THOMPSON – In the landscape of Modified racing there are iconic cars and their numbers that stand out. There’s Ole Blue No. 3. There’s the No. 61 synonymous with Richie Evans.
And then there’s the 7NY, made famous by the exploits of Tom Baldwin Sr.
Sunday at Thompson Speedway the number was locked into the record books permanently when it comes to the history of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
Mike Christopher Jr. drove the Tommy Baldwin Racing 7NY to second place in the Whelen Modified Tour Phoenix Communications 150 Sunday at Thompson and in the process clinched the 2022 Whelen Modified Tour Owner’s Championship.
“To be able to do this with a lot of people, a lot of drivers, a lot of help, it’s pretty cool,” team owner Tommy Baldwin Jr. said. “To me it’s cementing the 7NY legacy today, the championship. There’s a lot of special numbers [in Modified racing], the 61 and the 15 and the 3. Yeah, this number has been around a long time but it hasn’t won a championship. We won a lot of races the last three races and now we’ve won a championship and now I feel like that number is definitely legit. That’s the most important thing to me of any of this. That number forever will be cemented in the legacy of my old man and what I continue to do with this.”
Baldwin clinched the title with one race remaining on the schedule, at Martinsville (Va.) on Oct. 27. Baldwin’s team left Thompson with an insurmountable 42 point lead in the Owner’s standings over the team owned by Tim Lepine with driver Jon McKennedy.
“That’s pretty awesome to be a part of that, along with all the other drivers,” Christopher said. “Doug [Coby] did a great job and same with Jimmy [Blewett]. This team put it all together this year and I couldn’t be more happy to do it for Tommy.”
Christopher was one of three drivers to start races for the team in 2022. In his other appearances in the car in 2022 Christopher finished third in the season opening event at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway on Feb. 12 and got his first series win at Jennerstown (Pa.) Speedway on May 28.
Doug Coby made nine starts for the team in 2022, recording wins at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway, Lee USA Speedway in Lee, N.H. and Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va.
Jimmy Blewett made three starts for the team, recording a victory at Wall Stadium in Wall, N.J.
“It’s pretty cool,” Baldwin said. “[Christopher] got a first, a second and a third in three Tour races. Coby doing his thing. Jimmy winning and running well. I messed up at Richmond, we screwed up a top-three there. Jimmy had the least amount of time in it, but he did the most for the other two drivers as far as the setup stuff. Jimmy was the most important part of this car, even when the other guys won. It was a whole team effort.”
Blewett will start the final race of the season for the team at Martinsville.
I know we’re all thinking about the four way race for the championship coming down to Martinsville. Or Silks comments on the race just run. At some point it will be fitting to think for a moment exactly how amazing this year has been for TBR. What they accomplished. The way it was accomplished with different drivers. PSR’s roll in the performance jump. Will it be a prototype for teams in the future?
The guy driving traditionally gets the lions share of credit rightly or wrongly. This year Baldwin turned that tradition on it’s head.
Nice job for Tommy, now stop crying about Staffords pit road lol