The season-opening New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is only a few weeks away, and entries are already pouring in.
Making up the early entrants for the opener at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway are the usual group of Whelen Modified Tour veterans and champions, along with a handful of rookies and part-timers looking to add their own history within NASCAR’s oldest division.
Last year’s opener saw 35 cars take the green flag, an increase from 31 that showed up for the inaugural New Smyrna running in 2022. The expected final entry list for the 2024 New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200 is expected to at least equal and likely exceed the car count from the 2023 race.
Reigning NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Ron Silk opened last season in thrilling fashion by holding off Justin Bonsignore in a climactic battle at New Smyrna. Back with Haydt Yannone Racing once again for 2024, Silk will seek to start his title defense with a second consecutive New Smyrna win.
The New Smyrna race last year served as a perfect encapsulation of what became the championship battle, as Bonsignore fought Silk valiantly but ended up settling for second by a narrow margin.
Bonsignore looks to reverse last year’s outcome in 2024 by winning at New Smyrna for the first time and kickstarting a campaign for his fourth series title.
One of the most successful drivers in recent New Smyrna history, Matt Hirschman has accumulated four championships in the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing’s Modified division.
Hirschman won the inaugural NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at New Smyrna back in 2022 and enters as a heavy favorite for a second victory this year.
Six-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby is back on a part-time basis with Tommy Baldwin Jr., who took a sabbatical from racing last year to undergo treatment for cancer.
Coby hopes to park the iconic No. 7NY in Victory Lane for the first time in a Tour race at New Smyrna after leading a race-high 106 laps in 2023 before fading to fifth.
The sophomore season for Austin Beers on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour was a successful one, as he amassed two victories, 10 top fives, 633 laps led and a third-place points finish. Now armed with more experience and confidence, Beers heads to New Smyrna determined to establish himself as an early title favorite.
The 2008 Daytona 500 winner in Ryan Newman is set to make his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour appearance at New Smyrna, piloting the No. 14 for Advantage Motorsports.
Newman has visited Victory Lane four times on the Tour during his career, but he has not done so since a triumph at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2011.
Other drivers who have already filed entries for New Smyrna include three Catalano brothers in Tommy, Trevor and Tyler, the latter two of whom are participating in their first full NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour seasons this year.
Joining the Catalanos in the New Smyrna field are drivers such as Eric Goodale, Craig Lutz, Tyler Rypkema, Ronnie Williams, Dave Sapienza, Ronnie Williams, Eddie McCarthy, Tim Connolly, Melissa Fifield and Chris Hatton.
A complete entry list for the 2024 New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200 will be released in the days leading up to the green flag.