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The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s third-winningest driver is back with the series full-time for the remainder of the 2017 season.

RaceDayCT has learned exclusively that Ted Christopher will take over the Danny Watts owned ride that was vacated by Ron Silk after the third race of the season.

Christopher will make his first start for the team on June 14 at Thompson Speedway.

“I think I’m not going to be as stressed with him as I was with Ronnie,” Watts told RaceDayCT. “With Ronnie, you had to make him happy, Teddy just wants to race. Teddy’s a winner. Teddy’s aggressive. Teddy knows how to use a racecar. And he still wants to win. I stopped seeing that with Ronnie and that’s why when he said he wasn’t having fun anymore I said ‘Just go.’”

Christopher has not run full-time with the series since 2015.

“I’m looking forward to it,’ it should be fun,” Christopher said. “[Last year] would miss some of the Tour stuff as far as when [the events at New Hampshire Motor Speedway] would come up because I always love racing at New Hampshire. And the end of the year races like the Fall Final and the World Series, I would miss those. Now I’ve got a chance to run those races again.”

Twelve of the 16 points paying events of the 2017 season on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule remain to be run, along with two non-points events.

Christopher likes the fact that he won’t be racing for points to chase a championship.

“I like that way better,” Christopher said. “The competitors won’t like that knowing that Ted Christopher is not running for points. Because you know what, I don’t really care then. Not that I’ll wreck people or anything, but my focus is only winning races now.”

Christopher has 42 career Whelen Modified Tour victories in 364 series starts dating back to 1987. He won the series title in 2008. His last series victory came in 2011. Christopher made two starts with the series last season. He finished fifth in the NAPA Spring Sizzler 200 at Stafford Speedway on April 30 in his only series start this season. Christopher turns 59 on June 5.

Christopher sits two victories behind second place Reggie Ruggiero (44 wins) on the division’s all-time win list. Mike Stefanik is the division’s all-time winningest driver with 74 career victories.

Silk, the 2011 Whelen Modified Tour champion, finished eighth in the series standings last year in his first season driving full-time for Watts. He gave Watts his first series victory in the third race of the 2016 season at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. He finished the season with four top-five’s, nine top-10’s and one pole in 17 events.

This year the team had a 16th place finish following a wreck in the season opener on March 18 at Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Speedway and Silk was 13th in the Icebreaker 150 on April 9 at Thompson Speedway before an eighth place finish in the NAPA Spring Sizzler on April 30 at Stafford Motor Speedway. Silk left the team after the Spring Sizzler.

“I just kind of felt like we had plateaued and we weren’t really improving and it just wasn’t working for me anymore in that situation,” Silk said.

Spencer Davis drove for Watts in the Whelen Modified Tour event on May 13 at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va.