‘We finally did it’: After 16 years of trying, Patrick Emerling is a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion

THOMPSON, Conn. -- As Patrick Emerling walked into The Raceway bar and restaurant at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on Saturday night, everyone inside stood up and began to cheer. In Emerling’s arms was something he’d spent the last 16 years dreaming about holding: the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship trophy. The 34-year-old from Orchard Park, New York had finally achieved the one goal he’d set for himself when he began racing sportsman modifieds when he was 16. The road was long and often bumpy, but in the end, he reached his destination. “When I first started in this series, I feel like I struggled a lot as a driver,” Emerling said. “I would have never thought that 16-year-old me first getting into sportsman modifieds or 13- or 14-year-old go kart me, I would have never thought that this would’ve ever happened.” [caption id="attachment_528523" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)[/caption] Emerling’s evolution from a raw rookie to NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion took time. He made his series debut as an 18-year-old in 2011, earning just one top-five finish in 16 races. Quitting after that one season would have been easy; it would’ve saved him time, money and heartache. Instead, Emerling persevered. He continued with the Modified Tour because he had a dream. It wasn’t going to be easy, but Emerling had the time and the patience necessary to accomplish the goal. “I didn’t start winning races, right? In a modified, I started by not running good consistently to learning and figuring it out,” Emerling said. “Like even when I first started, these top fives were tough.” Emerling didn’t win his first Modified Tour race until 2017, seven years after he made his debut. He wouldn’t see Victory Lane with the series again until 2021, a year that saw him win three times and narrowly miss out on the championship. For the two years that followed, Emerling raced part-time. Then, in 2024, he was offered the opportunity to drive for a new team owned by Rich Gautreau and led by championship-winning crew chief Dale Hedquist. “When this team started, Dale is the one that for whatever reason, we were talking one day. He didn’t know me much, but I was his driver,” Emerling said. “He chose me to drive the Fleetworks No. 1 car. He told Rich that Pat needs to be in the car. The rest is history. I owe him everything.” [caption id="attachment_528524" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)[/caption] Hedquist, who previously won the Modified Tour championship as crew chief for Jon McKennedy in 2022, saw something in Emerling that perhaps Emerling hadn’t yet seen in himself. He knew that if he assembled the right team of people and gave Emerling the right tools, then Emerling could not only win races, but also championships. “This has always been a dream of his. It’s been a dream of his dad’s,” Hedquist said. “We’ve had some lengthy conversations about this. Pat really wanted to get a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship. He’s won in every form of racing he’s ever been in, but until you get the ring and you hold that black trophy up, it doesn’t hit the same. “It’s the most prestigious racing in the country. The hardest racing in the country.” Hedquist built the team around Emerling. Every crew member that joined the No. 1 team is as dedicated as the next. They’ve put in the hours at the shop, the hours on the road and the hours at the track. They all had one dream, and they were either going to succeed or fail together. [caption id="attachment_528525" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] (Photo: Kostas Lymperopoulos/NASCAR)[/caption] “I’ve done this before with Jonathan (McKennedy) in 2022, but this one is more special because of the people that are around it,” Hedquist said. “Pat and his dad and all the guys that we assembled, these guys stuck this team out when we first started it. We didn’t really have a direction, we didn’t know where we were going, and this core group of guys stayed with me.” As the team began to gel, the results began to come. Emerling won three races in 2024 and two in 2025 and had become a serious championship contender. This year, a new partnership with USNEPower and David Miller, who took over ownership of the No. 1 team, pushed the team to the next level. Emerling won five times this season, and entering the finale, he had scored enough points to simply start the race and win the championship. The hard work finally paid off. “This is absolutely what we all strive to do,” said Miller. “Coming as a 10-year-old to watch modifieds with my father, I always had visions of driving or being involved in a team. So, to be involved in a team at this level is beyond the vision I had as a kid. These guys are really special, and to let me be a part of it is phenomenal. “Patrick and Dale are very similar. They’re very calm. They’re very calculated. They don’t really waste motion. They know what it’s going to take, and they work toward that objective, whether it’s in preparation or during the race. You listen to them on the radio, they’re never frazzled. They just know what needs to be done, and they’re going to get it done.” And that’s exactly what Emerling and Hedquist did this year. They got things done. [caption id="attachment_528508" align="aligncenter" width="1300"] (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)[/caption] The five wins for Emerling are a career high for a single season. He had more top fives and top 10s than any driver this year and led more laps than anyone on his way to the championship. He did that against what he considers some of the best race-car drivers not just in the Northeast, but in the entire country. “This is the most competitive short-track series in the country,” Emerling said. “This is pure racing right here. This is everyone having identical equipment and hard work and driving ability is what wins these races.” Emerling paused a moment while he watched Hedquist stand on the bar and poor whiskey into the mouths of crew members. Then he smiled. “We finally did it,” Emerling said. “I’m just happy to be here. I’m happy to be driving the USNEPower No. 1. We’re going to enjoy it for now but try to come back next year and do the same thing.”