Craig Lutz Rolling Under The Radar Through Seven Races On Whelen Modified Tour

(Press Release from NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications)

He’s the only driver in the top five in the championship standings that hasn’t visited Victory Lane, but that doesn’t mean the season hasn’t already been a success for Craig Lutz.

The Miller Place, New York, driver has three finishes inside the top five in the last four races, including a third-place effort last time on the track at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.

Lutz may have started with a 20th place effort at Myrtle Beach Speedway, and failed to finish at Wall Stadium Speedway, but strong podium runs of late have him in a position he’s happy with going forward.

It was a phone call that Lutz got during the 2017 season that turned his career around. In his first race with a new team, Lutz scored pole position at Stafford Motor Speedway that season.

“It was a surreal moment. My dad and I have always talked and he’s put everything into trying to get me where I am now,” Lutz said last week during a Facebook Live session with NASCAR Home Tracks. “We always talked and said we were going to get it ride, and next thing you know we get a phone call from Jeff Goodale and Russell Goodale and they told me he wanted me to drive there car. It was definitely a dream come true.”

Lutz scored a second-place finish in the Icebreaker at Thompson last year with the team, but the remainder of the 2018 campaign was filled with up and down moments. This year, he’s been able to put the consistency together to get him closer to Victory Lane.

RACING-REFERENCE: Career Stats For Craig Lutz

“I went from working a full-time job to working on the cars as a second full-time job after it,” Lutz said. “To be able to step into a team like this, which has everything you need, it definitely made it a lot easier.”

“I think the past year and a half we have had a lot of good runs, but we’ve also had a lot of bad runs. It’s just trying to get the speed everywhere we go. At Myrtle Beach this year, everything that could go wrong, did. As soon as we got to the tracks up here that we are familiar with the cars were fast and we’ve been able to put in some good runs.”

With two consecutive third-place finishes now on his resume, Lutz will look to score victory in his home state when the Whelen Modified Tour returns to action on Saturday, July 6, at Riverhead Raceway. In seven starts at the bullring, Lutz has a best finish of sixth, last July.

It’s fair to say that through the first seven races, Lutz is rolling under the radar. He is fifth in the championship standings.

“I think it’s just putting a whole race together,” Lutz said when asked what he needed to win a race. “Qualifying up front makes your day a lot easier, and you just have to have a car that is good with smooth pit stops. You are racing against the best of the best. They are veterans and they know what to do because they’ve been in this situation a lot more times than I have. We have been flirting with the top three, so hopefully one will come to us.”

“I feel like I’ve put my time in.”