Photo credit: Fran Lawlor
Doug Coby may be down, but he’s not out.
The man who’s won the last three Whelen Modified Tour championships comes into New Hampshire winless on the year. While he’s led 276 laps, more than any other driver, Coby only has three top-five finishes to show for his efforts.
“As a team, we haven’t really had any bad luck over the last four or five years,” said Coby. “The misfortune we would have we recovered from to get decent finishes.”
“Some of the stuff that’s happened to us this year we haven’t had a chance to recover from, like that wreck on the first lap in the Icebreaker. It’s just kind of been our year where stuff like that happens.”
Coby looks towards New Hampshire as a springboard for a rally in the second half of the season.
The 37-year-old has become a master drafter at the Magic Mile over the last couple of seasons. Coby has finished third or better in five of his last six starts at New Hampshire, with two wins.
Much of that success comes down to common sense when racing in the pack, says Coby.
“Over the years, you actually learn more about what not to do than what to do,” he said. “It’s really about not screwing up when you’re right in the middle of that pack because a mistake could take you right to the back.”
“It’s harder then it looks, because it can be really difficult to take a step back when you’re in that moment and think big-picture.”
The VHT compound put on the surface of the racetrack brings a new challenge into the mix. No one really knows how the cars will react to the substance, intended to provide the Monster Energy Cup cars with more grip and a wider racing groove on Sunday.
“The stuff [VHT] will be a bit iffy because of where they put it,” said Coby. “It’s going to be on the middle part of the race track, but we already run the middle and top.”
“With all that grip, we might have to totally change the setup of the cars. But we can’t know what’s going to happen until we actually get on the track and see how much of the track they put the stuff down on.”
If Coby can run well at New Hampshire, he thinks the team is ready to go on a tear in the coming weeks.
18 of his 22 career victories have come at the next three tracks: Loudon, Stafford, and Thompson.
“You look at the schedule, which goes Loudon, Stafford, Thompson, and we’ve run well at all of those tracks coming up,” said Coby. “We’re set up really well for the next few races.”
“This team is too good to not win. We are eventually going to get one. I love what we bring to the track.”
Should Doug Coby pull off a win at New Hampshire this weekend, the rest of the field might want to watch out. After all, you just can’t count a four-time champion out of the running.
