BRISTOL, TN – Erick Rudolph drove the No. 98 Mohawk Northeast/Original Pizza Logs Chevrolet to a front row starting spot for the UNOH Perfect Storm 150 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Nine laps into the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT) event, the engine began to sputter, and the Heinke-Baldwin Racing (HBR) team was forced to push the Chevrolet back to the garage. Rudolph finished in the 31st position.
Rudolph posted the fifth-fastest time in first practice and the 13th-quickest time in final practice. He then ran the second-fastest qualifying lap of 15.037 seconds, giving him a front row starting position.
He took the green flag for the UNOH Perfect Storm 150 from the inside lane, with pole sitter and fellow Tommy Baldwin Racing Development Driver Bobby Santos on the outside. Stuck on the inside lane, Rudolph fell to fifth when the first caution waved on lap three for a multi-car incident in turn four. The 19-year-old racer told the HBR team that the car was free off in the first few laps.
The No. 98 Mohawk Northeast/Original Pizza Logs Chevrolet restarted fifth on lap seven. Once again restarting in the inside lane, Rudolph fell to the ninth position by the second caution on lap nine. During the caution, the Ransomville, N.C., native told the crew that the engine was starting to sputter. The crew called him down pit road to check if the problem was a spark plug.
Once on pit road, the team determined that the problem was terminal and pushed the No. 98 Mohawk Northeast/Original Pizza Logs Chevrolet into the garage. The HBR team finished in the 31st position.
The finish caused the team to fall to 11th in the NWMT Point Standings. Rudolph is now 27 points outside the top-10 and 296 points behind point leader Ron Silk. He sits 14 points ahead of James Civali in 12th.
“The car was pretty good,” explained Rudolph. “It’s a shame we didn’t get a chance to finish the race. I like racing here; it’s a lot of fun. I’m not sure what happened to the engine. We’ll look into it and get ready for Delaware Speedway.”
Rudolph will get back behind the wheel of the No. 98 Mohawk Northeast/Original Pizza Logs Chevrolet for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour 150 at Delaware Speedway on September 4th.
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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