It was a combination that worked for both sides when Craig Lutz was competing on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for team owner Russell Goodale.
In 2024 that combination will be reunited.
Goodale confirmed to RaceDayCT Thursday that Lutz will return to his team to run full-time on the Whelen Modified Tour in 2024.
Lutz currently runs on the Whelen Modified Tour for team owner Danny Watts Jr. and is expected to run the final four series events this season for that team.
Three of Lutz’s four Whelen Modified Tour victories came driving for Goodale.
Goodale said his team will not run in the final four Whelen Modified Tour events of the season. He said he expects to run selected Open Tour Type Modified events with Lutz this season.
Lutz, of Miller Place, N.Y., took over the Goodale owned ride midway through the 2017 season. He finished fifth in the series standings in 2018 and fourth in the standings in 2019 and 2020. Lutz recorded his first series win in the 2019 NAPA Fall Final at Stafford Speedway and had wins at Jennerstown (Pa) Speedway and Thompson Speedway for the team in 2020. Goodale shut down his team after nine Whelen Modified Tour events in 2021.
Timmy Solomito recorded an eighth place finish driving for Goodale in a Whelen Modified Tour event at Thompson Speedway in August 2022. The team returned to full-time competition to start this season with rookie Justin Brown behind the wheel. Brown had an average finish of 16th over the first seven events of the season before parting ways with the team and being replaced by Anthony Nocella.
Nocella ran five Whelen Modified Tour events for the team before they parted ways following the event on Aug. 26. at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va.
The Goodale owned team did not run in the last two series events, on Sept. 9 at Oswego (N.Y.) Speedway and at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, N.H. on Saturday. The team is currently listed on the entry list for Saturday’s Eddie Partridge 256 at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway but will not compete in the event.
Lutz connected with Watts to run full-time for the 2022 season. He ended up eighth in the series standings with a victory at Thompson Speedway on Aug. 17, 2022. Lutz has started 13 of 14 events on the Whelen Modified Tour this season for Watts and sits seventh in the series standings with one top-five finish and four top-10’s.
Mediocre all the way around. Don’t expect much.