Polewarczyk prevails in GSPSS Triple Crown kickoff at Seekonk

Wednesday night’s Granite State Pro Stock Series presented by Hudson International Speedway tilt at Seekonk Speedway came down to a duel between one of New England’s top touring racers and a local veteran with a hundred feature wins at the “Cement Palace.”

But in the long run, the touring ace prevailed.

Joey Polewarczyk fended off Seekonk specialist David Darling to pick up his first GSPSS win of 2026 in a 100-lap preamble to the evening’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Firecracker 150.

Wednesday’s feature race marked the GSPSS’ first appearance at Seekonk since 2019. Though the series was aligned with Seekonk’s Pro Stocks in the late 2010s, even sanctioning the 2019 running of the annual D.A.V. 150, the Pro All Stars Series supplanted the GSPSS as the track’s touring partner for several seasons.

Building on a partnership that has evolved over the last few years, Wednesday’s event was the first leg of the MDP Motorsports Promotions Triple Crown, staging the GSPSS as the support series for three NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events promoted by Josh Vanada’s JDV Productions.

Polewarczyk, the 2020 GSPSS champion, brought along experience from a pair of American-Canadian Tour wins in 2007 and 2023 to the “Action Track of the East.” But with back-to-back early exits after a sixth-place finish in the GSPSS season opener, momentum was not in Polewarczyk’s back pocket.

Instead, the pre-race favorite was Darling, the multi-time Seekonk track champion and two-time GSPSS feature winner who recently scored his hundredth feature win at the third-mile oval.

But “Joey Pole” quickly found his rhythm at Seekonk, outpacing the hometown hero under the green flag.

With 30 laps to go, Darling made a bid for the lead, but Polewarczyk shook free in the closing laps to reverse his early season struggles.

Polewarczyk’s victory, his tenth under the GSPSS banner, was his first since last summer’s win at Hudson, his own home track. More notably, it was his first GSPSS win not at Hudson since his 2021 victory at Stafford Motor Speedway, which like Seekonk reappeared on the series schedule this year.

And in addition, the win moves Polewarczyk into sole position of second on the series’ all-time win list, two victories behind D.J. Shaw and one ahead of two-time titlist and PASS full-timer Joey Doiron.

Darling, who has finished in the top five in all but two of his 11 series starts, came up short of a victory in his first GSPSS appearance since 2021.

ACT top rookie Jacob “Rowdy” Burns, another Seekonk product, made his GSPSS debut with a third-place finish, outgunning Bobby Pelland III and Mike Mitchell to claim the podium position.

Former Seekonk Pro Stock champion Dylan Estrella, 2024 GSPSS champ Casey Call, Connor McDougal, Tom Carey III and points leader Jeremy Sorel rounded out the top ten.

Polewarczyk’s win moved him within 32 points of Sorel in the championship standings, with consistency keeping Sorel well ahead of the pack. Compared to the six other full-timers in his immediate grasp, Sorel is the only one to avoid outright calamity in this season’s first four races.

The Triple Crown continues next Friday at Claremont Motorsports Park, one of Sorel’s better tracks and one that has stymied Polewarczyk by comparison. Shaw, who won Thursday night’s PASS Celebration of America 300, expects to be at Claremont as well, representing a threat to both Sorel and Polewarczyk’s hopes but in different ways. Shaw nipped Sorel by inches to win at the New Hampshire track two years ago, and a victory this Friday would open his statistical gap on Polewarczyk in the win column.

Shaw no doubt outpaces both in the preparation department, with Polewarczyk still wheeling a decade-old Distance Racing Products chassis for a humble family team that belies his overall career numbers: 22 ACT victories and a series championship, seven PASS wins, marquee victories in the Vermont Milk Bowl, the ACT International 500, and the Oxford 250, and now ten GSPSS wins.

Friday night, Polewarczyk will see if he can turn it to eleven.

Unofficial Results
Granite State Pro Stock Series presented by Hudson International Speedway | GSPSS 100
Seekonk Speedway, Seekonk, Mass.
1. (97) Joey Polewarczyk
2. (52) David Darling
3. (30) Jacob “Rowdy” Burns
4. (12) Bobby Pelland III
5. (40) Mike Mitchell
6. (46) Dylan Estrella
7. (90NH) Casey Call
8. (8NH) Connor McDougal
9. (5) Tom Carey III
10. (7MA) Jeremy Sorel
11. (8) Angelo Belsito
12. (7CT) Cory Casagrande
13. (84) Jamie Wright
14. (32Q) Alex Quarterley
15. (81) Dan Winter
16. (04) Jaden Hamilton
17. (17MA) Eddie MacDonald
18. (56) Evan Beaulieu
19. (11B) Matt Beers
20. (88) Kevin Casper
21. (17) Kevin Folan
22. (62) Joe Kendall

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