Bryan Narducci
Bryan Narducci heads to the NAPA Fall Final at Stafford Motor Speedway on Sept. 30 locked in an epic battle for the SK Light Modified division title at the historic track.
But on Thursday the 17-year old Colchester driver and Bacon Academy senior got the chance to celebrate a championship thanks to his efforts this year at Stafford.
Narducci was named the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division III national champion.
“It’s something I didn’t expect so that just makes it that much sweeter when you don’t expect it,” Narducci said.
The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series points chases ended last week. The final standings are expected to be released by NASCAR within the next 24 hours.
Narducci will be celebrated for his achievement as an honored guest at the NASCAR Awards in Charlotte on Dec. 7.
In his rookie season in the SK Light Modified division at Stafford Narducci has five victories, 15 top-fives and 16 top-10’s in 20 starts.
Narducci sits tied atop the SK Light Modified point standings with Marcello Rufrano going into the final 20-lap feature for the division on Sept. 30.
Narducci spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons in the Limited Late Model division at Stafford. He had multiple wins in the SK Light Modified divisions at Thompson Speedway and the New London-Waterford Speedbowl over the final two months of the 2017 season.
“It definitely means a lot to me,” Narducci said. “Winning this was definitely a pretty cool honor. I knew coming into this year that since we had success last year at Waterford and Thompson at the end of the year that we were going to have, in my opinion, a good year. I definitely didn’t expect that going into the last race tied for the track championship with five wins and also be the Division III national champion, I did not expect that at all. I think it’s really cool.”
The 18-year old Rufrano, from North Haven, went into the final week for the Whelen All-American Series standings third in the country. It’s unclear at this point if he moved to second place after recording a second place finish Friday at Stafford.
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division I drivers are ranked by their best 18 NASCAR points finishes in series-sanctioned events. Drivers receive two points for every car they finish ahead of – up to 18 cars – and three points for a win, with an additional two points available if the driver starts 10th or lower. Division II through V and the UNOH Youth Achievement Award are determined by a driver’s best 14 NASCAR points finishes.
How awesome is this! So proud of him! Been saying it from the first time I saw him race. This kid is something special!
Awesome job Bryan!!
This kid is the real deal!
Congratulations to Bryan and his race team! Good work!!
Cheater’s gonna Cheat LOL!
congrats to Bryan. The SK lights often put on the best show of the night. I would love to see them rewarded with more laps and maybe a promotion to division 2.
Tom Fearn finished 25th in division 2 nascar weekly points. He had 12 wins in 19 starts in what is described as a ‘magical’ season by some. It was the second highest win total to the champions 14 wins which was accumulated at 3 different tracks. Unfortunately, Nascar doesn’t think Staffords late model division has much competition in the way of car count producing no full field bonus points for Fearn. Without any full fields bonus points Nascar didn’t think Fearns season was so magical causing him to finish pretty low in the points. Hopefully Stafford LM car count rebounds next season giving our local guys a better chance of competing for the Championship. With Seekonk and Thompson running reduced racing schedules it will be tough to see a local guy win this championship.