THOMPSON – Coming into Wednesday’s Twisted Tea Fan Appreciation Night at Thompson Speedway there had been only one driver to visit victory lane in a Sunoco Modified in 2026 at Thompson Speedway.
Keith Rocco ruled the roost in the division, winning the first three events of the season.
Wednesday Todd Owen played streak buster.
Owen, of Somers, passed Rocco for the lead on lap 11 and never trailed again to win the 50-lap Sunoco Modified feature Wednesday at Thompson Speedway.
“We definitely hit it tonight,” Owen said. “I came here so far every race and watched [Rocco’s] back panel the whole time. We kept going home, trying to work harder and harder to try to get it better. Tonight, obviously, we hit on it perfect. The thing was stout for 50 laps. Can’t thank all my guys for all their hard work, what they do. Just an incredible group of guys that I have behind me.”
Rocco, of Berlin, ended up second.
“We just needed to get through the middle [of the corners] a little bit better,” Rocco said. “We made an adjustment for the longer race and it just hurt us a little bit, but great job by this team. They always give me a great car.”
After getting passed for the lead, Rocco challenged Owen for the top spot multiple times before Owen started to pull away over the final 25 laps.
“I don’t think in these cars there’s any relief,” Owen said. “You go as hard as you can for, that’s pretty much as hard as you can go for 50 [laps] right there. We had one car length, then two car lengths, then it was three car lengths, and then it was like six. … But the one thing I’ve learned about Keith, you give him an inch and he’s just going to get back to you. I just kept trying to do as fast of a lap as I could. I don’t know lap times, but it had to be pretty consistent because it felt like the car was really consistent.”
Said Rocco: “It wasn’t really much of a battle. [Owen] passed me, we were pretty tight. I figured if I if I just settled in line the car would come to me but it didn’t really get any better, kind of got worse. … We just missed a little bit on this one.”
Bryan Narducci of Colchester rallied from a lap six incident and passed Danny Cates for third with about 15 laps remaining and held on to the podium spot the rest of the way.
“I really messed up in the beginning, and my bad to [Derek Ramstrom], I really apologize for that,” Narducci said. “We had a good car, we were just hoping for a yellow when we were fourth there, and maybe we could have been up here racing with Todd and Keith, but there’s always next time, so I can’t thank everyone enough for getting me here.”
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