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(Stafford Springs, CT) — With Stafford Speedway drivers and teams busy preparing their cars for the 2025 season during the winter, one driver eager to get back on track is SK Light racer Chris Viens. After racing part-time for five seasons from 2017 to 2023 with a best finish of 14th in the SK Light standings, Viens enjoyed a breakout season behind the wheel of the #12 Win Waste Innovations Chevrolet in his first full season. Viens competed in all 20 races last season and finished 4th in the standings, with three top-5 finishes and 14 top-10 finishes. He says it was his best season to date at Stafford.
“This was the first season where we really had our minds set on racing at Stafford full time, and we had a plan to start the year,” said Viens. If you’re going to run full-time at Stafford, you really have to be there from the start of the season and get yourself into the handicap because you’re really backed up if you fall outside of it.”
In addition to the experience Viens gained during the 2024 season, he will enter the 2025 season with a new car and engine combination to bring to the half-mile battle every Friday night.
“We’re all very excited,” said Viens. “I have a ‘new-to-me’ car that I’ve been working on putting together over the last several seasons. The chassis I’ve been running is about 26 or 27 years old now, so it’s a significantly newer chassis. We also have a fresh engine coming because our engine was getting pretty tired around halfway through the season. You could really see it on track; we couldn’t ask the car to handle much better, and we were consistently losing about half a car length every straightaway. We also have some new people coming on board to help us out this season, so we’re hopeful, and my goal is to win at least one race. We’re working on making everything better, from the driver to the car, and we’re coming to the track with intent in 2025. Big thanks to my mom and dad, especially my dad—he’s a tremendous help—and to Billy Michael, Ken and Tyler Barry at Spafco, Kevin Harvie, my tire guy who comes all the way down from Cape Cod every week, Dave Ramos, and all our sponsors: Win Waste Innovations, Spafco Racecar and Chassis, Landry Electric, Metzger Motorworx, Jesters Graphics, BCS Sandblasting, New England Gear Polishing, and Supreme Speed.”
While Viens did not reach NAPA Victory Lane last season, his three top-5 finishes tied his career total over his first 40 races during his abbreviated five seasons of racing. Additionally, his 14 top-10 finishes more than doubled his career total of six. Viens feels that with his new car and engine combination, along with his ever-expanding notebook from last season, his first win is within reach.
“I think we’re a lot closer than we’ve ever been,” said Viens. “If we consistently do what we’ve been doing—having a little more time under my belt at Stafford and a little better equipment—I don’t think it’s unrealistic to expect to win a race this season. Realistically, we’d like to finish in the top-5 in the points with at least one win. My goal last season was to finish in the top-8 in the points with a win, so although we didn’t get that win, we did much better than expected in the points. There’s no substitute for seat time, especially at Stafford, because it’s a very technical track for being as big as it is. We’re all excited, for sure, and we think we could be pretty good. I think we had about 13 or 14 top-10 finishes last season, and we’d like to turn some of those into top-5 finishes this year.”
Viens has several ideas on what he and the #12 team will need to focus on in order to consistently transform their top-10 finishes into top-5 efforts during the 2025 season.
“One of the biggest things for us will be the new motor,” said Viens. “We had about 40 races or so on our engine, and it was getting pretty tired. Another thing for me to work on is getting the car to fire off better on restarts. It took the car about 3 to 6 laps to get going, and once it was going, it was pretty good. But we only have 20 laps in the SK Lights, so you have to go right away. It almost seemed like I wasn’t getting enough heat in the right-side tires to get the side bite you need in traffic, so we need to improve that. You look at guys like Chris Matthews and Nick Hovey; they’re great drivers, but their cars can really go after just one or two laps. It’s not much of a margin, but it’s enough.”
The first SK Modified® feature of the 2025 season will be held as part of the 53rd Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler®, set for April 26-27. The NAPA Spring Sizzler® kicks off on Saturday, April 26, with feature events for the Late Model, Limited Late Model, and Street Stock divisions, along with SK Light qualifying duel races that will set the field for an extra-distance 30-lap feature event on Sunday, April 27.
Order 53rd Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler® Tickets
Sunday, April 27, will play host to the 53rd Annual NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler®. Filling out Sunday’s racing card will be qualifying and feature racing for the SK Modified® division, the 30-lap SK Light Modified feature, plus the NAPA Pit Party.
For more information, visit staffordspeedway.com, follow Stafford Speedway on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
