LOUDON, NH – Erick Rudolph started the Granite State Classic eighth and looked poised to contend for the win.
He worked his way to the top spot but was collected in an incident following his only planned pit stop. The Heinke-Baldwin Racing (HBR) No. 98 Mohawk Northeast/Original Pizza Logs Chevrolet had damage on the right side that caused the tire to smoke. After the team worked on the damage, Rudolph drove to a ninth-place finish in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT) event.
Rudolph posted the ninth-fastest time of 29.758 in first practice and the fifth-fastest time of 29.557 seconds in final practice on Friday. He drove to the eighth-place starting spot for the Granite State Classic with a fast lap of 30.096 seconds.
The 18-year-old took the green flag from the outside of the fourth row and quickly moved to the fifth position before the first of nine cautions for a spin in turn four. The field went back to green on lap six with the No. 98 Mohawk Northeast/Original Pizza Logs Chevrolet in the fifth position. Rudolph worked up to fourth on the first green-flag lap and held onto the position until the next yellow flag for a two-car spin in turn four on lap 15.
The HBR team elected to stay out again and save new tires for late in the run. Rudolph restarted fourth on lap 19 and worked up to third before the field was under caution again on lap 21 for another spin in turn four. The No. 98 stayed out once again and restarted in second place on lap 24.
Rudolph worked on the leader, fellow Tommy Baldwin Racing (TBR) Development Driver Bobby Santos. The Ransomville, N.Y., native fought Santos hard for the top spot and passed the No. 4 on lap 30. Santos, however, drove back to the lead the following lap, and Rudolph lined up nose-to-tail with his TBR Development teammate, trying to get a good lead on the rest of the field. Rudolph radioed that the Chevrolet was a little loose in the corner, but otherwise, it was good.
A lap-33 caution took away the pair’s lead. Both cars stayed out and restarted on the front row on lap 36. Stuck on the inside, Rudolph fell back to fourth by lap 37. He continued his fall to ninth place when the yellow flag waved on lap 59. Under caution, Rudolph told the crew that he could not get to the gas. The team pit for right-side tires and an adjustment. The No. 98 restarted 11th on lap 65. Rudolph worked up to sixth on lap 70 but fell back to eighth while racing three-wide.
The next caution flew on lap 74 with Rudolph in 10th, and the team elected to stay out. Rudolph restarted 10th but moved to ninth by lap 81, when another caution was called on lap 82 for another spin in turn four. The field restarted on lap 86, but a pile-up ensued as the green flag was shown. Stuck in the domino effect, the No. 98 incurred damage on the right side that caused the back-right tire to smoke. The red flag was displayed to clean up the debris and cars from the eight-car incident.
Once the yellow flag flew, Rudolph pulled down pit road for service. The team changed the back-right tire and used a sledgehammer to fix the right-side damage. Knowing they would have to start at the back of the field for pitting early, the team chose to call Rudolph back down pit road to continue to fix the damage. With four laps to go in the 95-lap event, Rudolph restarted 18th and quickly worked up to 13th before the next yellow flag flew on lap 92. The team decided to call the No. 98 back down pit road to continue to fix the damage as the tire was slightly smoking.
The field restarted under green-white-checker conditions with Rudolph in the 14th spot. He moved to tenth place when the yellow flag waved before the field was shown the white flag. He restarted 12th on lap 103. When the white flag dropped, he worked up to ninth and held the spot on the final lap. He finished the Granite State Classic ninth.
His finish moved him to 10th in the NWMT Point Standings, 250 points behind the leader Ron Silk and 53 points behind Mike Stefanik in ninth. He is 43 points ahead of Justin Bonsignore in 11th place.
“We had a really fast car,” Rudolph said. “It’s a shame we were involved in the pile-up on the frontstretch. We worked up to the front pretty quick. We fell back a little before the pit stop, but the team made some good adjustments. The car was good; we just needed a long green run. Unfortunately, we were caught up in the mess on the frontstretch, and the damage was making the tire smoke. We came in a few times to fix it but just really didn’t have enough time to make up the spots we lost. All in all, it was a good points day and was nice to know we can run up front. Hopefully, at the next race here, we will have a little luck.”
Rudolph will get behind the wheel of the No. 98 Mohawk Northeast/Original Pizza Logs Chevrolet at Bristol Motor Speedway Wednesday, August 24th. The UNOH Perfect Storm 150 will be broadcast on SPEED.
About Heinke-Baldwin Racing
Heinke-Baldwin Racing was formed in 2009 by H&H Motorsports owner Al Heinke and Tommy Baldwin Racing owner Tommy Baldwin. Both Baldwin and Heinke grew up racing in New England and saw an opportunity to work together to help young drivers pursue their dreams to race.
In 2010, the team's freshman year, HBR fielded the No. 98H Troyer for driver Jimmy Phelps in the Super DIRTcar Series. The team collected four tour wins en route to a second place finish in the championship. HBR also fielded the No. 98 for driver Erick Rudolph in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT), with additional sponsorship from Pizza Logs, Brigham Concrete and PrimeTyme Motorsports. Rudolph finished eighth in the NWMT standings and collected one pole, three top-fives and seven top-10s.
HBR will once again field modifieds for both Phelps and Rudolph. Phelps will compete for the Super DIRTcar Series championship, as well as the Race of Champions (RoC) championship. Rudolph will return to the NWMT.
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