CONCORD, N.C. — A gutsy three-wide pass on the backstretch gave Corey Day his second straight victory in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase and put the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver within striking distance of the series lead.
With 10 laps left in Sunday’s rain-postponed Blue Cross NC 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Day steered his car beneath the No. 2 Chevy of defending series champion Jesse Love and the No. 7 Camaro of Justin Allgaier and surged into the lead.
Pursued closely by Love for the remainder of the race, Day crossed the finish line 0.728 seconds ahead of the Richard Childress Racing driver. Series leader Sheldon Creed passed Allgaier on the final lap to secure third place.
With his first victory at Charlotte, his fourth of the season and fourth of his career, Day climbed two positions to third in the Chase standings, seven points behind Creed, who leads second-place Love by a mere two points.
With consecutive wins at Las Vegas and Charlotte, Day has made up 85 points on the series lead in the two outings.
“I think the 2 got really loose from what I could see up there in front of the 7, and that kind of messed them both up,” Day said of the winning pass in the middle of the backstretch at the 1.5-mile track. “That was just enough for me to get a good run (off Turn 2) and take my run.
“That was crucial. I think if I don’t do that, I don’t win the race.”
After winning the first stage, Day rallied from a penalty for driving through too many pit boxes during the stage break. He restarted 30th on Lap 54, but by the end of the second stage (Lap 90), he had charged through the field to seventh.
“What a job by my guys,” Day said. “I screw up and (go through) too many boxes on entry and just have the car to do that (drive back to the front).”
With Love and Day chasing him, Allgaier held the lead from a restart on Lap 164 until Lap 183. But his car tightened up on his last set of tires, and Allgaier scraped the outside wall in Turn 4 with 17 circuits left, allowing both Love and Day to pass.
Brent Crews slammed the wall on Lap 186 to cause the seventh and final caution, setting up the final restart on Lap 191 and Day’s dramatic pass for the win, after he fell briefly to third behind Love and Allgaier in the first two corners of the restart lap.
Love thought he had a better car at the end of the race but couldn’t find a way around Day.
“At the end, the 17 was not quite as good as we were, but just good enough that, when he took my air away, it was really hard to make up ground,” Love said. “I wish I could have had that one back, but I’m still proud of myself for driving really hard and doing a lot of things right tonight.”
Creed recovered from early contact with the wall and a lengthy repair under caution to secure the third spot. Behind Allgaier in fourth, non-Chase driver Carson Brown made a late charge into fifth.
Brandon Jones, Austin Hill, Anthony Alfredo, Taylor Gray and Brennan Poole completed the top 10.
Polesitter Carson Kvapil, who came to Charlotte 19 points behind Creed in second place, suffered a cut right rear tire and contact with the outside wall. Kvapil finished 32nd, 29 laps down, and dropped three spots to fifth in the standings, 40 points behind Creed.
The O’Reilly Series Chase continues next Saturday with the Timberland PRO 200 at Phoenix Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, ESPN Unlimited, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series garage, confirming Day as the Charlotte winner. The Nos. 26 and 39 each had one lug nut not safe and secure, resulting in the loss of pit selection at Phoenix. There were no other issues.
CONCORD, N.C. – A NASCAR Cup Series classic saw Christopher Bell finish just short of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe in a photo finish to end Sunday’s Bank of America 400 Chase race presented by Mobil 1 – a highly anticipated fall return to Charlotte Motor Speedway’s oval.
On Wednesday leading into Charlotte, Bell called his shot, saying, “If we can go out and win three of the next five, I think I’ll be the champion.”
However, the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver missed his target Sunday by a mere 0.029 seconds at the checkered flag of The Chase midpoint.
“I think I’m just in shock right now,” Bell said. “I didn’t think it was going to end like that.
“I was just out there logging laps. I stayed with him pretty good, and then I had a couple moments where I slid really bad and let him get away.”
Briscoe and the No. 19 JGR Toyota held off Bell’s No. 20 machine in the waning laps, the Hoosier getting the better of the Oklahoman in the closest Cup Series finish so far in 2026 and the second-closest finish in Charlotte Cup history. The top mark came over two decades ago, when Jimmie Johnson beat Bobby Labonte on May 29, 2005, in the Coca-Cola 600.
Bell was more than two seconds behind Briscoe with under 10 laps to go.
Lapped traffic halted the No. 19’s progress, and Briscoe wasn’t going to take a risk on the longest green-flag run of the day. But parking the bus to Victory Lane nearly granted Bell one of the biggest steals in recent memory.
“I just didn’t expect to get there,” Bell said. “Whenever I got beside of him, I thought I stalled him, and then I kind of got out of shape. I guess I should have stayed into him a little bit harder and tried to nose him to the line.
Even with a long run to the finish, No. 20 crew chief Adam Stevens said there wasn’t even a mention of fuel saving until the final laps. He said the difference in what would’ve been a second win in The Chase happened during the final caution with 60 to go, when an 8.696-second pit stop for Briscoe put him out in front for the final restart.
“We just lost the lead on pit road, man,” Stevens told NASCAR.com. “We can’t lose the lead on pit road and have it go green the rest of the day.”
For fellow Chase driver Bell, the finish is the No. 20 pilot’s eighth runner-up result in 2026. Bell led 93 laps during Sunday’s effort, with that brisk speed garnering valuable stage points thanks to third- and first-place finishes in Stages 1 and 2, respectively.
Bell – who entered Sunday third in The Chase standings, 55 points behind leader Kyle Larson – shaved four points off his deficit, collecting 53 markers on the afternoon.
Despite cutting into Larson’s championship lead and keeping pace in the title hunt with four races to go, Bell leaves Charlotte frustrated after what could’ve been a rally that gave the No. 20 driver the most momentum heading west.
“It doesn’t do any good in the grand scheme of things,” Bell said of his eighth runner-up result in 2026. “I came in negative-55 (to Larson), and I’m leaving negative-51. So that ain’t gonna do it.”
The Cup Series competes at Phoenix Raceway next Sunday (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Bell is a two-time winner at the Arizona track, with victories there in the spring of 2024 and 2025.
A pair of NASCAR Cup Series Chase presented by Mobil 1 drivers were involved in a huge wreck to end Stage 1 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
With three laps to go in Stage 1 of the Bank of America 400, Bubba Wallace, in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota, and Alex Bowman, in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, made contact, with Bowman getting loose in Turn 2 and slamming into Wallace while battling for fifth.
Wallace hit the outside wall before sliding down the backstretch, then backing into the inside wall before his car came to rest. He suffered significant rear-end damage. Wallace sat in his car for several minutes while track personnel tended to him, before exiting under his own power.
“No warning. I saw it in the last second — the 48 (Alex Bowman) come up and clip us,” Wallace said. “No hard feelings, that is just racing. I was starting to drop, and it gets into a tight spot. To get on pit road smooth, we wanted to stay in front of him. He just got loose and got us. The first hit wiped our brakes out. The second hit got me good. But we are good. Still got nine fingers and nine toes (laughter), so we are fine.”
William Byron, another Chaser, was also involved in the wreck, his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy receiving right-front damage.
“It looks like the No. 48 (Alex Bowman) just got loose and overcorrected it into the wall,” Byron said. “I was running the top, and I lifted right away, but I couldn’t get low enough because he kind of came back off the wall. I hate it for this No. 24 Valvoline Blood Cancer United Chevrolet team. We had a top-five run going, so it’s just unfortunate.”
All three drivers saw their day end following the incident, with Wallace, Bowman and Byron scored 37th, 38th and 39th, respectively. They were all evaluated and released from the infield care center.
Wallace entered Charlotte action 10th in The Chase standings, 137 markers behind points leader Kyle Larson. Byron ranked 12th in points entering Sunday’s race, 160 points behind the leader.
CONCORD, N.C. — In a race that had a profound effect on the NASCAR Cup Series Chase presented by Mobil 1, Chase Briscoe and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell banged fenders within sight of the finish line.
Briscoe’s No. 19 Toyota got there first to win Sunday’s Bank of America 400, just 0.029 seconds ahead of Bell in the second-closest finish in Charlotte Motor Speedway history and the closest in the series this season.
With his second straight victory in the Chase, Briscoe vaulted two spots into fourth place in the postseason standings, 65 points behind leader Kyle Larson, who finished sixth on Sunday, ending his string of five straight top-fives in 2026 Chase races.
“I don’t know what it is about these finishes,” said Briscoe, who has run second, first and first by close margins in the last three races. “I’ve got to quit making it so exciting at the end. Just an amazing car. So cool to get (sponsor) Free Bird into Victory Lane …
“And, yeah, what an amazing run we’ve been on. Should be three in a row. Amazing job to this team. This pit crew has just been unbelievable. My hero is Tony Stewart. He made a pretty unbelievable run (to the 2011 Cup championship), and hopefully we can do the same thing.”
The 0.029-second margin of victory spelled the difference between Bell climbing to second in the standings, within 35 points of Larson, and remaining third with a 51-point deficit to the leader.
Bell was crestfallen at the narrow loss.
“I got a lot closer than I thought I was going to,” said Bell, who gained just four points on Larson with his runner-up finish. “I’m surprised that he (Briscoe) fell off as bad as he did at the end. It was a great day, but it’s a great day that didn’t get us much.”
Bell took the lead in a dramatic three-wide pass after a restart on Lap 173, but a caution for Gray Gaulding’s spin slowed the field on Lap 205, and Briscoe’s crew got the No. 19 Camry out of the pits first for a restart on Lap 211.
“They’ve been an absolute key to it,” Briscoe said of his pit crew, which has excelled during the Chase. “When you can come down pit road and know you’re going to gain spots every time — or if you’re in the lead, not lose the lead — it just makes your job so much easier as a race car driver.”
Briscoe stayed out front the rest of the way, logging 61 of his 62 laps led on the final run. Bell, however, closed dramatically over the final five laps as Briscoe encountered lapped traffic and felt he had a tire losing air. After the late contact in the tri-oval, Briscoe prevailed — by the slimmest of margins.
“When I got that final pack of lapped cars with five or six to go, I mean, I just felt like I was going to knock the wall down at any point,” Briscoe said. “It just quit turning.”
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
Larson, who won the first stage and finished fourth in the second, increased his advantage over second-place Denny Hamlin from 40 to 49 points. Hamlin finished fifth on Sunday but failed to score points in the first stage after incurring a safety violation on his first pit stop of the race under a competition caution.
“I was not in a position of power,” Larson said of the final run, during which he fell from fourth to sixth in the running order. “I was hanging on. Yeah, honestly, I thought I was going to manage that run well. The top two (Briscoe and Bell) pushed really hard, and I could see Denny kind of settled in, so I was settling in just to try to make my tires live.
“Yeah, just got really, really loose on that run. Just not sure if maybe me not pushing enough kind of made the balance shifted rearward, using the rears too much, and I was just hanging on the last 15, 18 laps. Happy to still come in with a sixth and extend the points lead, but there was a couple other guys that kind of closed that gap a little bit.”
Ryan Blaney finished third and leaves Charlotte fifth in the Chase standings, 85 points behind Larson. Non-Chase driver Josh Berry trailed Blaney in fourth at the 1.5-mile intermediate speedway.
Larson took the lead from the pole and led five times for 97 laps, including the first 45. Bell led three times for 93 laps and won the second stage handily over Blaney.
The race was a disaster for two Chase drivers, through no fault of their own. On Lap 77, the No. 48 Chevrolet of non-Chase driver Alex Bowman broke loose underneath the Toyota of Bubba Wallace near the Turn 2 exit, sending both cars hurtling hard into the outside wall.
The No. 24 Chevy of William Byron also sustained terminal damage in the wreck.
The No. 54 Toyota of Chase driver Ty Gibbs suffered a broken right rear toe link after an accident on Lap 41. Gibbs lost eight laps under repairs on pit road and finished 34th.
Joey Logano ran ninth but scored no stage points and fell two positions to sixth in the standings, 92 points behind Larson.
The Cup Series returns next Sunday at Phoenix Raceway with four races to determine the 2026 champion (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Stage 2 recap: Bell claims the second stage
Christopher Bell won Stage 2 of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The race is the sixth of 10 in The Chase presented by Mobil 1.
Ryan Blaney finished second, followed by Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick. Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe, Josh Berry, Chase Elliott and Carson Hocevar completed the top 10 and points earners. Berry was the only non-Chase driver to earn points in the frame.
Larson fired back to the lead on the stage restart on Lap 86, holding that advantage for the next 21 circuits. Bell passed him for his first lead of the afternoon on Lap 107, wheeling away from the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet until a Lap 117 yellow.
That caution was for John Hunter Nemechek, who spun through the infield ballfield in his No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota. His car appeared to have no damage at first, but amid rushing his Toyota back to pit road, a right-front tire went down, tearing up that corner of his ride.
After a Stage 1 pit-road penalty, Hamlin climbed to sixth before that yellow. He gained two more spots on pit road as the lead lappers stopped for service, restarting fourth. Then attempting to fill a gap three-wide middle, Hamlin contacted Larson’s right-rear, sending Larson up the track and down to seventh.
Bell maintained his lead for the rest of the stage, scoring 10 crucial points as he looks to track down Larson and Hamlin atop the Cup standings.
Stage 1 recap: Larson wins opening frame
Kyle Larson won Stage 1 of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Chase Briscoe finished second, followed by Christopher Bell, Austin Cindric and Tyler Reddick. Daniel Suárez, Corey Heim, Carson Hocevar, Chris Buescher and Ryan Blaney completed the top 10 and points earners.
Larson led every lap in the opening 35-lap stint until NASCAR displayed a scheduled competition caution. The yellow was necessitated after rain washed out practice and qualifying on Saturday.
Denny Hamlin climbed from a 12th-place starting position to sixth during the first run. But while on pit road for tires and fuel, he was penalized for a safety violation after a tire from his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team rolled into Connor Zilisch’s box in front of him.
Hamlin needed to restart from the rear, along with Blaney and Chase Elliott. Blaney was too fast on pit road, while Elliott needed to make a second stop to retighten the left-front tire.
Hamlin rebounded to finish the stage 15th.
On the restart, Tyler Reddick moved up the track in Turns 1 and 2 from the sixth position, boxing Ty Gibbs in behind him. Gibbs slid up into the wall and immediately suffered damage, plummeting through the field before finally spinning in Turns 3 and 4 and collecting Brad Keselowski. Gibbs fell several laps down while his team assessed the damage.
During the melee, Joey Logano suffered nose damage, piling into Gibbs’ limp No. 54 Toyota. He needed to visit pit road for repairs, marking five Chase drivers with issues in the opening 42 circuits.
The race restarted on Lap 47 — which featured the first lead change of the afternoon. Wallace darted past Larson, leading 11 laps before Larson quickly regained the top spot on Lap 59.
With three laps to go in the stage, Alex Bowman lost control of his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, hooking right into Bubba Wallace. Wallace then slid down the backstretch, backing into the inside wall. William Byron also suffered damage.
All on-track activities for Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway were canceled due to inclement weather, NASCAR officials announced Saturday morning.
The Blue Cross NC 300, the fifth of nine Chase presented by Mobil 1 races in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, will now take place Sunday at 8 p.m. ET (The CW, ESPN Unlimited, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) following the NASCAR Cup Series race. The race was originally slated for a 4 p.m. ET green flag Saturday.
Cup Series practice and qualifying were washed out after a Friday announcement moved practice to 11 a.m. ET and qualifying to 12:05 p.m. ET, two hours earlier than originally scheduled. It was the fourth time in six Chase races that the lineup was set via the NASCAR Rule Book.
Sunday’s Cup race, the sixth of 10 in The Chase, took place as scheduled at 3 p.m. ET. Chase Briscoe was the winner.
NASCAR announced cancellations to O’Reilly Series practice and qualifying earlier Saturday morning. The lineup has been set via the NASCAR Rule Book.
Keep tabs on this page throughout the weekend for the latest weather-related developments and schedule adjustments.
The command to fire engines was given at 8:30 p.m. ET, and the Blue Cross NC 300 officially got underway 18 minutes later, kicking off the fifth of nine NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase presented by Mobil 1 contests.
8 p.m. ET — Pre-race ceremonies for O’Reilly race begin; track-drying underway
After a weather-free NASCAR Cup Series Chase race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Mother Nature in the Concord, North Carolina, area held serve for the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series despite a few small showers. Track-drying efforts began in earnest.
Pre-race ceremonies began at approximately 8 p.m. ET, with coverage on The CW and ESPN Unlimited. The race is the fifth of nine Chase presented by Mobil 1 contests.
12:30 p.m. ET — Green flag for Cup set for 3:19 p.m. ET
The weather improved in the Charlotte area and green flag was set for 3:19 p.m. ET for the Bank of America 400, the sixth race in the NASCAR Cup Series’ Chase presented by Mobil 1. Driver intros were set to start promptly at 2:35 p.m. ET.
Pre-race ceremonies were expected to get underway shortly after 3 p.m. ET. Watch the Charlotte pre-race show on USA Network, starting at 2:30 p.m. ET and leading into their coverage of the race.
SATURDAY
11 a.m. ET — All Saturday sessions canceled
NASCAR officials announced Saturday morning that all on-track activities for the day have been canceled due to effects from Hurricane Isaias.
The Blue Cross NC 300 in the O’Reilly Series is now scheduled for 8 p.m. ET Sunday, following the NASCAR Cup Series race.
Cup Series practice and qualifying were canceled, marking the fourth time in six Chase races that the lineup has been set via the metric.
The Cup Series race remains scheduled for 3 p.m. ET Sunday on USA Network.
7:30 a.m. ET — O’Reilly practice, qualifying canceled
NASCAR officials announced that Saturday morning’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series practice and qualifying sessions at Charlotte Motor Speedway have been canceled.
The starting lineup for the Blue Cross NC 300 will be set per the NASCAR Rule Book. The race remains scheduled for 4 p.m. ET (The CW).
Cup Series practice and qualifying remain on schedule for 11 a.m. ET.
It’s a home game for the NASCAR industry as all three premier series take center stage this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series kicks off the action Friday night, followed by the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series on Saturday and the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday. Charlotte is the first of five straight tripleheaders to end the 2026 season as The Chase presented by Mobil 1 reaches crunch time. This weekend also marks the first time since 2017 that the fall festivities in the Queen City are on the 1.5-mile oval, rather than on the track’s Roval configuration. Bookmark this page and return often for your race-week essentials, from qualifying orders, pit stalls, results and more.
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.”
(Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
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.”
(Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
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.
(Photo: Kostas Lymperopoulos/NASCAR)
“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.
(Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
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.”
THOMPSON, Conn. — To cap off his Rookie of the Year campaign on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, Teddy Hodgdon IV decided to play a minor spoiler on Patrick Emerling’s coronation as the 2026 champion.
Hodgdon relentlessly chased Emerling during the second half of Saturday’s World Series of Asphalt 150 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. With 33 laps remaining, Hodgdon found his way around the 2026 champion to score his second victory of the year during the season finale.
The rookie closes the 2026 #NWMT season with a dub.
Teddy Hodgdon takes the checkered flag at @ThompsonSpdwy! https://t.co/e0fyU9vPsf
Besting the driver who won the Modified Tour title was a perfect note for Hodgdon to end his maiden full-time season with the series. With victories at prestigious tracks like Thompson and Stafford Motor Speedway to his name, Hodgdon is excited for what 2027 is going to bring.
“It was super similar to Stafford,” Hodgdon said. “We qualified OK, much better than Stafford, but I didn’t expect this thing to run green to checkered to be honest. Our car stayed the same, and everyone else kind of fell off. I just wanted to keep it respectful and clean the best I could because I know [Emerling was] fighting for a championship.
Hodgdon, who started ninth, had to be patient during the opening laps of the World Series 150. After gradually working his way through the field, Hodgdon watched as Emerling worked over polesitter Paulie Hartwig III.
Emerling initially held steady up front once he got around Hartwig, but a valiant defensive effort on Hodgdon ultimately came up short. By overtaking Emerling, Hodgdon became the fifth different driver to score multiple victories on the 2026 season, matching Stephen Kopcik and Matt Hirschman’s total with two.
Leading the way in the wins category this season was Emerling, who found Victory Lane on five different occasions as part of his dominant championship run. Emerling also tallied a season-high 11 top fives and led more laps than any other competitor, adding to that total at Thompson on Saturday evening.
Emerling, who has been part of the Modified Tour in some capacity since 2011, was relieved to finally join the long, prestigious list of drivers who have a title in the series.
The secret behind Emerling reaching that milestone was the cohesion he has built with his core team since they first came together in 2024.
“It’s really special,” Emerling said. “This USNE Power No. 1 team didn’t miss a beat all year. I’m speechless. I’ve been running Modifieds for quite a while, and we came pretty darn close a couple of times. We just had a little bit of tough luck for a few years, but finally we were able to get a season to go, for the most part, the way it should.”
While Emerling heads into the offseason atop the Modified Tour pedestal for the first time, Hodgdon is ready to figure out how he can improve upon his Rookie of the Year campaign.
Aside from the penultimate race of the year at Riverhead Raceway, Hodgdon never finished outside the top five in three of the last four races. Consistency was a hallmark of Hodgdon’s rookie season, but building upon everything that worked for him this year will be crucial if he wants to keep challenging Emerling and the elites of the Modified Tour.
“[We’re] a small, hometown team from Danbury,” Hodgdon said. “There’s a lot of big boys out there, so to come out here on the Modified Tour and become Rookie of the Year with all these guys is special. There’s a limited amount of names that can hold that honor, and I’m glad to be one of them.”
Hirschman ended 2026 with a runner-up finish between Hodgdon and Emerling. Mike Christopher Jr. came home in fourth, with Matt Swanson rounding out the top five.
The rest of the top 10 consisted of Eric Goodale, Austin Beers, Chase Dowling, Kopcik and Andrew Molleur.
