(Stafford Springs, CT)—Coming into the 2023 season at Stafford Speedway, Alexander Pearl and the #7 Darling Auto Parts team were riding a 5-season streak of winning at least one race per season, dating back to Pearl’s rookie season of 2018. Although Pearl notched three second place finishes last season, he ended up winless for the first time in his SK Light career. With the 2024 season set to kick off at the end of April, Pearl has his sights set on starting a new winning streak.
Alexander Pearl Driver Profile
“It was definitely a frustrating season,” said Pearl. “We had won in every season we ran in the SK Lights so not getting to NAPA Victory Lane last season stung, but it has led us to be even hungrier going into this season. We went through some hot and cold streaks last season. We didn’t start the season off like we wanted to, but around the middle of the summer we really turned things around at the 30-lap race on SRX night. We clicked off a bunch of second place finishes, we had 3 out of 5 races, so we got pretty hot during the summer, but we ended up cooling off towards the end and we have to make sure that doesn’t happen again. We were close a couple of times to winning last season but the cards just didn’t fall the right way for us.”
As well as starting a new winning streak, Pearl is focused on winning the SK Light championship. Pearl finished 7th in the SK Light standings as a rookie back in 2018, but since then, he has been a mainstay of championship contention. Pearl has finished in the top-4 of the SK Light standings every year from 2019 to 2023 with third place finishes in 2019 and 2022, fourth place finishes in 2020 and 2023, and he tied Brian Sullivan for the 2020 championship but lost out due to a tiebreaker. Pearl’s career high for wins in a season currently stands at 4 wins in the 2020 season and he would like to match or surpass that win total in 2024.
“The goal is to obviously run for the championship this year just like it has been every year but I know the other championship contenders are going to be tough to beat and they’re going to win a lot of races,” said Pearl. “We know we’ll have to outrace and outpoint those other drivers and that’s going to be tough to do, but I feel like we’re up to the challenge. We know we’ll have to win a lot of races to be a contender and I’d like to win at least 4 or 5 races this season.”
Pearl and the #71 team have worked over the winter making changes to their car in the hopes of making it fast enough for Pearl to realize his goals. Pearl is looking forward to his first opportunity to see how the changes they made will affect his car in the Stafford Open Practice set for Saturday, April 20, the week before the 52nd Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler®.
“Coming off last season we regrouped and made a lot of changes to the car during the winter that we hope will pay off,” said Pearl. “We pretty much went through the entire car and put a new suspension in as well as changing some of the setup that we’re going to be working with. That open practice day will be super important to make sure that nothing happens to the car and that we’re ready for the Sizzler® the next week. We’re feeling super confident. If you want to be a champion, you have to be confident and I’m really confident that we figured some things out and that will show at the Spring Sizzler®. I have to thank my crew and team for all their support both on and off the track, and my sponsors Darling Auto Parts, Steve and Wendy, EB Exterminating, Mike V., Wicked Powersports, and LifeCare Family Chiropractic.”
The first SK Light feature event of the 2024 season will be held as part of the 52nd Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler®, set for April 27-28. The NAPA Spring Sizzler® kicks off on Saturday, April 27th and will consist of two 40-lap NAPA Duel qualifying races for the Open Modified division. The 40-lap races will each pay $3,500 to win and will set the field for Sunday’s NAPA Spring Sizzler®. Stafford’s Late Model, Limited Late Model, and Street Stock divisions will complete Saturday’s racing program with qualifying and feature racing.
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Sunday, April 28th will play host to the $20,000 to win 52nd NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler®. Filling out Sunday’s racing card will be qualifying and feature racing for the SK Modified® and SK Light Modified divisions along with last chance qualifiers for the NAPA Spring Sizzler®.
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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