Weekend Warrior: Rowan Pennink Closes Whelen Modified Tour Season With Win At Thompson

THOMPSON – After a mesmerizing rally from the back of the field to a second place finish in Saturday’s 75-lap Valenti Modified Racing Series feature at Thompson Speedway, Rowan Pennink was left wanting more.

Rowan Pennink celebrates a Whelen Modified Tour victory Sunday at Thompson Speedway (Photo: Darren McCollester/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Sunday he got that more that he was looking for.

Pennink passed Donny Lia on a restart on lap 133 and never trailed again on the way to victory in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Sunoco World Series 150 at Thompson Speedway.

It was the second career Whelen Modified Tour victory for Pennink, of Huntingdon Valley, Pa.

Lia, of Jericho, N.Y. was second and Ryan Preece of Berlin was third, clinching his first Whelen Modified Tour title.

“This has got to be my best racing weekend of my career so far,” Pennink said. “Hopefully we can build off of this and keep the wins coming a little more often.”

A Whelen Modified Tour victory had been something long in the works for Pennink. Numerous times over the past five years he’s been in positions to win Modified Tour events at the track only to see them slip away. In an August event earlier this season Pennink had what looked like a car ready to compete for victory until he flipped on the frontstretch of the track.

“This is my favorite track,” Pennink said. “We always run good here in whatever we’re in. With [my Whelen Modified Tour car] things just haven’t fell right for us with late race cautions when we had a big lead and when we flipped here [earlier this year].

“Finally things just fell the right way for us. I got a lead and I was able to run away a little bit and cautions didn’t come out and I got the thing to victory lane. I guess you could say this place owed us one. We’ve won a bunch of races in the [Valenti Modified Racing Series] car but it’s real special to get one in the [Whelen Modified Tour car], especially on World Series weekend.”

Said Lia: “I was just really tight at the end and it was worse when I was out front. I was actually better when I was behind cars. … We were just really struggling real tight in the center [of the corners]. Once he got out front there wasn’t much I could do but fight off [Preece].”

Max Zachem of Preston, making his series debut, finished sixth.