A trip to Portage made a big difference for Todd Stapleman.
Stapleman, of Stevens Point, took his new No. 77 car to a friend there. After dropping it off on Monday and picking it up Thursday, Stapleman won the 50-lap Coca-Cola Season Championship last Friday, at Golden Sands Speedway.
Stapleman's friend, Ed Holmes of Holmes Motor Sports, worked on the car, which debuted six weeks ago, won a race and then had problems. "We spent hours and hours and hours and couldn't figure it out," Stapleman said.
With the rejuvenated car, Stapleman held off Chris Wimmer and season points champion Mark Eswein on the final laps to win his second feature of the year.
"We needed it," Stapleman said. "Right out of the shop it's been fast. We felt we had a fast car in the heat race. Boy, it sure came around right."
Stapleman took the lead seven laps into the race. On a restart, he moved around Frank Nitzke on turn two and then built a strong, seven-length lead with 20 laps remaining. He then battled through four cautions and restarts before Eswein and Wimmer made a late charge.
Although the two were on Stapleman's tail for the final laps, with Eswein on the outside and Wimmer on the inside, neither were able to get past the No. 77 car. Wimmer edged Eswein at the finish line for second place.
"I just stayed in my groove and raced the car," Stapleman said of the final laps.
Jason Kirsling of Nelsonville knows how Stapleman felt. The Super Stock division driver gained big leads in the 30-lap feature only to see them disintegrate several times because of caution flags.
"There were lots of cautions," Kirsling said. "I knew I had to bide my time and keep calm. It breaks your concentration quite a bit.
"There was oil dry and stuff on the track. I didn't know what I was going to get into. It was a wild night."
Kirsling took the lead from Shawn Stezler with 23 laps to go and Kirsling kept his lead through the yellow flags and subsequent restarts.
"We knew we had a fast car from the start," Kirsling said.
Keith Bohmsach, who won the season points title, finished second and Alan Sankey was third.
In the Pure Stocks, Matt Pyburn passed Jared Back on the outside with four laps to go. Pyburn then pulled away for the victory in the 20-lap feature. Back settled for second and Chris Brooks was third.
"It was a 20-lap feature so you have a long time so you can bide your time," Pyburn said. "I had openings and took them. I didn't look back."