Doug Coby celebrates his second consecutive Whelen Modified Tour championship in October at Thompson Speedway (Photo: Billy Weiss/Getty Images for NASCAR)
The 2016 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season kicks off this weekend with the running of the Icebreaker 150 at Thompson Speedway.
Reigning series champion Doug Coby is looking to make history in 2016. Coby, of Milford, is trying to become the first driver since the inception of the Whelen Modified Tour in 1985, to win three consecutive series titles.
Coby, who also won a championship in 2012, is looking for his fourth title in five seasons.
While Coby and his Mike Smeriglio Racing team go into the season the odds on favorite to win the title, the question is, who will step up to try to keep him in check?
Last year it was Ryan Preece with the TS Haulers team and Woody Pitkat with Buzz Chew Racing that stayed with Coby and made for an ultra-tight three-way championship battle in the final event of the season.
This year Preece is running part-time for the TS Haulers team and Buzz Chew Racing has closed up shop. Pitkat is running for Kevin Stuart Motorsports. It’s the first foray into running the series regularly for Stuart’s team, longtime standouts on the Valenti Modified Racing Series. It isn’t even clear if Pitkat and the team will run full-time.
So who will it be at the front of the standings in October after the season finale at Thompson?
Coby again? Jimmy Blewett in his new Mystic Missile ride? Rowan Pennink in the Boehler Motorsports Ole Blue mount?
Or could it be 2010 series champion Bobby Santos III taking Tinio Motorsports to the promised land?
Or will this be the year that Justin Bonsignore will find the consistency to carry his perennially strong M3 Motorsports ride to a title?
The possibilities are many, so here’s your chance to make the call. Vote below on who you think will win the 2016 Whelen Modified Tour title.
could you keep the big words to a minimum, i had to go to dictionary.com to find out what perennially means
That was the only big word. And now you learned something today.
I bet Doug already ordered a bigger helmet
I think it will be darealgoodfella crew chief and chassis specialist with Jamie Tomaino driving a spafco car. That makes about as much sense as his posts here!
I think the car too watch this year is the16 nice kid go timmy
How about Melissa with Darealgoodfella in an LFR with NASCAR spec engine! I am sure dareal can out do Phil and the 2 team especially with his extensive knowledge of chassis geometry and carb choice. And he can call the shots while warming the bleacher with a hotdog, soda ear phones and race scanner……………
That’s even better! Those LFR cars are junk though so he might now bless that chassis company with his knowledge! Keep in mind no other manufacturer has won at Thompson since they came out according to this article but I’m sure he will find a negative on that also.
Bobby Santos now has an LFR car and spec engine – the “hot setup” from last year. Crew chief Lemay will figure this out very quickly. Too much talent here to not be on the short list of teams to unseat Coby.