STAFFORD – In racing parlance, “Stinking up the show” is a actually a positive reference for the driver doing the stinking up. It means that driver usually checked out on the way to victory.
Friday at Stafford, on a night when Casella Waste was the lead sponsor, Jon Puleo did all sorts of stinking when it came to his performance.
Puleo, of North Branford, checked out from the field on the way to victory in the Casella Waste SK Modified 80 Friday at Stafford Speedway.
It was sweet redemption for the Branford driver, who led nearly the entire race in the same event last year before getting passed on a late restart by Mike Christopher Jr.
“Everybody in the pits telling you how you lost it last year,” Puleo said. “I wanted these Casella trophies so bad last year and then to lead like I think 78 laps or whatever and lose it at the end,” Puleo said. “We we had this race circled in our shop on the calendar. This is the one we got to put all of our eggs in one basket.”
It was the first win of the season for Puleo, of Branford, the reigning SK Modified champion at Stafford. Puleo beat second place finisher Christopher, of Wolcott, to the checkered buy just over four seconds. Glen Reen of Wilbraham, Mass. was third.
“With like 20 [laps] to go or whatever I was like ‘Well i just might as well just save my stuff in case there is another yellow’ but there wasn’t. So yeah, they were just, couldn’t compete with them tonight. You know it is what it is, finish second.”
Said Reen: “We had a blast. It’s finally fun to be back up front again and running competitively. We’ve been struggling the last few weeks but we’ve got some things figured out and it’s great to end with a smile on your face. And [Bryan] Narducci and I had a hell of a battle. It was good to just go door-to-door and real hard racing and it was a good battle with him.”
Puleo became the sixth different winner in the first six SK Modified events this season at Stafford. His last SK Modified victory was on April 27, 2025.
“I was starting to think we weren’t going to win a race, you know, it’s just it’s been a long time, I think it’s been since April last year and to come here and win a big race like this means a lot more than just winning a regular race,” Puleo said. “Just really happy to get these beautiful Sign Pro Casella trophies to a North Branford.”
Other SK Modified winners this year include Todd Owen, Keith Rocco, David Arute, Marcello Rufrano and Tyler Chapman.
The race marked the first event of the Sign Pro Triple Crown Series for the SK Modified division this season. The Triple Crown also includes the CBYD Senator’s Cup 50 on July 24 and the NAPA SK5K on Aug. 7. Teams that compete in all three events are eligible for a $20,000 point fund for the Triple Crown series.
Narducci, of Colchester, was fourth and Rocco, of Berlin, fifth.
Reen controlled from the front on the opening lap. On lap two Puleo used a diving move under Reen into turn three to move into the lead.
With Puleo leading, Reen in second and Narducci in third, caution flew on lap five for the stopped car of Frank Ruocco in turn three.
On the ensuing restart Reen was able to use the outside lane to retake the lead from Puleo.
A lap later Puleo fought back through turns three and four to move back out front, with Narducci following to second.
Puleo spent laps nine and 10 fighting off the charges from Narducci in the low lane. Behind them Rufrano got by Reen for third with Christopher going to fourth.
On lap 12 Christopher used a low move off of turn four to get by Rufrano for third.
By lap 20 Puleo had opened up just over a second lead over Narducci, with Christopher in third and Rufrano in fourth.
Puleo opened his lead to 1.5 seconds over Narducci by lap 25. Behind the leaders Christopher was third, Rufrano fourth, Reen fifth, Chapman sixth and Andrew Molleur seventh.
Caution flew on 27 for the spinning car of Nick Hovey in turn two.
On the restart Puleo was able to control at the front, leaving Christopher and Narducci to fight for second. Christopher was able to get by Narducci out of turn four on lap 27, with Reen moving to third.
On lap 29 Narducci fought back in turn three to regain third place from Reen. A lap later Reen found the lane under Narducci to retake third place off of turn four.
With Puleo leading, Christopher in second and Reen in third, caution flew on lap 32 for an Ethan Durocher spin in turn four.
On the ensuing restart Puleo slowed coming off of turn four to take the green flag, stacking up the field from the mid-pack on, causing a wreck that collected about 10 cars just under the starter’s stand.
On the restart Puleo got the jump out front with Christopher slotting into second. Behind them Narducci and Reen fought side-by-side for third with Chapman and Molleur also racing side-by-side for fifth.
Narducci was able to clear Reen to get to third on lap 34, while Chapman cleared Molleur for fifth place.
On lap 38 Molleur found the lane under Chapman to move to fifth place.
By lap 40 Puleo found some breathing room ahead of second place Christopher. By lap 49 Rocco was clawing all over the bumper of Molleur for fifth place.
At lap 50 the top three were strung out with Puelo leading by just under a second and Narducci behind the lead by 2.3 seconds. Rocco went by Molleur for fifth place on lap 52.
By lap 62 Puleo had opened up a comfortable 1.7 second lap over Christopher with Narducci battling to keep Reen behind him for third. On lap 65 Reen got to the inside of Narducci off of turn four to take third place.
By lap 72 Puleo had extended his lead over Christopher to 3.2 seconds.
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