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(Stafford Springs, CT)—Nick Anglace came into 2026 at Stafford Speedway fresh off a career best season that saw him win a career high 3 races and finish 5th in the final points standings. With the 2026 season now underway, Anglace and his #10 UCONN team have enjoyed their best start to a season with 2 wins in the first four races to go along with a second place and a fourth place finish. With the $1,750 to win Monaco Ford Double Down feature on the docket for this Friday, May 22nd, Anglace would like to continue his winning ways in the biggest SK Light race of the season.
“Any time you can win races is a good thing,” said Anglace. “With this race being a bigger payday and more laps it would be nice to come home with a special trophy. Last year we finished second in one 40-lapper and we got wrecked in the other one, the year before that we had the deal with Meg Fuller where we got penalized to the last car on the lead lap and lost the win, and the year before that we had a top-5 finish, so normally we’re pretty good when it comes to the 40-lappers. The race gives me a little more time to get to the front and I’m guessing I’ll be starting somewhere around 15th so I won’t have to stress about getting to the front in only 20 laps. I’m pretty confident that we have the ability to at least bring home a good finish. I’d love to be able to win the race and go back to back with our win last Friday night but if that doesn’t happen then a good points day will be just as good.”
With the 2026 season only 4 races old, Anglace has already won twice, which nearly matches his career high of 3 wins from a season ago. With how his 2025 season came to an end, Anglace wasn’t quite sure what to expect when the 2026 season kicked off so his results have come as somewhat of a surprise.
“I’d like to say yes and no at the same time,” said Anglace. “It surprises us only for the fact that the car was wrecked in the last race of last season and the car needed a new front clip. The car was completely destroyed and we even patched up some of the rear clip as well and you never know how the car is going to run after something like that. We trust we know what we’re doing and my father is really good at fixing the car, but the car can only take so many times of getting beat up before it doesn’t run as good. I’ve always wanted to win the Spring Sizzler® so I was hoping that we could win, but we didn’t expect to win. We’ve known we can compete at this level for a long time and we were just waiting for the opportunity to show it.”
A major factor in Anglace and the #10 team being able to show what they can do is their connection with UCONN. UCONN came on board with the Anglace team prior to the start of the 2025 season and their influence has helped lead Anglace to reach levels he had never been at previously.
“UCONN has been huge for us,” said Anglace. “They didn’t know who we were when they came on board last year and the fact that they came back with us for a second season shows that we did something right with the value we give them. The UCONN partnership has allowed us to get some really good setup equipment and now we’re on a level playing field with everyone else and not at a disadvantage. With UCONN on the car now, we’re not racing for just ourselves, we have something to race for and people paying attention to what you do and we want to do well for those people.”
In addition to the UCONN sponsorship, Anglace has a team that is becoming a well-oiled machine in getting the #10 car prepared to race every Friday night at Stafford.
“The weekend of the Spring Sizzler® we were up until 5 in the morning still working on the car because it just wasn’t right,” said Anglace. “We had the whole off-season and we were still working on it the night before the race. Big thanks to UCONN and my crew Frank, Scott, Mark, Chloe, and my girlfriend Carly. Having Pete from Valley Auto Machine as part of the team has also been a big help for us. We had a fuel pressure issue a couple weeks ago and having him there to help us diagnose what was going on with the engine allowed us to go out and win the race. It’s the whole system, everybody has a contribution, and we have a really good program going right now.”
Normally when a driver gets off to a start like Anglace and the #10 UCONN team have this season, they find themselves leading the points standings and typically by a large margin. But Anglace is currently second in the standings, 2 points behind Chris Matthews, who has a single victory to go along with 2 second place finishes and a fourth place finish. In fact, Matthews and Anglace have finished 3 of the 4 races this season in 1-2 fashion with Anglace leading Matthews 2 wins to 1. Anglace welcomes the high level of competition and enjoys being in the role of one of the car to beat on a weekly basis.
“It’s been kind of weird how things have worked out this season where we won the first race and he was second and then he won and we were second and then we were 1-2 again last Friday night,” said Anglace. “You want competition and you want someone to always be on your heels and for that driver to be Chris Matthews, he’s the winningest driver in SK Light history and he has a championship in the division, so if we’re up there racing with him then we must be doing something right. When I first started racing SK Lights, I would always think we have to beat this guy or that guy where now we feel like we are that guy to beat. It’s very nice to be on the other end of that and to be able to say every week we have a shot to win and run well. I always looked at other guys like George Bessette, Alex Pearl, Bryan Narducci, or Tyler Chapman, there was always someone to beat and now we’re one of the top guys.”
Anglace will look to capture his third win of the 2026 season this Friday, May 22nd in the Monaco Ford SK Light Double Down. The SK Lights will be joined by Stafford’s SK Modified, Late Model, Limited Late Model, and Street Stock divisions in feature action.
Order Friday, May 22 Monaco Ford SK Light Double Down Tickets
For more information, visit staffordspeedway.com, follow Stafford Speedway on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
