Milford's Doug Coby To Make September NASCAR Truck Series Debut

MILFORD, CT —Doug Coby has dominated NASCAR modified racing in recent years, winning six NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour end-of-season championships, including four straight between 2014 and 2017. He has a total of 21 race victories on the tour, which often holds races at short tracks in the northeast.

Yet, until recently, Coby's name may not have been well known to the wider racing world. That appears to be changing after the 41-year-old Milford native won the inaugural SRX Camping World Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) event at Stafford on June 12.

The event, part of a new high-profile, short track series, was live on CBS and featured well known drivers like 2021 Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart and NASCAR legend Greg Biffle.

"Yeah, I'm just kind of riding it, you know," Coby told Frontstretch.com earlier this week when asked about his whirlwind last couple of weeks. "Never really got too many opportunities like this. I knew that the SRX Series was going to be a big deal and I knew that they were going to do it right."

Speaking to Autoweek before the event, CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus said a victory by one of the tour's "local" drivers, like Coby, would bring an element of Hollywood to the event.

"From a CBS standpoint, I think that's a great story," McManus said. "That's Rocky Balboa if that turns out to be the story and some of the great legends in the history of motor racing are being bested by the local hero. That's a pretty darned good story."

But it got better for Coby, a 1997 Law High graduate. A few days after the SRX victory, GMS Racing announced Coby would drive the No. 24 Chevrolet Silverado at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on Sept. 16. It will be Coby's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut.

GMS Racing president Mike Beam had served has Coby's celebrity crew chief in the SRX race, and Beam extended the truck series offer.

"I'm really thankful to have the opportunity to drive for a winning team like GMS Racing at Bristol," Coby said in a statement. "My racing career has been filled with chance meetings where I come across someone who ends up opening another door for me, and last weekend's SRX event at Stafford with Mike (Beam) was another one of those cases.

"I'm grateful for the opportunity to prove myself in the Camping World Truck Series. I'm really looking forward to working with all the guys on the 24 team at one of my favorite tracks. It doesn't get any better than Bristol!"

In order to make his SRX debut, Coby had the miss his Whelen Modified Tour race at Oswego (N.Y.). As a result, Coby dropped in the championship standings, which made his bid for a seventh title tougher.

But Coby returned to his winning ways this past Sunday, leading for 149 of 200 laps and capturing the checkered flag at the Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200 at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway.