A Press Release by Stafford Speedway
Stafford Motor Speedway SK Light competitor Nick Anglace is set to make his Open Modified debut in the Lincoln Tech 80 this Friday, August 20. Anglace is currently in his third full season of SK Light competition at Stafford and the 2021 season has seen him notch his first two career SK Light victories. Anglace will be driving the #4x owned by Mike and Michelle Davini as a teammate to Tommy Barrett, Jr. and he will be carrying sponsorship from Lincoln Tech. “I don’t think I have words that can describe how excited I am,” said Anglace. “This is like a dream, I never thought I’d ever have the opportunity to do something like this. After our first win this season, we started talking to some people and Lincoln Tech said they would step up and help us find a ride. Our original plan was to do a deal with Keith Rocco, but he didn’t have a car available so I wasn’t sure if this was going to happen or not. Mike and Michelle Davini have given me a really good car and I have a lot of support from them, so it’s going to be a matter of me getting comfortable in the car. There’s always a little pressure but everyone involved in this deal thinks we can do well, we just have to go out and get the job done.” With Anglace in the midst of his third full season of SK Light racing, he knows the Stafford half-mile layout very well but he will still have to learn the differences between the Open Modified car and his SK Light car, primarily the extra power of the Open Modified. Anglace has plans to practice Friday morning in the Open Modified in order to help get himself acclimated to the new car. “I’m trying to stay level headed and just focus on getting qualified for the race,” said Anglace. “After getting a couple of wins this season, it’s a big help to know I can get the job done at Stafford. Another plus is that I already know the track and how to pass so that gives me a good feeling going into the race. We’re going to rent the track this Friday and practice all day and hopefully by the end of that practice I’ll be comfortable and ready to go for the race.” Another factor that Anglace will have to come to grips with is the race distance of 80 laps. SK Light feature events are normally only 20 laps long and the longest race that Anglace has driven in thus far is the Dunleavy’s Modifiedz Night 40-lap SK Light event. Anglace can look to the fact that his #10 Lincoln Tech SK Light car is normally a good long run car and he will look to transfer that trait to his Open Modified car. “Usually with the longer races the setup comes to us with our SK Light car so that should help but when it comes to the Open car I’ll have to be a little more patient,” said Anglace. “I’ll have to make sure that I don’t completely blow stuff up before we get to the halfway point of the race.” Ever the racer, Anglace wants nothing more than to win the Lincoln Tech 80, but he realized the level of competition that he will be up against and has a modest goal in mind for his Open Modified debut experience. “My number one goal is to bring the car home in one piece,” said Anglace. “If I can finish the race and stick with the field, that would be a good day for us. Being a driver, I always want the best and I want to say I’m going out there to win, but we’re going up against a very tough field. Going against guys like Ryan Preece and Chase Dowling is tough so just finishing and sticking with the pack will be a nice accomplishment for me.” For more information, visit StaffordSpeedway.com, checkout Stafford Speedway on Facebook or Twitter, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
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Story by RaceDayCT.com
STAFFORD – The exuberant emotion of a first-time winner was flowing in victory lane at Stafford Speedway following the SK Light Modified feature. Conversely, the angry emotion of a driver feeling like a victory was stolen from him was flowing in the paddock. Nick Anglace of Ansonia scored his first career SK Light Modified win in the division’s 20-lap feature Friday at Stafford. “Anyone can put four tires on and go out there and lead 20 laps and win a race, but [Alexander Pearl] drove away from us and we had to battle back on those [late] restarts,” Anglace said. “We had to do some things to get into victory lane and I had to do whatever I had to do to get my father to victory lane. He deserved it more than anybody.” Pearl, of Salem was second in the side-by-side controversial finish at the line. Steven Champman of Ellington was third. “I’m going for my first win, I’ve got to send it, no half send, full send,” Anglace said. On a lap 19 restart it was Anglace powering by Pearl for the lead off of turn two in the outside lane. But on the final lap it was Pearl finding a low lane under Anglace going into turn three. “He ran me up the track going into turn three and I was like ‘Hopefully this thing sticks,’” Anglace said. Anglace and Pearl came off turn four on the final lap side-by-side with Pearl slightly ahead in the low lane coming onto the frontstretch. The pair came off the final corner with Anglace’s car hugging the outside wall. Contact between the pair coming to the checkered flag allowed Anglace to grab the lead away just before the finish. Pearl said Anglace turned left into him coming to the checkered flag. Anglace denied that accusation. “I didn’t turn left,” Anglance said. “… I was right against the wall and he came up into me. I had a really good run, I wouldn’t jeopardize that. I had a really good run coming off turn four and it was going to be close. I feel like he turned into me. It might have been 50-50 at most. I certainly didn’t turn left into him. I don’t need to race like that.” A Press Release by Stafford Speedway
Nick Anglace heads into the 2020 season at Stafford Speedway ready to chase after his first career win and challenge for the championship after a solid 2019 rookie campaign that saw him record 3 top-5 and 14 top-10 finishes in 19 starts. Anglace and the #10 Fox Pest Control team opened the 2019 season with 8 top-10 finishes in the first 9 races and ended the year with 6 more top-10 finishes in the final 7 races to finish the year in 8th place in the SK Light points standings. “Last year was pretty good,” said Anglace. “We were very lucky that we only got in one big wreck throughout the whole season. For our first year at Stafford, finishing eighth in points was pretty decent and it was a cool experience. Every week at Stafford, you’re racing against 25 cars so we didn’t expect to run as well as we did. We ended up finishing second in our fifth start, and we definitely didn’t expect that, so it was one of those things that luck was on our side. I don’t want to be too overly optimistic but I’d like to have a shot at the championship this season. Realistically anywhere in the top-5 would be a good spot for us with a couple of wins. We were actually in the top-5 last year but once we got caught in that wreck, things started to go downhill a little bit for us.” With Anglace having never driven at Stafford prior to making his SK Light debut in the second race of the 2019 season, he relied heavily on his father Vinny, a veteran of Stafford’s SK Modified® and SK Light ranks, to provide a setup on the #10 car that would allow Nick to run up front and be among the weekly contenders for victories. “A lot of our success last season comes down to my father,” said Anglace. “He’s been racing at Stafford for a long time and he gave me some tips on what to do and what not to do. He knows what the car needs and he ran up front back in 2016 so I felt pretty confident that we could do well but I didn’t think we’d be finishing in the top-10 as many times as we did. Thanks to Anglace Racing Enterprises and my Dad, he’s always the number one guy I have to thank for everything, Fox Pest Control, CWPM, Jones Bros. Roofing & Siding, and all the track sponsors for their support.” Anglace will be bringing back the car that he started off the 2019 season with and that he was much more comfortable driving. “We’re going to be bringing back one of our better cars that we ran in the beginning of last season,” said Anglace. “After we got in the wreck, on July 19, we switched to our backup car and that wasn’t as good as the primary, so I think we should be back to running up front. It’s going to be an interesting season because there’s a lot of good guys who have moved up to the SK Modified® division. With the experience we have now, I know what I need to do and the team knows what they need to do in order to get some good results. I can’t wait to get back to the track and go racing.” In addition to having championship aspirations for the 2020 season, Anglace is also chasing after his first career victory at Stafford. A victory for Anglace would be a first for his family as his father Vinny scored 6 podium finishes during his best season of 2016, but couldn’t quite get to NAPA Victory Lane. “A win would be crazy,” said Anglace. “My dad has been racing for a long time now and he hasn’t won a race yet. He ran SK’s for a while and won a lot of heat races, but nothing for feature wins. It will be a pretty cool day if we can get a win.” With Teddy Hodgdon and Bryan Narducci, who between them won 13 of the 20 SK Light races held last season, both moving into the SK Modified® division for the 2020 season, everyone in the SK Light field will be looking to fill those winning shoes, but Anglace knows that it won’t be an easy task. “Teddy Hodgdon and Bryan Narducci along with a bunch of really good drivers have moved up to the SK’s, but there’s still a great field with a mix of young drivers like Jon Puleo and Steven Chapman along with veterans like Joey Ferrigno and Mark Bakaj plus a great mix of new drivers coming in,” said Anglace. “The SK Lights always put on a great show with how intense we all are. Especially with 20 laps, you have to work your way to the front pretty quickly. It’s going to be tough for sure but I think we have the capabilities to run up front and hopefully with the experience we gained last year we can do that on a more consistent basis.” In addition to preparing his #10 machine for the 2020 season, Anglace has also been busy on iRacing to better hone his skills at getting around the Stafford half-mile with a particular set of skills in mind that he is trying to improve. “I’ve been doing a lot of iRacing to try to get the track down,” said Anglace. “My big thing is I don’t like to run the bottom of the track. I don’t know why but usually when we get stuck on the bottom is when we start to fall back and when we get to the outside we can pick cars off one by one. I like to run the Kyle Larson line so I’ve been working a lot on figuring out how to run the bottom and what I need to do personally. Hopefully if I can get that figured out we can be a big threat.” Anglace will see if his iRacing skills will help pay off for the first time in 2020 with the 49th Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler® on April 24-26. Tickets for the “Greatest Race in the History of Spring” are on sale now by calling the Speedway Box Office 860-684-2783 or online at www.staffordspeedway.com. For more information, visit www.staffordspeedway.com, checkout Stafford Speedway on Facebook or Twitter, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783. A Press Release by Stafford Speedway
With the kickoff to the 2019 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series season at Stafford Speedway fast approaching, the track’s SK Light division continues to add to its 2019 rookie class. Oxford, CT native Nick Anglace will join his father Vinny as a 2-car SK Light team and campaign for Rookie of the Year honors behind the wheel of his #10 Anglace Racing Enterprises / Fox Pest Control Chevrolet. Anglace finished fourth in SK Light points as a rookie driver at Waterford in 2018 and he is looking forward to racing as a teammate with his father. “I’m super excited to get out on the track at Stafford,” said Anglace. “I grew up watching my father race at Stafford and I always remember thinking how cool it would be to be on the other side of the fence and racing with my dad. I ran go karts for two years at Nutmeg Kart Club before I tested my father’s SK Light car in 2017 at Waterford. I was running competitive lap times so I said let’s try this out and and last year we did better than we expected to do with a fourth place finish in the points and a best finish of second. I’ve always wanted to race against my dad and now we can see who the better driver is between the two of us. I have to thank my father and Anglace Racing Enterprises, Fox Pest Control, CWPM, my Uncle Mark, and a few friends that help us out.” While Nick Anglace will be seeing Stafford for the first time when he takes to the track during the season opening NAPA Spring Sizzler Weekend set for April 26-28, his father Vinny raced SK Modifieds® from 2005-2008 and he has been racing SK Lights from 2015-present. Nick has been busy preparing for his rookie season by logging virtual laps at Stafford in the world of iRacing and he hopes the combination of the virtual laps and his father’s experience at Stafford will help lead to a shortened learning curve. “Obviously we’d like to run as well as possible,” said Anglace. “Last season at Waterford was all about getting some seat time in an SK Light car, so we got that out of the way. With Stafford being a new track for me, I’ve been doing as much iRacing as I can lately. Hopefully that will allow me to get the hang of the track quickly and we can start trying to run up front. My father says that Stafford is a hard track to master and obviously I’ve never driven there before so I’m not sure what to expect. He’s given me some tips and I’ve talked with some other drivers like Jonathan Puleo to get some insight from them. It’s definitely going to be helpful for both of us being teammates this season. With my father racing for wins, he can try some stuff in my car and if it works, he can use it in his car and maybe win a race this year.” Another area where Anglace will look to ease the burden of learning a new track is to lean on his experience in helping his father around the shop working on his racecar. The Anglace team is also looking for any additional help that they can get at the track and in the shop during the week. “I’ve helped my father out working on his cars over the years and learning how everything goes together and the science behind these cars is a fascinating thing,” said Anglace. “You look at a driver like Ryan Preece. He works on his own cars and won a lot of races, so once you know about the cars and how to drive them, you can be successful. I’m hoping I can do that this season. With just the two of us working on the cars, it’s going to be tough this season to manage 2 cars at once. We’re always looking for any extra crew help we can get.” Anglace can also take solace in the fact that over the past five seasons of SK Light competition, there are over 10 drivers who won races as rookies with Jeremy Sorel and Cory DiMatteo also winning track championships as rookies. Anglace would like to emulate their rookie success and at least be in contention for the Rookie of the Year award this season. “Watching guys like Brian Narducci and Marcello Rufrano was comforting knowing that if they can do what they did as young drivers, hopefully I can do some of the same things and have the same kind of success they did,” said Anglace. “It’s not going to be easy at all. Some of these guys have been racing longer than I’ve been alive so it’s going to be tough for sure. Winning Rookie of the Year is something that at least I hope we can be in contention for at the end of the season. That would be a pretty cool honor to finish the year out with and I think we can get it done with the equipment that we have.” |
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