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(Stafford Springs, CT)—With the 2025 season at Stafford Motor Speedway beginning to wind down and head towards crowning five track champions, the track’s Late Model division is set for their biggest race of the year, the Paradiso Insurance Late Model 50. The Late Model field will take to the track this Friday night, September 5th for their extra distance classic with 4-time Stafford Late Model champion Adam Gray leading the field. 2025 has been a self-admittedly up and down year for the driver of the #97 Meadows Motor Cars Chevrolet, but Gray will be looking to post a solid finish to kick off the final four races of the season.
“It’s definitely been an up and down season for us with learning a new car and what we need from it,” said Gray. “Last year we were really fighting with the car so over the winter, Bob Fill went through the car and he worked his magic on it. I think we’re in a pretty good position for the 50 lapper. The car this year is definitely better at the end of races and we don’t seem to fall off as much as some other cars do. I’m hoping for 50 clean laps and if we can get that, we should be towards the front at the end of the race. We really need to thank Meadows Motor Cars, Leon’s Auto Repair, Statewide Auto Auctions, Hawley’s Auto Body, Magnus Steel, Bob Fill Racing, Donnie and the boys from R.A.D., John Williams from Williams Race Gears, High Tech Transmissions, Parts Authority, Sign Techniques, and my buddy Matt Nelson. It’s a whole list of people that help and without their help, we couldn’t be here and do what we do.”
In what has been one of the most competitive Late Model seasons in recent memory with 8 different feature winners in 12 races, Gray heads into the Paradiso Insurance 50 as the points leader in the Late Model division. After winning the race in 2023 and running in second place with one lap to go last season before a slide on the last lap left him with a 9th place finish, Gray will be looking for another strong effort to maintain his place at the top of the Late Model standings.
“We’ve showed very good strength in the extra distance races the last couple of years and as long as we dot all our I’s and cross all our t’s, I think we should be there for a win or at least a podium finish this Friday night,” said Gray. “Throughout the season it seems like whoever starts up front and can put together a decent race they stay up front and finish there. It’s always good when you can keep the car up front and keep your momentum going. It looks like it’s going to be a 5 or 6-car fight for the championship and right now it’s the closest it’s been in a while. As long as we don’t make any mistakes and continue to get good finishes, the rest should follow for us.”
When it comes to racing for a championship, Gray and his #97 team are certainly not lacking for experience. Gray is a four-time (’13, ’14, ’20, ’22) Stafford Late Model champion so he and his crew have been there and done that when it comes down to the trials and tribulations of racing for a championship. If that experience is not quite enough for Gray to lean on in his quest for a 5th Late Model track title, he can always look back to one year ago where he and the #97 team went on a tear over the final 4 races of the season by scoring a second place finish followed by three consecutive victories.
“We definitely got on roll at the end of last season and I would absolutely, positively love to be able to do that once again,” said Gray. “The way the track and the tire conditions have been this season, everyone has been real close within a couple tenths of a second if you look at the lap times on Race Monitor. But if anyone has a shot at making a run like that again, it would be us. We’ve been able to have good runs to close out the year for the last couple of seasons and hopefully we can keep that going. Anything is possible. I have faith in my car and my crew and we’re going to work our hardest to be the best that we can week in and week out. We’ve definitely picked up our momentum towards the end of the season and I feel like the cooler weather and slicker conditions play into our favor.”
Stafford’s Late Model cars will be joined in this Friday’s Paradiso Insurance 50 action by Stafford’s SK Modified®, SK Light, Limited Late Model, and Street Stock teams. Tickets are available now online at StaffordSpeedway.com/tickets and can also be purchased at the admission gates. If you can’t attend in person, don’t miss the action—tune in to the live stream on FloRacing, the official streaming partner of Stafford Speedway.
For more information, visit staffordspeedway.com, follow Stafford Speedway on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
