NASCAR released a 35-car entry list for the division’s season opening New Smyrna Beach Area Vistors Bureau 200 scheduled for Feb. 10.
Outside of the series regulars, notables on the list include NASCAR Cup Series regular and former series champion Ryan Preece in a family owned car and former NASCAR Cup Series star Ryan Newman.
Reigning series champion Ron Silk won last year’s season opening event at New Smyrna.
Entry list: New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200 at New Smyrna Speedway
Entry list for the open races to follow for those that are interested.
2 J.R Bertuccio. Centereach, NY
2B Joe Bertuccio III. Statesville NC
4 Tim Connolly. Endwell NY
7 Rich Parker. Forked River NJ
8 Cam McDermott. Canterbury CT
9 Tom Martino Jr. Red Bank NJ
11 Norman Newman. Kincardine ON
12 Brian Sones. Sandy Valley PA
14nc Bobby Measmer. Concord NC
14 Patrick Emerling. Orchard Park NY
16 Ron Silk. Norwalk CT
20 Eddie McCarthy. Brick NJ
20nj Ryan Maher. Neptune NJ
24 Andrew Krause. Freehold NJ
25 Brian Robie. Sunapee NH
27 Adam Licicero. Lavallette NJ
32 Tyler Rypkema. Owego NY
36 David Sapienza. Riverhead NY
40 Ryan Preece. Berlin CT
42 Spencer Davis. Dawsonville GA
46 Craig Lutz. Middle Island NY
50 Ronnie Williams. Lebanon CT
54 Tommy Catalano. Ontario NY
55 Teddy Hodgdon. Danbury CT
56 Amy Catalano. Ontario NY
56 Trevor Catalano. Ontario NY
58 Eric Goodale. Riverhead NY
60 Matt Hirschman. Northampton PA
64 Tyler Catalano. Ontario NY
73 Bobby Geiger. Galloway NJ
92 Anthony Nocella. Woburn MA
98 Landon Huffman. Claremont NC
02 Joey Coulter. Trotman NC
07 Patrick Emerling. Orchard Park NY
09 Christopher Hatton. Ormond Beach FL
158 Timmy Solomito. Islip NY
179 Anthony Bello. Newtown CT
Who knows what to make of the rumored re-draw? Based on the response here and on social media it would appear there isn’t much interest either way. Does that mean most fans would like to see it as the polling suggests or that for the most part nobody cares?
I’ll admit it I enjoyed the NWMT races last year far more then any other series including the TTOMS. After the season got going found the race by race duel between the 16 and 51 with the 64 in the mix riveting. Loved races Hirschman dropped in to mix things up and even Preece in the last race big timing the field in his only start.
Go ahead and look back to the hay day of the Tour and what you’d see is cars passing cars. 2002 Icebreaker ended with Marguis, Summers and Kopec coming from 10th, 14th and 19th to complete the podium.
Is the re-draw fair…..who cares nothing is fair in racing. Is it fair Todd Owen who has the best SK at Stafford has to come from 14th every week with only 40 laps to do it? Is it fair to the majority of NWMT teams that one or two of the teams have far greater resources to pour into their teams including the best crew chiefs and over the wall pit crews then be expected to compete with them head to head on the track?
In all races the 51 qualified an average of 3.38. In it’s top 13 races they qualified an average of 1.92. In their top 10 races they qualified an average of 1.2.
You can’t be running a series like that when one car gets the top starting spot in over 50% of the races fair or not.
Tell you what race fans I’m shocked NASCAR hasn’t done anything sooner. The advantage the 51 has going into the season is mind boggling especially considering the bonus points they’re virtually guaranteed to accumulate in most races.
For those that say it invalidates qualifications based on laps times that’s hyperbolic nonsense. It’s a random redraw of top qualifiers so they’re always going to be at the front of the field. You want to pout, sand bag or not come out for qualifying go ahead you can start in back of Fifield. That would put you well into the 30’s for a starting spot at New Smyrna.
Good for you NASCAR you reduced the number of races to 16 mainly because you had to. Now show some stones and do something more meaningful. At the very least install the re-draw for races with no scheduled pit stops. If Bonsignor can’t come from 8th to win at Riverhead perhaps he doesn’t deserve to win a championship.