve been doing this too long. It’s just a matter of when it’s going to change. Hopefully it changes up here. We’ll see what happens.

“We have a bunch of good guys. For two or three teams all coming together it’s all clicked pretty good as far as the guys. Everybody knows kind of what we have to do at the racetrack and it gets done. We have no problems with the driver or the crew guys. Everybody seems to be pretty good. No issues there.”

Pitkat will run both the Whelen Modified Tour exhibition All-Star Shootout on Friday at Loudon and Satuday’s points paying New England 100.

“I’ve come here and run good here before and won races here so hopefully we can start turning this luck around and start having some good finishes and maybe one of these days run for a win,” Pitkat said.

Comments

  1. A good team and a good driver have to bounce back,GOOD LUCK the rest of season,don’t give up

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