Last Sunday the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour ran the last race of 2006, the CARQUEST Fall Final 150 at Stafford Motor Speedway. For Teddy and the Eddie Whelan team it proved to be a very short closing performance.
TC lined up fifth on the starting grid in the Al-Lee Installations #36. He quickly climbed up to third behind leaders Todd Szegedy and Donny Lia. In the early laps the crew was trying to sort out the car and identify the source of a vibration. Unfortunately the source became clear on lap 51 when the left rear tire went flat and sent Teddy spinning into the turn two wall, ending his day. In the final rundown he was credited with a 25th place finish. Combined with a ninth place finish by Eddie Flemke, it dropped TC to third in the final 2006 WMT championship point standings.
“We had a vibration in the left rear we were trying to figure out,” said TC. “We were just trying to ride it out until we pitted but we never made it that far. It looks like the left rear wheel had worked its way loose. The vibration ended up breaking the left rear brake rotor, which shredded the tire and put us in the wall. It was a disappointing way to end the season. It ended up costing us second in the points. I feel bad for the crew but to me it didn’t really make any difference – if you’re not first, anything else really doesn’t matter.”
After the race, TC and car owner Eddie Whelen announced they were ending their association, effective immediately. Teddy’s final race on his 2006 schedule will come this weekend at Concord Motorsport Park in the 4th Annual North-South Shootout, where he will reunite with Joe Brady and drive the #00.
“Eddie decided to make a change and I respect that,” said TC. “I want to thank him for the opportunity to drive for his team. He gave me a ride when I needed it and together we enjoyed some success. We ran hard at every race we entered and had some fun along the way. Now it is time to move on. I wish him success in the future. Right now I’m focused on running the Shootout with Joe and his guys, and then getting married to Quinn at the end of the month. That’s what is important to me right now. Everything else can wait.”
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