Justin Bonsignore (Photo: Jim DuPont)
LOUDON, N.H. – The man atop the standings was atop the speed charts when the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour hit the track to start the inaugural Full Throttle Weekend Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Series points leader Justin Bonsignore led the way in the first practice for Saturday’s Musket 250 at NHMS.
The Holtsville, N.Y. driver toured the 1.058-mile oval with a fast lap of 28.870 seconds (131.929 mph).
Bonsignore, who has one career victory at NHMS, is looking to essentially put the locks on his first series championship this weekend at NHMS.
A quality showing Saturday for Bonsignore could put him in a position where he could likely need only to start the penultimate event of the season – the NAPA Fall Final at Stafford Motor Speedway on Sept. 30 – to clinch the title.
Doug Coby of Milford, who has won the last four series titles and five of the last six, was second fastest in practice with a fast lap of 28.872 seconds (131.920 mph).
Ron Silk of Norwalk was third fastest during the one hour session at 28.983 seconds (131.415 mph).
Chase Dowling of Roxbury was fourth fastest (29.033 seconds, 131.189 mph) and Matt Swanon of Acton, Mass. (29.122 seconds, 130.788 mph) rounded out the top five during the practice session.
The series will have a 45-minute final practice session later this afternoon before qualifying this evening.
What have teams running the SPEC engine been able to do to increase the chances of those engines lasting 250 laps at NH? Did some teams switch to “built” engines for better durability?
If teams are running built motors it’s for fuel mileage not reliability