It only took three races during the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season for Doug Coby and Tommy Baldwin Racing to return to their winning ways.
Coby, who won three NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races in a part-time role with the team in 2022 and is running the full schedule this season, took the lead on Lap 13 and cruised to victory in Saturday’s Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock Speedway.
The driver from Milford, Connecticut, credited his early years racing quarter midgets at the Silver City Quarter Midget Club in Meriden, Connecticut, for preparing him to race at a track like Monadnock.
“I’m a quarter midget kid man. Silver City is opening their season today, a tight little bullring,” Coby said after his 35th career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory. “That’s where you start when you’re five or six years old and learn how to get around these quarter miles. I’ll tell you what, I’ve won at some big race tracks, but it’s the little ones that mean the most and really make me think of my roots and where I started.”
After starting fourth, Coby made quick work of the drivers that started in front him. He moved by Ron Silk to take second on Lap 8 and it only took him five more laps to move past Bonsignore to assume the lead.
While he led the rest of the 200-lap event, that doesn’t mean he went unchallenged. He had to fend off multiple challenges from Bonsignore and other drivers during several restarts.
“This thing was just awesome,” Coby said. “I had to fend those guys off on restarts. Justin was pretty nice to me that one or two times he got under me. He probably thought it was a little too early to push the issue.
“We race each other hard and sometimes we know when it’s time to push and when it’s not. I knew with 50 to go that he wasn’t going to lift the next time he got under me. We just had enough car to drive away and clear the lap cars.”
Saturday’s victory in the Duel in the Dog 200 is Coby’s second at Monadnock, making him the second NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver with multiple victories at the quarter-mile bullring. Bonsignore has four Tour victories at the track.
Jon McKennedy, the defending NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion, made a late charge through the field to finish second. New Smyrna Speedway winner Ron Silk finished third, followed by Richmond Raceway winner Austin Beers and Bonsignore.
Sam Rameau, Eric Goodale, Kyle Bonsignore, Matt Hirschman and Patrick Emerling completed the top-10.
A replay of the Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock will air on CNBC on Saturday, May 13 at 9:30 a.m. ET.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season resumes with the first of two trips this season to New York’s Riverhead Raceway on Saturday, May 20. That event will air live on FloRacing beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
NASCAR Modified Tour Duel at the Dog 200
Monadnock Speedway
May 6 2023
- Doug Coby
- Jon McKennedy
- Ron Silk
- Austin Beers
- Justin Bonsignore
- Sam Rameau
- Eric Goodale
- Kyle Bonsignore
- Matt Hirschman
- Patrick Emerling
- Tyler Rypkema
- J.B. Fortin
- Brian Roble *
- Jake Johnson *
- Woody Pitkat
- Craig Lutz
- Tommy Catalano
- Justin Brown *
- Ken Heagy
- Matt Kimball *
- Kyle Ebersole
- Andrew Krause
- Gary McDonald
- Tim Connelly *
- Anthony Sesely
- Melissa Fifield
- Anthony Nocella
- Jacob Perry *
- Cory Plummer *
- Dave Sapienza
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