(Stafford Springs, CT)---(Stafford Springs, CT)---For the first time in his SK Modified® career at Stafford, Todd Owen joined the ranks of owner/driver prior to the start of the 2012 season.  The new venture for Owen has met with mixed results as he has two top-5 finishes in 5 starts this season and he nearly won his first SK Modified® feature event since the Coors Light SK Modified® 100 in 2006.  But Owen says he and his #81 Cooker Construction team are on the right track and he is looking forward to this Friday nIght’s Coors Light SK Modified® 100.

“We’ve been pretty good, we haven’t had the finishes to back up how good the car has been,” said Owen.  “There’s a lot of positives going forward from this point, we’re looking forward to seeing how much better we can get from where we are now.  We feel good about the 100-lapper.  The car seems like it stays pretty consistent the last couple of weeks, it hasn’t really changed much.  The car is good, it doesn’t tear up the tires that much.  I’m looking forward to the race, I think I have a good chance at running up front in the top-3.  We just need to stay smooth and keep the tires under the car for 100 laps.”

While Owen has recorded two top-5 finishes thusfar this season, he also has three finishes of 13th or worse in the first five races of the season.  While those aren’t quite the results Owen and his team are looking for, they are feeling confident in advance of the longest race of the season and are looking forward to the remainder of the 2012 season as they are learning new things about their car every week.

“The first week we were in a wreck at the Sizzler, the next two weeks we had tire issues, the tires were just taking off like crazy so I think it might just have been something with those sets of tires,” said Owen.  “Two weeks ago we finished second behind Michael Gervais, who was going really good that night, and then last week I felt like we had a chance to win if we didn’t get run into the fence.  We’ve had a good car, even those couple races where the tires took off, we finished 5th and 13th, so the car was still good.  The car seems to be fast every week and if the stagger stays right the car is fast for the whole race.   We’ve gained on the car the last couple of weeks and we’re learning from the new setup we have in the car.  You have to be on top of your game every week at Stafford, if you’re a tenth of a second off, you’re behind the 8-ball.  Hopefully we’ll win some races, it’s been a long time.” 

Having won the Coors Light SK Modified® 100, Owen knows what it takes to reach victory lane and he shares his thoughts on what it will take for him to collect his second Coors Light SK Modified® 100 trophy and end a 6-year winless drought.

“Finishing, you have to finish, you have to be smart, you can’t beat the heck out of the car the first 10 laps of the race,” said Owen.  “But you can’t be running around in last with 20 laps to go either.  You just have to be consistent for 100 laps and see where you end up at that point.”

Tickets for the 39th Annual Coors Light SK Modified® 100 are on sale now at the Speedway Box Office.  Tickets are priced at $20.00 for adult general admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 and under are admitted free of charge when accompanied by an adult.  Reserved seating is priced at $22.00 for all ages.  As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking available.

For more information on the 39th annual Coors Light SK Modified® 100, or to order tickets, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.