New Celebration: Andrew Durand Gets First Late Model Victory At Stafford 

STAFFORD – Visiting victory lane at Stafford Speedway is nothing new for Andrew Durand. 

The Chicopee, Mass. driver is the track’s all-time winningest Limited Late Model driver and sits ninth on the track’s all-time feature win list. 

But it was a whole new feeling for Durand on Friday at Stafford. 

Durand held off the charges of division points leader Adam Gray to win the 30-lap Late Model feature Friday at Stafford. 

It was the first career Late Model win for Durand. 

“It means a lot,” Durand said. “My dad and my dad’s friend, they’ve been fighting it for probably 20 years now to get a Late Model win out here. … So excited.” 

Durand had five Street Stock wins at Stafford from 2002 to 2004 and 33 Limited Late Model wins from 2005 to 2020. 

Durand started on the pole Friday and led every lap. 

“I’ve got to thank my dad for helping us get this car going,” Durand said. “The rear end was bent last week, and probably for a lot of races. The car is a lot better. We’re learning how to set this rear up. The car is getting faster and faster and now we can buy some new tires, they’re three weeks old. Hopefully we can do some better times next week.” 

Gray, of Belchertown, Mass., was second and Wayne Coury Jr. of Fairfield third. 

Gray, who has division leading six wins this season, lost his brakes early in the event but was able to claw to second place on lap 21. He stalked all over Durand’s bumper over the final five laps but never found a way to the front. 

“After the second restart my [brake] pedal went right the floor,” Gray said. “It was a little bit of handful. But we’re on the podium again. Congrats to Andrew. … We’re happy to salvage what we did with the issues that we had. … Andrew was good tonight. He was hooked. I could peek a little bit here and there, but with no brakes I didn’t want to chance it taking both of us out being a meathead.”