THOMPSON, Conn. -- Erick Rudolph completed his 2009 season last Sunday afternoon with a seventh place finish at the Thompson International Speedway World Series Weekend.

Erick also completed his first season on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and finished 12th in series points after going into Sunday's event 14th in the standings.

Erick started 14th in the 150 lap event.

"I thought we had a much better car than what we finished with," said Erick, who at one time was 34th in NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour points. "We had to come from the back a couple of times and that really hampered us from a better finish."

"If we could've had ten more laps, I felt that we would've put the car in the top five or better," added Erick.

Traditionally, Erick does very well in practice and qualifying. He was 11th quickest in Sunday morning practice out of 33 competitors. By that time, however, the field for the World Series 150 had been set due to rains on Saturday.

NASCAR set up the field due to NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour points. Erick moved into the top ten on lap 48.

With the 2009 season in the books, Erick will soon announce his intentions for the 2010 season.

Erick had a tough start to the 2009 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour as he failed to complete an event in the first five races on the schedule. Things got better following that. He was able to win his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event on Sunday, July 12th at Spencer Speedway in Williamson, New York.

It certainly wasn't easy for the Ransomville, New York third generation racing star as he started 22nd in the 125 lap main. In addition, Erick became the youngest driver in the history of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour to win a series race.

Erick also finished tenth in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour series event at Bristol (TN) Motor Speedway in August. It was an historic event for the series as it was in conjunction with the NASCAR Sprint Car Series. Many experts consider the August Bristol NASCAR Weekend one of the best on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule and having the Modifieds on the schedule is a plus for NASCAR'S oldest touring series.

Erick also got some valuable national television time in September at New Hampshire International Speedway when he led the field late in the event. The 100 mile race was seen on SPEED Television. He ended up eighth at the finish.

Erick also completed his first season as a regular in Ransomville Speedway's DIRTcar 358 Modified division. His best finish was sixth during the season and that happened several times during the Ransomville Speedway 2009 schedule.

The Erick Rudolph Racing Team would like to thank Bob Cordova of Original Pizza Logs; Tom Snyder of Primetyme Motorsports, Tom Brigham Jr of Brigham Concrete and John Holland and Al Heinke of H&H Motorosports for their support of the Erick Rudolph Race Team. To learn more about Erick Rudolph, please visit his website at www.erickrudolph.com.