(Stafford Springs, CT)—For Nick Anglace and the #10 Anglace Racing Enterprises SK Light team at Stafford Speedway, the 2023 season has been a career best year with 6 top-5 finishes through the first 8 races that sees them sitting in second place in the points standings. With the SK Light division set to tackle their 40-lap extra distance feature this Friday night, July 28th as part of Dunleavy’s Modifiedz Night, Anglace has his sights set on earning his first victory of the 2023 season to go along with his top-5 finishes.
“I sure hope our first win is soon,” said Anglace. “If you would have told me 2 or 3 years ago that we’d be finishing in the top-5 every week and driving from 15th at the start of races through the field, I would have said that’s great. Now we have to focus on winning races and I feel like we’ve had the speed to win races, we just haven’t had luck on our side. It seems like recently whenever we have a fast car there’s someone else who is a tenth of a second or two faster than we are and then we’re chasing that car. Hopefully that win is coming soon for us and I’d love for it to be this Friday in the 40-lapper.”
While Anglace is in the midst of enjoying his career best SK Light season at Stafford, the 2023 season is one that almost didn’t happen.
“Honestly we didn’t plan on racing SK Lights this season,” said Anglace. “We built an open car and we planned on racing just the open shows and for the Spring Sizzler® we decided to bring the SK Light car to the track just to have some fun. We put zero effort into the Light car, it was the same as it was when it came off the track last September, we didn’t even change the oil in the car. We were fast in the practice and we finished 4th so we figured that was a good race and we’ll keep on racing the car until we have a bad race. Next thing you know, 5 races have gone by and we were in the top-5 in all 5 races so our mindset changed to we’re running for the championship this season. We definitely knew we had the car and team to do what we’ve done, but we weren’t planning on doing it this season. Big thanks to My Uncle Mark, my Mom and Dad, my girlfriend Nadine, my cousin Chloe, Frank Lemay, Chris Jones Roofing and Siding, R.A.D. Auto Machine, and Pete from Valley Auto.”
With Anglace still searching for his first win of the 2023 season, this Friday night’s Dunleavy’s Modifiedz Night feature event could be the best race for Anglace to collect that win. Anglace finished 3rd in last year’s Dunleavy’s Modifiedz Night feature event to go along with a 5th place effort in 2019 and he finished 4th in last week’s non-points Monaco Ford 30-lap event, so the longer distance races definitely agree with Anglace and the #10 team.
“I’d say it’s a race that I enjoy a little more,” said Anglace. “Everyone seems to be a little more patient because you don’t have to get to the front in the next 5 or 10 laps and you don’t have to destroy your car on lap-2 trying to get to the front. Our car is known for being faster at the end of races than it is when we first fire off and with the 40-lapper, it usually falls right into our wheelhouse where around lap-25 or 30 is where the car starts to really come in and then we have 10 laps left to race to the front. Luckily in the past we’ve been able to be around 6th or 7th in those situations so we only have a few cars to pass to get to the front at the end of the 40-lap races.”
Armed with a car that gets better the longer it’s on the track, Anglace has a plan in mind on how to set up his #10 car for the grind of 40-laps, twice what the SK Light cars normally race on a Friday night at Stafford.
“Everyone has their own philosophy with the car and for us we try to keep things the same,” said Anglace. “We’ll add a little more gas to the car for the extra laps but we really try to get it set up to where the car will loosen up once the fuel burns off. So we want to start the race off tight and then loosen up so we can turn on the jets at the end of the race. You just don’t want to start off too loose because then you’ll lose all rear grip and be sliding all over the place and losing spots. My preference is to try to get to the front as quick as we can and then hope you have a fast enough car that you can stay up front.”
A victory in the Dunleavy’s Modifiedz Night would not only be the biggest payday of the season for Anglace and the #10 team, but it would also go a long way in keeping him in contention for the 2023 SK Light championship. Anglace is currently 40 points or 20 positions on the track behind Brian Sullivan in the race for the championship and he is mindful of what he needs to do in the second half of the season to stay in contention.
“I would say that in a perfect world we win the championship and we win races to go along with that in the second half of the season,” said Anglace. “I try to not look at the standings but when you’re second in points, it’s kind of hard to not look. I’ve never done a full season at Stafford, I’ve always missed 3 or 4 races every season. This would be the first full season for us and I just have to keep on being consistent like we’ve been doing all year long. If we have an opportunity to win a race then go for it, just don’t do anything stupid in the process of trying to win.”
The 7th Annual Dunleavy’s Modifiedz Night and Kids Night is scheduled for this Friday, July 28. Stafford’s SK Modified®, Late Model, Limited Late Model, Street Stock cars and Kids Big Wheel race will join the SK Lights in feature action. Tickets for Dunleavy’s Modifiedz Night are available now online at StaffordSpeedway.com/tickets and tickets will also be available for purchase at the admission gates. Tickets are priced at $25.00 for adults, kids 14 and under are free.. Reserved seating is priced at $30.00 for all ages and pit passes are $40.00 with a valid 2023 Stafford Competition License and $45.00 without a Stafford license. If you are unable to attend the event, tune into the live stream on FloRacing, the official streaming partner of Stafford Speedway.
For more information, visit staffordspeedway.com, follow Stafford Speedway on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
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