STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. — Michael Christopher Jr. won the Casella Waste SK 80 for the second year in a row Friday night at Stafford Motor Speedway.
The victory is Christopher’s first of the 2025 season and extends his recent string of success in extra-distance, big-money events.
Andrew Molleur took the early lead in the outside lane starting second, but his time at the front was extremely short as Christopher took the lead on lap two. Molleur was right behind Christopher in second with Jon Puleo third, Tyler Chapman fourth, and Noah Korner fifth.
Molleur was able to retake the lead from Christopher on lap six but his time out front was short as Christopher went back by on lap eight. Puleo made a move to the inside of Molleur for second on lap nine with Chapman and Molleur now wheel to wheel for third.
Puleo was hounding Christopher for the lead but Christopher was able to keep his car at the front of the pack. Tyler Chapman was still third behind Christopher and Puleo with Korner fourth and Molleur fifth with 19 laps complete.
Puleo was finally able to get alongside Christopher on lap 20 and he took the lead on lap 21. Behind the four leaders, Mikey Flynn was making a move around Molleur to take fifth place on lap 23.
With 30 laps down, Puleo was still leading Christopher, Tyler Chapman, Korner and Flynn.
The caution came out with 32 laps complete for a spin by Wesley Prucker. Puleo took the lead on the restart with Tyler Chapman taking second. Christopher was third with Flynn fourth and Korner fifth. Wade Gagner spun in turn 1 to bring the caution flag out with 33 laps complete.
Puleo took the lead back under green with Christopher in second. Flynn took third with Tyler Chapman falling back to fourth just in front of Korner in fifth.
Puleo and Christopher were starting to pull away from Flynn in third when the caution came back out with 49 laps complete for a multi-car incident coming out of turn four.
Puleo again took the lead on the restart with Christopher right behind. Flynn took third with Keith Rocco moving up to fourth and Tyler Chapman fifth.
Christopher nearly took the lead from Puleo on lap 68 but Puleo was able to maintain the lead. Behind the two leaders, Rocco was all over Flynn looking high and low for a way to take over third, but was unable to find a way around Flynn. Prucker spun coming out of turn 4 to bring the caution flag out with 75 laps.
Puleo took the lead on the restart with Christopher and Flynn behind. Dan Avery spun to bring the caution back out with 77 laps complete.
Puleo held off a challenge from Christopher on the restart and the field completed one lap before the caution came back out for Korner, who spun and slid through the backstretch grass to set up a green-white-checkered finish.
Puleo took the lead ahead of Christopher on the restart but there was contact in the rear of the field between Brainard, Art Caruso, and Chase Van Houten to bring the caution out.
Puleo took the lead on the restart, but Christopher made a bottom shot move to the inside of Puleo to take over the lead. Puleo and Flynn nearly took it three-wide going through the final corner, but Christopher had enough steam to lead the trio to the checkered flag and pick up his first win of the 2025 season.
Puleo edged out Flynn at the line for second with Tyler Chapman and Rufrano rounding out the top five.
Among the other feature winners were a pair of first-time Stafford winners in Christopher Buffone in the Late Model feature and Brent Gleason in the Street Stock feature. Nickolas Hovey was a winner for the third time in four races this season in the SK Light feature and Gary Patnode notched his first Limited Late Model feature win of the season.
