STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. — Stafford Speedway was back in action on Friday, June 5th with the Casella Waste SK 80, the $3,000 to win first leg of the Sign Pro Triple Crown.
Jon Puleo was the big winner of the night, using a dominant drive to notch his first win of the 2026 season in the Casella Waste SK 80.
Glen Reen charged around polesitter Jon Puleo to take the early race lead. Puleo came right back to the inside of Reen on lap-2 to move to the front. Bryan Narducci was third in line with Marcello Rufrano in fourth and Michael Christopher, Jr. fifth. The caution came out with 4 laps complete as Frank Ruocco got into the turn 3 wall and the cars of Wade Gagner, Josh Zentek, and Ethan Durocher all spun.
Reen took the lead back from Puleo on the restart but again Puleo took one lap behind Reen before he went back into the lead. Narducci took second with Rufrano and Reen now wheel to wheel for third and Christopher in fifth. Narducci made a move to the inside of Puleo on lap-9 but Puleo still had the lead by a nose at the line and he went back in front of Narducci on lap-10. Rufrano won the duel with Reen for third but he now had Christopher to his inside and Christopher took third place on lap-11. Reen was still fifth with Tyler Chapman, Noah Korner, Andrew Molleur, Mikey Flynn, and David Arute making up the top-10.
Puleo was starting to stretch out his advantage over Narducci in second and with 22 laps complete the running order was Puleo, Narducci, Christopher, Rufrano, Reen, Chapman, Molleur, Flynn, Korner, and Arute. Nickolas Hovey spun in turn 2 to bring the caution flag out with 26 laps complete.
Puleo took the lead on the restart with Christopher moving into second. Reen was side by side with Narducci for third with Molleur and Rufrano side by side for fifth place. Reen briefly took third on lap-29 but Narducci came right back and maintained the position. Reen completed a pass for third on lap-30 and the caution came back out with 31 laps complete for Durocher who spun in turn 4.
A Talladega melee broke out on the restart as Puleo didn’t quite come up to speed with the cars of Tyler Hines, Arute, Alex Pearl, David Flammia, Jr., Dylan Izzo, Matt Vassar, Art Caruso, Noah Korner, Keith Rocco, and Wade Gagner all involved to bring the caution flag back out immediately.
Puleo took the lead with Christopher and Narducci right behind him. Christopher nearly took the lead on lap-33 but Puleo was able to fend off his challenge. Reen was fourth in line with Chapman up to fifth. Molleur was sixth followed by Flynn, Troy Talman, Rocco, and Owen. Molleur took fifth from Chapman on lap-38 while the same lap saw Rocco take eighth place from Talman.
With 50 laps complete Puleo was still in command with Christopher, Narducci, Reen, Molleur, Rocco, Flynn, Chapman, Talman, and Todd Owen giving chase. Puleo was starting to ever so slowly pull away from Christopher in second while Christopher was building up a margin over Narducci in third. Reen was working Narducci over for third and they made contact on lap-60 but both cars maintained position and kept on fighting for third place. Reen was finally able to make a pass on Narducci on lap-65 to take over third place while Puleo and Christopher were still comfortably in first and second.
With 10 laps to go the order was Puleo, Christopher, Reen, Narducci, Rocco, Molleur, Flynn, Chapman, Riely O’Keefe, and Talman. Chapman got loose in turn 4 which allowed O’Keefe to take eighth place on lap-71. Puleo led the field to the checkered flag to pick up his first win of the 2026 season with a dominating drive. Christopher finished second with Reen, Narducci, and Rocco rounding out the top five.
Michael Bennett was a Late Model winner for the first time in nearly 5 years at Stafford, Jason Finkbein came out a first-time SK Light feature winner after an eventful finish, Rich Hammann scored his first win of 2026 in the Limited Late Model feature, and Ryan Waterman took down what is already his fourth win of 2026 in the Street Stock feature.
