Rolling On: Timmy Solomito Focused On Chasing Whelen Mod Tour Title After First Victory

Timmy Solomito (right) and his crew chief Sly Szaban talking during a test session Friday at Stafford Motor Speedway

STAFFORD – Five days removed from the celebration of a dream come true at Thompson Speedway, Timmy Solomito came back down from the clouds and got back to work Friday at Stafford Motor Speedway.

Solomito scored his first career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory last Sunday in the season opening Icebreaker 150 at Thompson Speedway.

Friday during a test session at Stafford in preparation for the NAPA Spring Sizzler 200 on April 24, Solomito said the time had come to leave the elation and emotion of Thompson behind.

“It’s always tough when you have such a good day like that to let it go, but certainly the boost of momentum gets everybody going,” said Solomito, who is in his second season driving for Flamingo Motorsports. “That’s a good thing. But you certainly have to put it behind and say ‘We did that’ and move on to the next one and keep going. If you keep looking in the rearview that’s where you’re going to find yourself. So we’ve got to keep moving forward here and making sure we’re good for the next race ahead.”

“The week has been awesome. A lot of phone calls. A lot of people reaching out to us and congratulating us. That’s always a great feeling. But today starts the focus on Stafford and it’s time to move forward and the celebration gets left in the dust. It’s on to Stafford thinking about what we need to do better.”

For Solomito’s crew chief, Sly Szaban, the victory at Thompson was the best way to prove some of the naysayers wrong. Solomito was a surprise choice to many to replace Ryan Preece in the Flamingo Motorsports car before the start of the 2015 season.

“We felt strongly when we chose Timmy to drive for us that he could get the job done,” Szaban said. “A lot of people were kind of questioning our choice. We felt we saw something in him that was going to work out. It was really rewarding to make it happen Sunday for the team, for Timmy, for his family, for everybody that’s been part of his racing career and Flamingo Motorsports.”

Solomito, of Islip, N.Y., finished sixth in the Whelen Modified Tour standings in 2015 with with three top-five’s and nine top-10’s in 15 starts.

“We knew going into last year there was going to be a learning curve,” Szaban said. “We had new teams members and a new driver obviously. We knew it was going to take like a year to settle in. Did I want to win a race last year? Obviously I did. But being realistic, I thought we probably weren’t going to win a race. But we knew there was going to be that learning curve to go through working toward this year. So we put pressure on ourselves as a team [for this year]. I know Timmy is putting pressure on himself as a driver. It’s our second year together and if it was going to happen we expected it to happen this year. I’m just happy it did.

“As the season goes on, when you’re not winning, the pressure does start to build. What was good for us last year the last two races we got a couple of third places and had a car capable of winning under the right circumstances. But I thought Timmy, at the end of the season, as a driver, his driving talent came a long way. He was working hard on everything. I could see toward the end of the season a huge improvement in Timmy and I could huge improvement with the team gelling and we came into this year with high expectations on ourselves to be able to make it happen.”

Solomito heads to Stafford as the one being chased at the top of the points standings with an even greater confidence that a championship is a real expectation for his team.

“The confidence makes you feel really good,” Solomito said. “It makes you feel like you really did something right. It definitely helps you. That’s what we’re looking for. We’re looking for a championship, we’re big picture racing. Hopefully we can get a few more wins and have some really strong runs and make a solid season.”

And confidence going to Stafford is something brimming with the Flamingo Motorsports team. Of Solomito’s three third place finishes in 2015, two came at Stafford.

[Flamingo Motorsports] has a really good setup for this place,” Solomito said. “Sly has been here many many years. We had two thirds here last year and after having a year with them you kind of know what you’re looking for in the car and you kind of know what the car needs to feel like to be fast. I’m looking forward to get out here next Sunday. Hopefully we’ll have another strong run and keep on moving forward.”