McKennedy circled the track position he had for the final restart as key to his eventual success.
“The strategy call at the end was the difference-maker,” admitted McKennedy. “We started far enough ahead that we could get to the lead, we won by a few car lengths and still had some left in the tank if there had been another caution. I feel like we played it perfectly; as well as we possibly could have.”
For Baldwin, though the No. 7NY made famous by his father had been to victory lane in recent years courtesy of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series star Ryan Newman and fellow owner Kevin ‘Bono’ Manion, Saturday marked the first NASCAR Modified victory for Tommy Baldwin Racing.
“This Tour is so tough, man. To finally win here is huge,” said Baldwin. “I had my work cut out for me this last year, and I worked hard with these guys over the winter to get this team where we needed it to be to go out and perform like we did today.”
“It’s pretty cool. This is an awesome tribute to my dad, and means so much for me, being part of a modified family. It’s good to come back. This is a great series; it’s made up of a lot of good people and it feels so good to be back in victory lane.”
Blewett settled for second, getting Partridge’s quest for a second-straight NWMT owner’s championship off to a strong start.
“First off, I can’t thank Eddie and his wife Connie enough. I’m just happy to be able to come out here and help them,” Blewett said. “This is a car that Eddie and my grandfather own together. We came here in the dark, with no notes. But we got ourselves pointed in the right direction fairly quickly today.”
“Track position was the deciding factor at the end. Hats off to Tommy Baldwin and his team, though. I know this means a lot to him and his family. That’s something special to see the No. 7 back in victory lane.”
Hirschman, who started on the pole and led the first 77 laps, completed the podium in third.
“We didn’t win, so obviously our strategy wasn’t the best,” Hirschman lamented. “We beat a lot of other cars, so we can’t hang our heads too far. We just have to try and learn to see what we could have done better and then come back next time even stronger.”
“We had a good-performing car all day, but just came up a little bit short there at the end.”
Dowling faded to fourth and Justin Bonsignore was fifth.
Defending series champion Doug Coby struggled for much of the day and finished a disappointing 14th.
The finish:
Jon McKennedy, Jimmy Blewett, Matt Hirschman, Chase Dowling, Justin Bonsignore, Dave Sapienza, Eric Goodale, Calvin Carroll, Craig Lutz, Rob Summers, Blake Barney, Timmy Solomito, Andy Seuss, Doug Coby, Gary Putnam, Burt Myers, Gary McDonald, Chris Pasteryak, Jamie Tomaino, Joe DeGracia, Ronnie Williams, Frank Fleming, Kyle Bonsignore, Wade Cole, Melissa Fifield, Ken Heagy, Woody Pitkat.
