RIVERHEAD, N.Y. – As far as birthdays go, Saturday wasn’t so bad for Patrick Emerling.
The now 34-year-old continued his march to the 2026 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship with a dominant win Saturday night in the Eddie Partridge 206.
The victory, his fifth of the year, puts him on the cusp of his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship with just one race remaining in the 16-race season.
“Always love to come here to Riverhead,” Emerling said. “Awesome race track. We always enjoy it, it’s always a good track for me for some reason, even though I’m a Western New York guy.”
RELATED: Complete results from the Eddie Partridge 206
Emerling was in his own league throughout most of the 206-lap main event. Starting third following the redraw, Emerling took the lead from Matt Hirschman by Lap 20 and was rarely challenged the rest of the night.
His closest pursuer in the later stages of the race was 15-year-old Paulie Hartwig III, who briefly took the lead from Emerling following a late restart only for Emerling to quickly regain control of the race.
The final restart came with 15 laps left and as he had done all night, Emerling made quick work of the field and drove away to a comfortable 1.399-second victory.
Hartwig chased Emerling to the checkered flag to earn a career-best runner-up finish aboard his family-owned No. 73. He gave Emerling everything he had but just couldn’t find a way around the No. 1 machine.
“Just came up second to the No. 1 team. They’ve been really fast this year. P2 at Riverhead is not bad,” Hartwig said. “I always love coming to this place. It’s either gonna come out here alive or something is going to be wrecked.”
The triumph, combined with an eighth-place finish by defending series champion Austin Beers, means Emerling will enter the finale at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on Oct. 11 with a comfortable advantage in the championship standings as he looks to wrap up his first series championship.
“We unloaded with just an absolute rocket ship of a USNE Power No. 1 car today,” Emerling said. “Work was done in the shop (by crew chief) Dale Hedquist. We were just so, so good. Practice and all day long.
“Absolutely awesome. I never thought I would have five Tour wins in a season, so just awesome. And really a good birthday for me.”
Justin Bonsignore, who was making his 250th career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour start on Saturday night, won the American Racer Pole Award and finished third. Tyler Rypkema was fourth, followed by Eric Goodale in fifth.
Joey Braun, Timmy Solomito, Beers, Roger Turbush and Craig Lutz were sixth through 10th, respectively.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour wraps up the 2026 season with the annual running of the World Series 150 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on Sunday, Oct. 11. Fans unable to attend in person can watch live on FloRacing and the NASCAR Channel.