Keith Rocco Keeps Lead In Whelen All-American Series National Standings; Ryan Preece To Second

Keith Rocco

Keith Rocco

The Connecticut short racing scene can currently boast of having the top-two drivers in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national standings.

Keith Rocco, with a second place finish in the NAPA SK5K Friday at Stafford Motor Speedway, was able to keep hold of the top spot in the standings for the fifth consecutive week.

Ryan Preece, after winning the SK5K at Stafford, jumped from third place to second place this week.

Rocco, the 2010 national champion, competes full-time in the SK Modified divisions at Waterford, Stafford Speedway and Thompson Speedway.

Rocco, of Wallingford, has 640 points with eight victories, 18 top-five’s and 21 top-10’s in 24 starts.

Under the point structure for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division I standings, a race winner receives two points for every car in the event up to 18 cars. Second place receives two fewer points and so on through the field. Three bonus points will be awarded to a race winner with a single-digit starting position and five bonus points will be awarded to a race winner with a double-digit starting position. Whelen All-American Series points season will run through Sunday, Sept. 20.

Preece, of Berlin, has 588 points. Preece competes full-time in the SK Modified divisions at Stafford and Thompson Speedway and part-time in the Tour Type Modified division at Riverhead. He has six wins, 17 top-five’s and 23 top-10’s in 24 starts this year.

Lee Pulliam, of Semora, N.C., fell from second to third with 586 points points on the strength of 13 victories, 22 top-fives and 24 top-10’s in 27 starts this season at South Boston (Va.) Speedway, Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va., Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va. and Caraway Speedway in Sophia, N.C. Pulliam won national championships in 2012 and 2013.

Ted Christopher of Plainville, who competes full-time in the SK Modified divisions at Stafford and Waterford is fell from 13th to 14th in country this week with 413 points. Christopher has three victories in 21 starts.

Rowan Pennink of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., who competes full-time in the SK Modified division at Stafford, fell from 17th to 19th this week with five victories in 11 starts for 373 points.

Comments

  1. I actually hope it stays this way. Though not a fan of either, it will be really interesting when these two compete against each other at the CT tracks, neither one will give the other one an inch with the national title on the line. It does seem a little unfair though that Pulliam has almost as many wins as Rocco and Preece combined, yet he is behind them. Pulliam has more top 5’s too, WTF?

  2. Chris ,

    Points awarded in the National Standings are based on car counts. From Wikipedia – ” For the 2014 season the maximum cars starting was dropped to 18 resulting in 36 points for the winner. Bonus points for the feature winner was also changed to three points if the winner started in a single-digit position (i.e., 5th) or five points if the winner had a double-digit starting position (i.e., 12th).”

    That can account for the better average finishes but lower points for Pulliam.

  3. Sect.D Row25 says

    Chris you never cease to amaze me. Read the rules. Where have you been the last three years?

  4. Chris D. says

    that’s right, I forgot…the car counts at waterford are so high

  5. Chris D. says

    So the point I’m making here is that there is something fundamentally wrong with a point system that allows a driver to be behind 2 other drivers whose combined win total is only 1 more than the guy in third…especially when the guy in third has more top 5’s than the other 2. Sorry to disappoint you Sect.d, but I am well aware of the 18 cars starting aspect of the rule, that’s what everyone talks about at the bowl every saturday night. Essentially, what Keith is doing at the bowl is double dipping…running 2 divisions at the bowl and Thompson should not award points in the same manner. At the very least the lower division (in this case the late models) should award fewer points or better yet the driver should have to pick 1 division before the features that he wants to use toward national points. People minimize Jerry Cook’s 6 national titles because he ran more races than anyone else accumulating the most points until Richie came along, so how is what Rocco is doing any different? To be fair, I don’t know, maybe Pulliam does the same thing. At least Preece only runs 1 division per track. Maybe that will change by the end of the year, If I were Preece I would get in a late model at Stafford and Thompson and then he just might win this thing.

  6. Chris D.

    Keith Rocco leads the Division I national standings, which only includes his results in the SK Modified divisions at Waterford, Stafford and Thompson. He doesn’t earn any points toward the Division I standings for any of his Late Model finishes, be it Waterford or Thompson. He does earn points for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division II standings for his Late Model finishes, but that has nothing to do with the Division I standings that he currently leads. As far as why the number one and two in the standings are ahead of number 3, who seemingly has better overall stats. That has to do with the way the system is set up to reward drivers who pass more cars in their features. Typically the Southern tracks set their fields by time trial qualifying so usually Lee Pulliam is starting at or near the front in events, so he loses the ability to gain the bonus points that come with starting further back in the field and passing more cars.

  7. Chris D. says

    Ok, my mistake, I thought that was why he ran late models. My apologies to Keith, my misunderstanding, sorry.

  8. Sect.D Row25 says

    Chris D., No reason to be sorry, you never disappoint me. I can count on you like the mail , Always, always wrong. I just finished telling you to read the rules and you come back with Rocco is double dipping. C’mon Man. You didn’t take the time to even go to the series page in an attempt to bone up. Nope you just spewed the first nonsense that entered your head. Had you at least visited the series page you would have received a massive tip and may have avoided this latest blunder on your part. There is a picture of and article about Michael Bennett and his climb up the Division II ranks. Division II. You went 0 for 2 on this one and your credibility column remains blank. Better luck next time.

  9. Never been a fan of this. It’s like trying to compare apples and oranges. Last year, with all the field filling that went on, just totally killed the concept for me.

  10. Sect.D Row25 says

    There is something fundaMENTALLY wrong with one who would claim the fundamentals are wrong without first knowing and learning said fundamentals.

  11. Chris D. says

    You are right Sect.d, guilty as charged. 2 years ago I asked some people at the speedbowl why a guy who was a sk champ and part time runner on the WMT tour and part time runner on the VMRS tour still runs the late model division. The answer I got was that he chases national points. I should have checked into it further but I didn’t. I admit I was wrong.

  12. Sect.D Row25 says

    Ok Chris fair enough, good man. No more Shutout. You’re on the board.

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