Dowling Captures Pole
Hopes To Erase Memory Of Split-Second Loss
LOUDON, N.H. — How close was Chase Dowling to winning his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event on July 21 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway? Inches.
How much is that second-place finish to Bobby Santos III in the Eastern Propane & Oil 100 in July at NHMS etched on his brain?
Without a second’s thought, the Roxbury driver can rattle off exactly how close the finish was.
“If we can pick it up by .014 [of a second] we’ll have a good run tomorrow,” Dowling said.
Yes, .014 of a second was the difference.
Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Dowling will take the field to green in his chase for redemption of that .014 of second in the inaugural Musket 250 at NHMS.
Dowling won the pole in qualifying Friday, turning a fast lap of 29.447 seconds around the 1.058-mile oval.
In addition to the longest race in Whelen Modified Tour history, Saturday’s racing card at NHMS also includes the Apple Barrel 100 for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and the Visit New Hampshire 100 for the Canadian-based NASCAR Pinty’s Series.
It was the third pole of the season for Dowling, 20, who sits second in the series standings to Justin Bonsignore. The winner of the event will take home a $25,000 check for first place and a custom-made musket.
“We had a fast car, and the last time we were pretty close to winning,” Dowling said of his Rob Fuller Motorsports team. “Bringing back a fast car. … These guys work hard week in and week out. This is for these guys. We’re going for that musket.”
Dowling was fourth fastest during both Whelen Modified Tour practice sessions Friday.
“We knew we had a pretty good car,” he said.
“The second round we didn’t really do a lot of laps because we knew we were bringing out the same car as last time. We were just adjusting on it all day today and we got better and better and better. These guys work hard and it pays off.
“You just want to win. Every week, not even just at Loudon here. … You just want that extra confidence boost. I just want to win for these guys. It’s a big confidence boost when you can win a race.”
Bonsignore has won seven of 13 events this year and has top-five finishes in 11 races. He led the speed charts in both practices but ended up second in qualifying with a fast lap of 29.509 seconds.
“Yeah you want to win the pole just because it’s a big event, but it was still really close,” Bonsignore said. “Our car even in practice today wasn’t firing off really good on that first lap and the second lap was so-so. But still, a front-row start is good for us. Obviously a really long race, we’ve got the track position, we’ve got a good pit box for tomorrow. We’ll just bide our time and see how this race plays out..”
Patrick Emerling of Orchard Park, N.Y. was third in qualifying at 29.509 seconds. Ron Silk of Norwalk and Doug Coby of Milford rounded out the top five.
“We had a fast car, and the last time we were pretty close to winning. Bringing back a fast car. … These guys work hard week in and week out. This is for these guys. We’re going for that
musket.”
Chase Dowling