Doug Coby may have picked up his first top-five finish at Loudon since 2016, but the five-time champion was anything but pleased with how the finish to the Eastern Propane and Oil 100 played out.
On an overtime restart, a hard crash in turn one involving Tyler Rypkema caused severe damage to the SAFER Barrier. With the repair time estimated at around 25 minutes and the Xfinity Series race broadcast window approaching, NASCAR made the decision to call the race and give Ron Silk, the leader, the victory.
Coby, who restarted alongside Silk on the final restart, was awarded second.
RECAP + RESULTS: Ron Silk wins NWMT race at New Hampshire in OT
“On a day like today, I think the Modifieds deserved the respect to finish the race,” Coby said. “I don’t care how long it would’ve taken to fix that wall. I think the schedule should’ve been changed.
“You guys are really lucky it was a long walk over here from the turn one Modified stands, because I got to cool off a little bit… and collect my thoughts. This is just probably the biggest disappointment. I’ve wrecked here on lap one, I’ve wrecked here battling for wins and whatnot. I’ve also been the goat. I wrecked a guy in 2015 for a win.”
Had a wreck of such magnitude not happened, a lengthy cleanup would not have been needed, and so there was no warning from NASCAR to the drivers that might have been an indicator as to how much time they had left to race. The best solution to fix that, says Coby, it to simply race at a different time.
“Here and Bristol, we’ve always been under a time crunch, and we’re always are faced with this, it seems,” he said. “I guess put us in a time slot where we have some time to do our thing and maybe a little bit of extra time here. I don’t know. There was no warning as far as I’m concerned, and robbed the fans of a good finish.”
Despite the frustration, Coby still maintains the Whelen Modified Tour points lead by 28 over Silk as the series heads to Stafford on August 2nd for the Starrett 150.
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Mike
July 21, 2019 at 5:07 am
I agree with Doug coby on this subject nascar has gone to shit as well as a lot of other sanctioned racing that’s why after loving racing for almost thirty years I do watch or go to any races period
tom corbett
July 21, 2019 at 7:28 am
There’s
no set time length for the Xfinity race they only have A ball park idea on it’s length they could of talked and given the fans the fun of seeing the end of the modified race and up here in New England the Mods are popular and besides the first 30 or so minutes are just former drivers and tv people running there mouths filling the time slot !!!!!!
steve jesus
July 21, 2019 at 8:07 am
How severe was the damage to the wall?
Matt Weaver
July 21, 2019 at 12:51 pm
The TV window is very much a set time.