Jake Johnson Eyes Repeat Glory at Stafford’s NAPA Fall Final
(Stafford Springs, CT)—For Jake Johnson and the #15 Lin’s Propane Trucks Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series team, racing at Stafford Speedway has been a mixed bag of results. Prior to the 2025 season, Johnson had made five career starts at Stafford with a best finish of second in the 2022 NAPA Fall Final, but also three finishes outside the top-20. Although Johnson and the #15 team have only made two starts in 2025, they seemed to have put their Stafford troubles behind them. Johnson led almost half of the NAPA Spring Sizzler® in April before a crash on a restart left him with a 22nd place finish and they won the GAF Modified Masters 80 in July. With their newfound success, Johnson and his team are looking forward to returning to Stafford on Saturday, September 27 for the NAPA Fall Final.
“We’re definitely excited because we’ve struggled at Stafford in the past,” said Johnson. “It was never really a track that we looked forward to just because it’s a challenging track to find the right balance for the car to last 80 or 100 laps. We spent a lot of time over the winter focusing on our big track package and that’s where we found our weak spots.
With the results we’ve had this season, the whole team is a lot more excited to go to Stafford and a little more optimistic about how good our results can be. At the end of the day, Stafford changes a lot and a lot of people have been dominant over a period of time but that’s constantly evolving so you have to stay on top of your game to keep on being a dominant car.
This year we really seemed to hit on something with the setup and the crew has been doing a good job so we’re looking forward to going back to Stafford and seeing if we can get one more win before the season is over.”
Whenever Johnson races at Stafford, he often finds himself at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the field. Unlike many of his competitors, he doesn’t compete there weekly and lacks the same level of experience on the track. To help close that gap, Johnson turns to an unexpected but valuable resource, FloRacing.
“I’ve watched a lot of FloRacing and I’ve tried to pick up as much as I can and I feel like we’ve taken a step in the right direction,” said Johnson. “I definitely pull a lot of things from the Flo broadcasts like what adjustments teams are making and just by observing things behind the scenes you can really learn a lot. I try to keep up with everything that’s happening on a Friday night so that we can be good when we show up on a Saturday. You have to do a lot of studying to run well at Stafford and we’ve done that and hopefully the results will show it.”
For Johnson to make it two-for-two in Monaco Modified events at Stafford this season, he has his eyes set on one fellow competitor in particular. Matt Hirschman is the two-time defending champion of the NAPA Fall Final at Stafford and Johnson thinks he will once again be the car to beat in order to take home the NAPA Fall Final hardware.
“I don’t think you can ever count out Matt Hirschman and the #60 team,” said Johnson. “He’s super smart and really in tune with what the track is doing and what his car needs. If his car isn’t right he’s patient enough to play the long game and he almost always ends up with a good finish. We’re always keeping an eye on the 60 car.”
Johnson is also looking to back up his victory in the July GAF Modified Masters event with another victory to help solidify his Stafford credentials.
“A win at the Fall Final would be great for everyone. It would prove to everyone that our win in July wasn’t a fluke and really reinforce that we’re coming together as a team, taking good notes, and hitting on some things that are working,” said Johnson. “It would mean a lot to all of us.”
The NAPA Fall Final is set for this Saturday, September 27 with the Monaco Modified Tri-Track cars joined by Stafford’s SK Modifieds® and SK Lights in a 20-lap invitational event. Stafford Speedway will also be running weekly feature events on Friday, September 26 and the final Friday night event of the season will be October 3. Tickets will be available for all 3 events online at StaffordSpeedway.com/tickets and tickets will also be available for purchase at the admission gates. If you are unable to attend any of the final three events in person, tune into 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.
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