Doug Coby Looking For Whelen Mod Tour Bounce Back In Loudon After Riverhead Nightmare

LOUDON, N.H. – Reigning NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby isn’t quite ready to offer anybody else the king’s throne to try on for size.

Doug Coby rolls through the pits at New Hampshire Motor Speedway during Whelen Modified Tour practice Friday

Despite failing to make the starting field in the most previous Whelen Modified Tour event, on July 29 at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway, Coby’s aspirations of winning two consecutive titles remain high.

Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Coby looked around the pits during a morning practice session and saw some sights that had his eyes optimistically widening.

Coby comes into Saturday’s Town Fair Tire 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway fifth in the standings with nine events remaining this season. He sits 53 points behind standings leader Ryan Preece.

He missed the field at Riverhead after crashing during qualifying. He was awarded last place (28th) points for the race. Before Riverhead Coby had an average finish of 5.5 in the first four races of the season.

“I’m still fifth in points,” Coby said. “If everybody from fifth on back is going to write off their championship hopes now we might as well just let the top four go settle it.”

Coby stares up the standings at Preece, Rowan Pennink (2nd), Mike Stefanik (3rd) and Justin Bonsignore (4th). Preece, Stefanik and Bonsignore all had various motor issues during practice Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“That’s three of your top four right there,” Coby said. “Anything can happen and I think [Preece] knows that. July is way too early to be handing a championship to anybody. You never know who is going to get on a hot streak and put some good races together and really stay consistent and get top threes. Once you do that, if one these guys has a bad finish, things change in a heartbeat.”

Coby’s last victory came in the Whelen Modified Tour’s last visit to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, last September. It was the fifth victory of his championship season. He was ninth fastest during an one hour and 45-minute practice session Friday morning in Loudon.

“I’ve watched the video a couple of times just because I wanted to observe my car from the outsiders perspective in traffic and know what I felt like and what it looked like,” Coby said. “And it confirmed to me that we did have the best car here last year. And it feels every bit as good this weekend. I’m never concerned about the watch times here, I’m concerned about how it feels by itself and around other cars.

“I think we’re firing on all cylinders. We’ve got a brand new motor here this weekend and the car that we won here with last September.”