NASCAR
Series Thompson race notes
Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad: Lia Reclaims Whelen Modified Crown Christopher wins season finale at Thompson THOMPSON, Conn. -- Donny Lia led the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in victories in 2009, but in the end, it was a fourth-place finish in ...
Published: Oct 27, 2009, 10:39 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad: Lia Reclaims Whelen Modified Crown
Christopher wins season finale at Thompson
THOMPSON, Conn. -- Donny Lia led the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in victories in 2009, but in the end, it was a fourth-place finish in the season finale Sunday in the World Series of Speedway Racing presented by Xtra Mart that was enough to give the Jericho, N.Y., native his second Tour championship in the last three years.
Defending Tour champion Ted Christopher won the race by 1.187-seconds over Ryan Preece, but Lia's finish was enough to give him the title by 16 points over Preece. It was the closest championship finish since 1996.
Christopher took the lead for the final time from Lia on Lap 132 and led the rest of the way. However, he was mathematically eliminated from championship contention when the field took the green flag Sunday afternoon. Christopher finished third, 89 points behind Lia.
In the 25th season of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, Lia joined Mike Stefanik (seven), Tony Hirschman Jr. (five) and Jimmy Spencer (two) as the only drivers to win the championship more than once. In addition, he gave car owner Bob Garbarino his second championship in three seasons. Garbarino had fielded the No. 4 "Mystic Missile" in Modified competition since 1961 for some of the biggest names in the division's history without winning one until Lia broke through in 2007.
Lia left in 2008 to run the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series before returning to the seat this season. He won four times in 2009, with victories at Tour staples Thompson, Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway, and New Hampshire Motor Speedway, as well as the inaugural visit to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
Doug Coby finished third in Sunday's race, followed in the top 10 by Lia, Rowan Pennink, Chris Pasteryak, Erick Rudolph, Kevin Goodale, Ron Silk and Woody Pitkat.
Christopher led twice for 93 laps, while Lia led twice for 57 laps. Lia started on the pole after rain washed out Coors Light Pole Award qualifying Saturday.
As a touring series champion, Lia earned a protected starting position in the prestigious NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown to be held on Jan. 29-30 at California's Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. The seventh running of the event, which is run in NASCAR Camping World Series cars, brings together the top racers from across North America for the "Daytona 500 of short-track racing."
Next up for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour teams is the NASCAR Touring Series Awards Gala in Concord, N.C. on Saturday, Nov. 14 at which Lia and the rest of the touring series champions will be honored.
-credit: nascar
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article SMT: George Brunnhoelzl III Caraway race notes
Next article WS: Series year-end news 2009-11-04
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Ryan Preece
Winners and losers from the penultimate round of 2026 NASCAR Cup season at Martinsville
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Martinsville II
Winners and losers from the penultimate round of 2026 NASCAR Cup season at Martinsville
Ryan Preece on RFK nearly lapping the field: "You'll never see that again"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
Ryan Preece on RFK nearly lapping the field: "You'll never see that again"
Winners and losers from an intriguing NASCAR Cup race at Las Vegas
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Las Vegas II
Winners and losers from an intriguing NASCAR Cup race at Las Vegas
Latest news
The 'difference' between Kimi Antonelli's F1 title and Lewis Hamilton's according to Toto Wolff
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
2 min
The 'difference' between Kimi Antonelli's F1 title and Lewis Hamilton's according to Toto Wolff
Lamborghini facing loss as Grasser Racing Team and star driver eye McLaren switch?
DTM
DTM DTM 30 min
Lamborghini facing loss as Grasser Racing Team and star driver eye McLaren switch?
Spire Motorsports suspends Carson Hocevar, parking him for NASCAR finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
35 min
Spire Motorsports suspends Carson Hocevar, parking him for NASCAR finale
Lin Hodenius, James Roe partner for Lone Star Racing’s full-time IMSA GTD campaign for 2027
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 55 min
Lin Hodenius, James Roe partner for Lone Star Racing’s full-time IMSA GTD campaign for 2027
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe