Posted on by Cameron Richardson

For just the third time in its storied history, Martinsville Speedway will set the table for who earns the right to race for a Cup Series championship at Phoenix Raceway.

While the Virginia short track had been a turning point late in the season for championship hopefuls in the past, it’s now the last obstacle that stands between drivers and a bid at the big trophy.

With on-track intensity likely to reach a peak Sunday as three spots remain up for grabs among seven drivers, tempers will flare as competitors try to navigate near each other in the close-quarters action for 500 laps around the 0.522-mile oval. Martinsville is a top venue for rivalries to spark and there are a handful of current rivalries between drivers looking for their golden ticket to the title.

RELATED: Playoff standings | Notable 2022 rivalries

The freshest of the conflicts this season actually began in the middle of the playoffs.

Denny Hamlin and William Byron exchanged unpleasantries after on-track disagreements last month at Texas Motor Speedway. After Byron believed Hamlin ran his No. 24 Chevrolet into the wall, Byron spun Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota under caution, which initially resulted in a points penalty for Byron. Byron’s penalty was later amended, helping him secure a Round of 8 bid.

While the two championship-eligible drivers haven’t had a run-in since Texas, Martinsville serves as the perfect venue if Hamlin were to pay back Byron. And payback may be in the cards for Hamlin as he’s directly beneath Byron on the Champ 4 elimination line by five points.

The fall edition of the Martinsville race has been the event where Hamlin’s been spotlighted for some extra-curricular activities.

Most recently, and arguably, the most notorious, Hamlin’s post-checkered flag joust with Alex Bowman.

After getting spun in the closing laps in last season’s penultimate race, Hamlin met Bowman at the start-finish line in a confrontation that led to the two cars going nose-to-nose in an all-time staredown.

In his post-race interview, Hamlin referred to Bowman as a “hack,” which the driver of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 turned into merchandise.

Prior incidents involving Hamlin included a scrum with fellow playoff driver Chase Elliott in 2017, when Hamlin spun the then-driver of the No. 24 with less than three laps to go, and a post-race altercation with Joey Logano in 2019 after the two made contact on track.

While Logano is already locked into the Championship 4 after his win two weeks ago at Las Vegas. Elliott, the 2020 champion and this year’s championship favorite, only holds an 11-point advantage above Hamlin on the elimination line. The Hendrick duo and Hamlin will certainly be must-watch TV on Sunday.

In two of the last four years, the eventual Cup champion won the Martinsville fall race.

Logano did so in 2018 after a back-and-forth battle for the lead with Martin Truex Jr. in the closing laps. With the No. 22 Team Penske Ford running second, Logano put the bumper to Truex’s then-No. 78 Toyota and outdueled Truex to the checkered flag, setting up his crowning achievement at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

After multiple years of Round of 8 shortcomings early in his Cup career, Elliott broke the semi-final woes in 2020 at Martinsville with a dominant performance as he led 236 of 500 laps en route to his first Championship 4 appearance. His maiden championship race culminated in his first Cup title.

Martinsville Speedway already speaks for itself regardless of when it hits the NASCAR schedule but when combined with the playoff atmosphere and the last-chance attempts by drivers to secure their spot for a title opportunity, there are very few venues in sports that can match the level of intensity competitors will be at when they exit pit road and turn laps around the half-mile short track.

The Xfinity 500 is scheduled for Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. The race will be broadcast on NBC and can be listened to on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

New car. New drama.

The Next Gen car has certainly lived up to the excitement it built before the start of the 2022 season. There’s been parity across the board with 16 different winners this season, and with that comes a good amount of run-ins that have taken place throughout the year. Much of the friction has been between the 16 drivers that made up the full playoff field, too.

It’s safe to say there was enough beef in the regular season to create a surplus at your local burger joint. Let’s look back at some of the quarrels throughout the 2022 season — with a recent addition from a Round of 12 playoff race — and wonder if any will spark back up when the Round of 8 concludes Sunday at Martinsville Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Playoff standings

CHASE ELLIOTT & KYLE LARSON (Auto Club, Watkins Glen)

The first major run-in of the season came late in the spring race at Auto Club Speedway as Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott made contact after Larson threw an unintentional block on his Chevrolet counterpart down the frontstretch with 21 to go. The right side of Elliott’s No. 9 Chevy hit the wall and cut a tire a few laps later. Larson went on to win the race while Elliott finished two laps down in 26th.

Larson wouldn’t score his second win of 2022 until Watkins Glen International in August, and again, it came at the expense of Elliott. On the final restart, Larson and Elliott led the field into Turn 1 and at the corner exit, Larson ran Elliott wide and the two made slight contact. The No. 5 Chevy cleared for the lead while Elliott dropped a few spots, resulting in a fourth-place finish.

These two teammates appear to be on friendly terms in the aftermath, with the ultimate goal of bringing home a third-straight championship for Chevy and Hendrick, but it sure will be something to watch through the playoffs as Elliott tries to earn his crown back from the driver that took it from him in 2021.

TYLER REDDICK & CHASE BRISCOE (Bristol Dirt)

There’s no rivalry here and this is probably the most cordial a driver has ever been after being spun on the final lap of a race, but with Bristol Motor Speedway closing out the Round of 16 it’s worth bringing up how the most recent race at ‘The Last Great Colosseum’ ended. Reddick and Briscoe ran 1-2 in the closing laps of the spring race on the Bristol dirt layout and in the final corner of the final lap, Briscoe attempted a slide job on the No. 8 Chevrolet. Instead of getting in front of him, Briscoe made contact with Reddick and both spun. Kyle Busch went on to steal the win while Reddick came home runner-up and Briscoe fell to a 22nd-place finish.

Reddick and Briscoe shook hands after and all appears fine between the two with the playoffs beginning Sunday. For now.

WILLIAM BYRON & JOEY LOGANO (Darlington)

Here’s where early-season beef could first show in the playoffs. With the Southern 500 approaching Sunday evening, it’s worth noting how the final laps transpired in a wild spring race that saw one-third of the field DNF. Coming down to the wire, Byron appeared to have the car to take his third victory of the year, but instead, Logano took matters into his own hands and moved the No. 24 Chevrolet with two laps to go in Turn 3. Byron slammed the wall and had to settle for a 13th-place finish.

Spicy words were exchanged after the race as Logano noted he’ll “keep swinging” and the “gloves are off” while Byron was straight to the point and called Logano an “idiot.” If these two are battling each other for track position late Sunday, Byron will very likely have what happened in May on his mind.

ROSS CHASTAIN vs. MULTIPLE DRIVERS (Gateway, Atlanta, Pocono, Michigan)

It goes without saying that Ross Chastain ruffled some feathers during the regular season. The featured bout Chastain had was with Denny Hamlin, sparked at multiple tracks in the summer.

The Cup Series’ debut at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway saw some interesting tactics displayed by both Chastain and Hamlin. It began with Chastain moving the No. 11 Toyota as Chastain tried to get around Hamlin for multiple laps. The contact from Chastain to Hamlin compromised the No. 11 and Hamlin had enough damage to take any competitive speed out of the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Since he was out of race-winning contention, Hamlin decided to ride around Gateway and wait for Chastain to get to him. Once the two were side-by-side, it became quite the show as Hamlin brake-checked Chastain and did everything he could to become a thorn in the side of the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet.

2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott became a third party in the beef as Chastain spun him off Turn 4 later in the race. For one restart, Hamlin and Elliott joined forces with the No. 9 driver getting Chastain loose in Turn 1 and Hamlin following up with a side swipe off Turn 2.

Hamlin and Chastain’s beef reignited at Atlanta Motor Speedway in July as in the closing laps, Chastain’s damaged car got tight in Turns 3 and 4, which caused him to spin Hamlin with 14 laps to go.

With the score 2-0 in favor of Chastain, Hamlin exacted his revenge two weeks after Atlanta. In the final stage at Pocono Raceway, Chastain and Hamlin led the field to a restart. Coming out of Turn 1, Hamlin overran the corner and used Chastain as his brake, which put the No. 1 Chevy in the wall, thus spinning and crashing down the backstretch.

Hamlin went on to cross the start/finish line first at the end of race but was later disqualified alongside his JGR teammate Kyle Busch.

Chastain’s run-ins with Toyotas didn’t end there. Christopher Bell returned the favor of Chastain’s aggressive driving and both wound up in the wall down the frontstretch late at Michigan International Speedway. A week later, Chastain made contact with Kyle Busch at Richmond Raceway but nothing has come of it for now. With Darlington and Bristol opening the Round of 16, however, it’s hard to believe drivers won’t take it easy on Chastain.

AUSTIN CINDRIC & AUSTIN DILLON (Daytona)

While Austin Cindric called it “fair game” for Austin Dillon to move him to clinch his way into the playoffs, it probably doesn’t go over well for a driver to pull a ‘bump-and-run’ move at one of NASCAR’s fastest tracks. Cindric and Dillon will be in a battle to reach the Round of 12 as both enter the playoffs below the bubble for the next round. If the No. 2 Team Penske Ford finds itself behind the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevy, Cindric probably won’t have an issue applying the bumper at any of the next three races.

POSTSEASON UPDATE

 

WILLIAM BYRON & DENNY HAMLIN (Texas)

Disputes aren’t limited to the regular season, as a pair of current championship-eligible drivers got into an on-track tussle during the Round of 12 race at Texas Motor Speedway. In reaction to almost hitting the wall off Turn 2, Byron spun Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota under caution that led to the two exchanging unpleasantries behind the pace car. Byron initially endured a points penalty for spinning Hamlin but the penalty was later amended that wiped out the points takeaway. Entering the Round of 8 elimination race at Martinsville Speedway, Byron currently owns a five-point advantage on Hamlin and both are directly above and under the elimination line heading to a track that’s no stranger to tempers flaring.

Posted on by Brandon White

For a moment in Thursday’s Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 at Martinsville Speedway, Jon McKennedy’s season flashed before his eyes.

While battling for the lead with less than 10 laps remaining, McKennedy was turned in front of the field on the backstretch before sustaining a hard hit in the right-front suspension by Kyle Bonsignore, relegating him all the way to the rear of the lead-lap cars and erasing his comfortable points lead — and ultimately handing the race win to NASCAR Cup Series driver Corey LaJoie.

A year of hard work and sacrifice for McKennedy ended up being salvaged with a 12th-place finish, which earned him his first career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship in just his second season of full-time competition.

The sting of missing out on a grandfather clock will stick with McKennedy for a while, but he was more than ecstatic to celebrate a Whelen Modified Tour championship in Martinsville’s frontstretch Victory Lane.

“This is icing on the cake,” McKennedy said. “I’ve won a lot of championships in the New England area in other forms of Modified racing and even in Supermodified racing, so to win this NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour deal is such an amazing accomplishment for all my guys and my car owner. This is an extremely tough division, but I’m satisfied to be a champion in it.”

RELATED: Complete race results from Martinsville

The odds were initially against McKennedy winning the title when the 2022 season began.

Having only one career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory to his name at Myrtle Beach Speedway, McKennedy also elected to join a brand-new operation led by Tim Lepine after spending the past four years with Tommy Baldwin Racing.

McKennedy and Lepine immediately found consistency in their first year together. After opening 2022 with a fourth-place run at New Smyrna, the duo recorded 13 top-10 finishes and claimed a victory at Claremont Speedway on July 29.

Another victory appeared to be secured for McKennedy and Lepine on Thursday evening after they elected to take tires and fuel during the first half of the race, which eventually cycled McKennedy to the front of the pack with Jimmy Blewett in tow.

Hard racing on the penultimate restart of the night resulted in both McKennedy and Blewett being eliminated from contention, with LaJoie — who led throughout much of the race — rallying for the victory.

“I thought we were in a great position to win,” McKennedy said. “Jimmy [Blewett] and I came off Turn 2 side-by-side on that last restart, but I felt a big bump from behind on the backstretch. Then we all wrecked. It’s definitely unfortunate because we came so close to winning the biggest race of the year, but we still came through to win the championship.”

The last thing LaJoie wanted was to interfere with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour title fight, but knew he needed to take advantage of the fresh rubber on his car with only a handful of laps at his disposal.

LaJoie chalked up the accident between him, McKennedy and Blewett as three drivers doing everything possible to bring home a grandfather clock.

“I wanted the top to roll and Jimmy got a great launch in front of me,” LaJoie said. “We came off Turn 2 and (McKennedy’s) right front was splitting my car and Jimmy’s car. (McKennedy’s) right rear bumper hooked my tire and turned me into him. I don’t feel like I was a culprit, but it was just hard racing, and we came out lucky on the other side.”

Thursday’s triumph was not the first time LaJoie had won a NASCAR-sanctioned Modified event. He previously took home a checkered flag in the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour when the series raced on Atlanta Motor Speedway’s frontstretch oval back in 2010.

Being able to claim a grandfather clock is an achievement LaJoie plans to cherish for the rest of his career. He expressed his gratitude toward everyone that made his No. 53 Curb Records Modified fast from the opening practice session.

MORE: Listen to LaJoie on Stacking Pennies

“This car was dialed in,” LaJoie said. “Bono [Manion], Elizabeth [Manion] and Rob Fuller put this thing together at the last minute, but this was a full-on effort with a bunch of friends, and we succeeded [on Thursday]. We came here for a clock, and we got one.”

LaJoie expressed relief that the final caution of the night ultimately did not cost a championship for McKennedy, who expressed some frustration over having a potential victory taken away from him in the final laps.

Everything had to go perfect for McKennedy to fend off Ron Silk, Justin Bonsignore and Eric Goodale for the title, all of whom were separated by just 13 points entering Martinsville. With Silk and Bonsignore both encountering issues of their own, it was a late battle between McKennedy and Goodale to decide the championship.

RELATED: Career stats for Jon McKennedy

McKennedy considers it a blessing that everything still worked out in his favor despite the late crash that could have easily ended his title hopes just a few laps from the finish.

“A ton of work went into this race the last few weeks,” McKennedy said. “Everyone gave it 100 percent and that’s all you can ask for. We were lucky in a few ways because we were wrecked on the backstretch and our championship was over. I still can’t believe we got wrecked in the end and that took some wind out of the sails, but at the end of the day, we are champions.”

McKennedy never once viewed himself as an underdog for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship and takes pride over now being associated with many legends in the discipline like Bonsignore, Silk, Richie Evans, Mike Stefanik, Ted Christopher and more.

A replay of the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 at Martinsville Speedway will be shown on the USA Network on Friday, Nov. 4 at 1 p.m. ET.

Posted on by Brandon White

Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200

Martinsville Speedway

Martinsville Speedway C

  • Race Results
Pos No. Name Sponsor Laps Diff
1 53 Corey LaJoie Curb Records 200
2 60 Matt Hirschman PeeDee Motorsports 200 0.601
3 39 Ryan Newman Pacematic/PSR Products 200 0.861
4 44 Bobby Santos III Harshaw Paving/Olivas Market 200 1.401
5 92 Anthony Nocella Nocella Paving/K&D Associates/Airgas 200 1.741
6 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Mfg. Co. 200 1.776
7 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 200 1.893
8 64 Austin Beers* Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical 200 2.237
9 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 200 2.672
10 34 J.B. Fortin Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal 200 3.003
11 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 200 3.178
12 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors 200 3.408
13 99 Jamie Tomaino Dunleavy’s 200 3.722
14 20 Ed McCarthy* McCarthy Marine Sales 200 3.748
15 02 Joey Coulter IV SRI Performance/Air Shok/Race-Run/Molecule 200 3.796
16 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munn’s Auto 200 5.159
17 7 Jimmy Blewett John Blewett, Inc. 200 11.265
18 2 Chuck Hossfeld Gershow Recycling 199 1 Lap
19 50 Ronnie Williams Empower Financial Services/RB Enterprises 199 1 Lap
20 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises 199 1 Lap
21 29 Spencer Davis Max Industrial 199 1 Lap
22 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Drilling/MUSCO 199 1 Lap
23 82 Craig Lutz Horton Avenue Materials 198 2 Laps
24 55 Jeremy Gerstner Jerry Hunt SuperCenter/GMR Complete Lawn Care 194 6 Laps
25 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape Supply 194 6 Laps
26 77 Max McLaughlin CURB Records 190 10 Laps
27 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 178 22 Laps
28 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 175 25 Laps
29 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communication Inc. 153 47 Laps
30 10 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 147 53 Laps
31 3 Ryan Preece Propane Plus/ACG/Island International 111 89 Laps
32 97 Bryan Dauzat Brother in Law Motorsports 82 118 Laps
33 17 Bobby Labonte Pace-O-Matic 63 137 Laps
34 07 Patrick Emerling Captain Pip Marina & Hideaway 55 145 Laps
35 78 Walter Sutcliffe, Jr. Last Minute Racing 3 197 Laps
Posted on by Adam Fenwick

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — For the second time in Jon McKennedy’s career, he ran all the races on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule.

The 35-year-old from Chelmsford, Massachusetts, turned his second full season with the Tour into his first series championship.

Driving for team owner Tim Lepine, McKennedy used incredible consistency to secure his championship. In 16 races this season, McKennedy finished outside the top-10 just three times. He scored seven top fives and 13 top 10s, which included a victory at New Hampshire’s Claremont Motorsports Park on July 29.

McKennedy entered the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour finale at Martinsville as the championship leader, six points ahead of Ron Silk, 11 points ahead of Justin Bonsignore and 13 points ahead of Eric Goodale. He secured the championship with his 12th-place run in the finale.

In his only other full-time season with the Tour in 2020, McKennedy finished second in the series standings.

McKennedy made his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour debut in 2006 at the age of 19, competing in eight races and earning two top-10 finishes. It took him until 2017 to earn his first top-five finish, a fifth-place finish at Stafford Motor Speedway.

One year later, he scored his maiden NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory at Myrtle Beach Speedway in South Carolina. That stood as his lone Tour victory until his triumph earlier this year at Claremont.

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

Tommy Baldwin Jr. has a lot to be thankful for this year.

His Tommy Baldwin Racing team found its footing on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, leading to a dominant season that ended Thursday at Martinsville Speedway with the team clinching the owner championship for the first time.

It was years in the making for Baldwin.

Tommy Baldwin Jr.
Tommy Baldwin Jr. (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)

“It’s been in the works a long time,” said Baldwin, who clinched the owner championship when the green flag waved for the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200. “It’s something that, growing up, especially before I moved south, it was definitely something you wanted to accomplish. I kind of did it backwards, right? I won a championship after I moved down south and became pretty successful at the Cup level.”

Baldwin grew up in NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour pit areas up and down the East Coast with his father, Tom Baldwin Sr. The elder Baldwin raced with the Tour for 20 years, earning six victories before dying in a crash in 2004.

His son carried on the family racing tradition, becoming a successful crew chief at the NASCAR Cup Series level. He later owned his own NASCAR Cup Series team, fielding cars for drivers like Michael McDowell, Geoffrey Bodine, Dave Blaney, Steve Park, Alex Bowman and Bobby Labonte, among others.

However, his heart was always with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

Baldwin returned to the Tour as an owner full-time in 2020, but it wasn’t until this year that his program hit its stride.

With Doug Coby, Jimmy Blewett and Mike Christopher Jr. splitting driving duties of Baldwin’s No. 7, the team emerged as the top program on the Tour this year.

Doug Coby, driver of the #7 John Blewett Inc. Modified races during the CheckeredFlag.com 150 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Larry King Law's Langley Speedway on August 27, 2022 in Hampton, Virginia. (Ryan M. Kelly/NASCAR)
Doug Coby, Jimmy Blewett and Mike Christopher Jr. drove Tommy Baldwin Jr.’s No. 7 throughout the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season. (Photo: Ryan M. Kelly/NASCAR)

“Obviously all three of them have very, very good talent,” Baldwin said of his drivers. “They’re all capable of winning races no matter what car they get into. I got lucky enough to get all three of them into mine.”

It started with Coby, who wasn’t originally scheduled to drive the No. 7 this year, when he drove to victory in the third event of the season at New York’s Riverhead Raceway.

Coby added two more victories in the No. 7 for Baldwin at New Hampshire’s Lee USA Speedway and Virginia’s Langley Speedway. In all, Coby made nine starts in the No. 7 and never finished worse than 10th.

RELATED: Doug Coby’s 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour stats

“What I told Tommy from the beginning was if it’s just this race, or just these two races, then that’s awesome,” Coby said. “It turned into a few more over the course of the season and ultimately ended with a true team effort to capture the championship amongst all of us.”

Originally the plan for the season was for Blewett to pilot Baldwin’s No. 7 for most of the season, with Christopher making a handful of starts at events Blewett couldn’t make. However, when Blewett’s daughter got sick, Baldwin needed to find someone to drive his car while Blewett focused on his family.

Baldwin called Coby, who admits he was a bit surprised when Baldwin reached out about the opportunity.

“He just texted me, this is the situation, do you want to drive the car?,” Coby recalled. “He had, I want to say, a lot of easier options. He’s from Long Island, we were racing at Riverhead, obviously anyone out on Long Island could have driven Tommy’s car. I don’t know if it was Jimmy or Tommy or who, but they decided to call me.”

Jimmy Blewett, driver of the #7 John Blewett Inc car celebrates after the win during the Jersey Shore 150 for the Whelen Modified Tour at Wall Stadium Speedway on July 9, 2022 in Wall Township, New Jersey. (Kostas Lymperopoulos/NASCAR)
Jimmy Blewett, driver of the No. 7 John Blewett Inc Modified, celebrates with team owner Tommy Baldwin Jr. after winning the Jersey Shore 150 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Wall Stadium Speedway on July 9, 2022. (Photo: Kostas Lymperopoulos/NASCAR)

Despite missing several races to care for his ailing daughter, Blewett made the most of the events he did get to compete in this year for Baldwin.

He made five starts for the team, including Thursday’s finale at Martinsville. The highlight of those events was a victory at his home track, New Jersey’s Wall Stadium Speedway, on July 9.

“I know I was a part of it, but all the credit really needs to go to Tommy,” Blewett said. “I think all the drivers that drove the car this year can agree on that. Tommy and the team. Us as drivers, he made our part easy. The hard part is preparing the race car, having the crew, having the crew execute and having the car run every time you unload out of the trailer.

“Tommy and his team did that.”

RELATED: Jimmy Blewett’s 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour stats

The opportunity to be part of a championship-winning program is something Blewett admits he never thought he’d get to experience, making the 2022 season even more special.

“Obviously I’ve never won a Tour championship, nor do I ever think I will,” Blewett said. “I’ve never really run for points. I very rarely have. I always try to run to win and really never got the opportunity to run all the races. With Tommy this year and the other drivers, that gave me that opportunity to be part of something, be a part of a championship run.”

The final driver to take the wheel of the No. 7 this year was by far the youngest, 23-year-old Christopher. The nephew of 2008 Tour champion Ted Christopher, the young man from Wolcott, Connecticut, proved he has the talent to compete with the best the Tour has to offer.

Mike Christopher Jr., driver of the #7, celebrates after winning The Jennerstown Salutes 150 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Jennerstown Speedway in Jennerstown, Pennsylvania on May 28, 2022. (Nate Smallwood/NASCAR)
Mike Christopher Jr. celebrates after winning The Jennerstown Salutes 150 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Jennerstown Speedway on May 28, 2022. (Nate Smallwood/NASCAR)

In three starts aboard the No. 7, he finished no worse than third. He joined Coby and Blewett as Tour winners thanks to an impressive victory at Pennsylvania’s Jennerstown Speedway on May 28.

“It’s just been a huge opportunity that I tried to make the most of,” Christopher said. “All those guys know exactly what they’re doing. I knew that my job as a driver was pretty simple, to go out there and drive, because the car was always good and the team always had my back too.”

RELATED: Mike Christopher Jr.’s 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour stats

When you add everything together, the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season was a dream year for Baldwin, Coby, Blewett and Christopher.

Perhaps most importantly, Baldwin secured the legacy of the No. 7, which always carries the initials NY like the cars his father drove for so long on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

“To secure the legacy of the 7NY number and my dad is probably the biggest accomplishment of it all,” Baldwin said. “Growing up at a very young age, 8, 9, 10 years old with the Modifieds, and then you start working on them at that young age, then all of a sudden you’re crew chiefing at 14 or 15 years old with your dad and working on them.

“To come back and have all the pieces fall into place this year, it’s pretty special.”

Posted on by Brandon White

Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200

Martinsville Speedway

Martinsville Speedway C

  • Qualifying Results
Pos No. Name Sponsor Best Tm Best Speed
1 60 Matt Hirschman PeeDee Motorsports 18.733 101.084
2 7 Jimmy Blewett John Blewett, Inc. 18.738 101.057
3 50 Ronnie Williams Empower Financial Services/RB Enterprises 18.792 100.766
4 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 18.794 100.756
5 53 Corey LaJoie Curb Records 18.802 100.713
6 64 Austin Beers* Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical 18.821 100.611
7 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munn’s Auto 18.831 100.558
8 2 Chuck Hossfeld Gershow Recycling 18.836 100.531
9 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors 18.84 100.51
10 20 Ed McCarthy* McCarthy Marine Sales 18.855 100.43
11 10 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 18.862 100.392
12 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communication Inc. 18.878 100.307
13 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Drilling/MUSCO 18.884 100.275
14 39 Ryan Newman Pacematic/PSR Products 18.889 100.249
15 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 18.89 100.244
16 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises 18.893 100.228
17 3 Ryan Preece Propane Plus/ACG/Island International 18.893 100.228
18 07 Patrick Emerling Captain Pip Marina & Hideaway 18.898 100.201
19 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 18.914 100.116
20 77 Max McLaughlin CURB Records 18.931 100.026
21 44 Bobby Santos III Harshaw Paving/Olivas Market 18.993 99.7
22 92 Anthony Nocella Nocella Paving/K&D Associates/Airgas 19.003 99.647
23 17 Bobby Labonte Pace-O-Matic 19.024 99.537
24 82 Craig Lutz Horton Avenue Materials 19.082 99.235
25 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 19.083 99.23
26 02 Joey Coulter IV SRI Performance/Air Shok/Race-Run/Molecule 19.099 99.147
27 29 Spencer Davis Max Industrial 19.118 99.048
28 34 J.B. Fortin Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal 19.164 98.81
29 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Mfg. Co. 19.166 98.8
30 55 Jeremy Gerstner Jerry Hunt SuperCenter/GMR Complete Lawn Care 19.228 98.481
31 99 Jamie Tomaino Dunleavy’s 19.456 97.327
32 97 Bryan Dauzat Brother in Law Motorsports 19.745 95.903
33 78 Walter Sutcliffe, Jr. Last Minute Racing 20.004 94.661
34 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape Supply 20.148 93.985
35 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 20.738 91.311
Posted on by Brandon White

Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200

Martinsville Speedway

Martinsville Speedway C

  • Practice Results
Pos No. Name Sponsor Best Tm Best Speed In Lap Laps Diff
1 07 Patrick Emerling Captain Pip Marina & Hideaway 18.738 101.057 37 38
2 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors 18.758 100.949 39 39 0.02
3 7 Jimmy Blewett John Blewett, Inc. 18.763 100.922 27 31 0.025
4 10 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 18.771 100.879 22 54 0.033
5 53 Corey LaJoie Curb Records 18.79 100.777 3 48 0.052
6 17 Bobby Labonte Pace-O-Matic 18.828 100.574 32 32 0.09
7 60 Matt Hirschman PeeDee Motorsports 18.857 100.419 38 40 0.119
8 34 J.B. Fortin Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal 18.873 100.334 35 36 0.135
9 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 18.875 100.323 27 39 0.137
10 3 Ryan Preece Propane Plus/ACG/Island International 18.877 100.313 34 47 0.139
11 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munn’s Auto 18.886 100.265 30 43 0.148
12 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 18.888 100.254 35 51 0.15
13 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Drilling/MUSCO 18.89 100.244 45 46 0.152
14 64 Austin Beers* Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical 18.906 100.159 27 62 0.168
15 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 18.926 100.053 27 45 0.188
16 2 Chuck Hossfeld Gershow Recycling 18.956 99.894 4 44 0.218
17 77 Max McLaughlin CURB Records 18.987 99.731 4 42 0.249
18 39 Ryan Newman Pacematic/PSR Products 19.03 99.506 39 47 0.292
19 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communication Inc. 19.03 99.506 17 59 0.292
20 50 Ronnie Williams Empower Financial Services/RB Enterprises 19.043 99.438 54 54 0.305
21 20 Ed McCarthy* McCarthy Marine Sales 19.079 99.25 42 50 0.341
22 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 19.1 99.141 15 32 0.362
23 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises 19.105 99.115 5 64 0.367
24 29 Spencer Davis Max Industrial 19.114 99.069 20 20 0.376
25 92 Anthony Nocella Nocella Paving/K&D Associates/Airgas 19.116 99.058 28 30 0.378
26 44 Bobby Santos III Harshaw Paving/Olivas Market 19.158 98.841 49 49 0.42
27 02 Joey Coulter IV SRI Performance/Air Shok/Race-Run/Molecule 19.171 98.774 2 33 0.433
28 82 Craig Lutz Horton Avenue Materials 19.175 98.754 45 58 0.437
29 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Mfg. Co. 19.177 98.743 11 17 0.439
30 99 Jamie Tomaino Dunleavy’s 19.388 97.669 16 17 0.65
31 55 Jeremy Gerstner Jerry Hunt SuperCenter/GMR Complete Lawn Care 19.449 97.362 16 37 0.711
32 97 Bryan Dauzat Brother in Law Motorsports 19.497 97.123 22 39 0.759
33 78 Walter Sutcliffe, Jr. Last Minute Racing 19.788 95.694 17 37 1.05
34 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape Supply 19.865 95.323 27 28 1.127
35 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 20.016 94.604 10 45 1.278
Posted on by Reid Spencer

Two down and two to go — that’s the status of NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 berths entering Saturday’s Dead On Tools 250 at Martinsville Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

JR Motorsports drivers Josh Berry and Noah Gragson will race for the series title Nov. 5 at Phoenix Raceway, thanks to respective Round of 8 victories at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Saturday’s race at the .526-mile Virginia short track will determine the final two positions in the Championship 4, at least one of which will be decided on points. That’s good news for five-time winner Ty Gibbs, who holds a 30-point edge over fifth-place Justin Allgaier.

MORE: Full Martinsville schedule | Xfinity Series standings

Gibbs will clinch a Championship 4 spot by scoring 31 points at Martinsville, no matter what else happens during the race.

“Martinsville is a challenging track, but one I do have experience at,” said Gibbs, who won the pole, led a race-high 197 laps and finished eighth on April 8. “We know what we need to do to advance to the final four, but winning makes it that much easier.

“(Crew chief) Chris Gayle and the 54 Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra guys have brought me good cars all year, and hopefully this week at Martinsville we’ll have another good one. It’s a tough track, but we’re ready.”

AJ Allmendinger, another five-time winner in the series this year, holds a much more tenuous position than Gibbs. The driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet is five points clear of Allgaier.

The good news is that Martinsville is one of Allmendinger’s best tracks. He finished third there in the 2022 spring race.

Austin Hill, like Allgaier, is well within striking distance of a Championship 4 spot, standing just seven points behind Allmendinger.

On the other hand, Sam Mayer and Brandon Jones (28 and 38 points below the cut line, respectively) realistically will have to win on Saturday to advance. That’s not a far-fetched proposition, at least where Jones is concerned — he won the spring race in overtime.

Posted on by Press Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — As NASCAR prepares to celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2023, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour blends the old with the new as 19 race dates were announced on the 2023 schedule.

The Tour will kick off the season at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway for the second straight year, joining the track’s “World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing” during NASCAR’s Speedweeks, racing under the lights on Saturday, Feb. 11. The 65th running of the Daytona 500 at nearby Daytona International Speedway will take place the following weekend.

In 2022, Martinsville Speedway is hosting the Tour’s season finale for the first time in 30 years. And the Virginia short track will return as the season finale next year to crown the series champion on Thursday, Oct. 26. The Tour title race will kick off a weekend of excitement as NASCAR also will set the field for the Championship 4 in the Cup Series and Xfinity Series.

In a tribute to NASCAR’s past, the Whelen Modified Tour will take on North Wilkesboro Speedway for the first time in series history on Saturday, Sept. 30. North Wilkesboro will be hosting the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race and the NASCAR Xfinity Series in May, marking the first time a NASCAR national series has raced at the track since 1996.

“NASCAR has been running a Modified series since its founding, and it was important to honor that history in the Whelen Modified Tour schedule as NASCAR celebrates its 75th anniversary,” said Jimmy Wilson, Senior Director, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. “We’re excited to see our drivers put on a great show for fans at so many venues and cities that have played a large role in the success of NASCAR over the years.”

Richmond Raceway (Friday, March 31) and New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Saturday, July 15) will once again welcome the Tour in conjunction with NASCAR national series events. New Hampshire’s 74 Tour races is the second most among tracks on the 2023 schedule.

Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (Connecticut), one of the original tracks from the Tour’s modern era schedule (1985-Present), will host a pair of events on Wednesday, Aug. 16, and Sunday, Oct. 8. Thompson has hosted 150 Whelen Modified Tour races, most all time.

Riverhead Raceway, third on the current tracks list with 70 Whelen Modified Tour races since first hosting the series in 1985, continues to be a cornerstone of the schedule. The Long Island, New York, track will hold three Saturday race dates again in 2023 – May 20, June 24, Sept. 16.

Seekonk Speedway (Massachusetts), which first hosted a Whelen Modified Tour event in 1987, returns to the schedule after a three-year absence with a race on Saturday, June 10. Langley Speedway (Hampton, Virginia) remains as a summer date, hosting the Tour on Saturday, Aug. 26.

Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, New Hampshire, will hold two races for the first time in the track’s history with the Tour, on Saturday, May 6, and Saturday, Sept. 9. Lancaster Motorplex (New York) – formerly known as New York International Raceway Park – will host its second ever Tour event with a Saturday, Aug. 5, race. The Tour’s only other event there was in 2021.

Additionally, the Tour will return to Oswego Speedway (New York), which has hosted 15 Tour races, on Saturday, Sept. 2, and to Wall Stadium on Saturday, July 8.

“These historic tracks and fans in the Northeast are the heart of the Whelen Modified Tour,” Wilson added. “They pack the stands and create an electric atmosphere for their hometown drivers.”

Two additional dates have been set (Saturday, May 27, and Saturday, July 29), with the venues to be announced in the near future.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour concludes the 2022 season tonight at Martinsville Speedway, with four drivers sitting within 13 points of each other for the championship. Jonathan McKennedy leads the points with 564, while Ron Silk is six behind him. Reigning champion Justin Bonsignore is third, 11 points behind McKennedy, and Eric Goodale trails the leader by 13 points in fourth place.

Below is the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule. Schedule is subject to change. Race times and broadcast networks will be announced at a later date.

2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule

Date Track
Saturday, Feb. 11 New Smyrna Speedway
Friday, March 31 Richmond Raceway
Saturday, May 6 Monadnock Speedway
Saturday, May 20 Riverhead Raceway
Saturday, May 27 Lee USA Speedway
Saturday, June 10 Seekonk Speedway
Saturday, June 24 Riverhead Raceway
Saturday, July 8 Wall Stadium
Saturday, July 15 New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Saturday, July 29 Claremont Motorsports Park
Saturday, Aug. 5 Lancaster Motorplex
Wednesday, Aug. 16 Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park
Saturday, Aug. 26 Langley Speedway
Saturday, Sept. 2 Oswego Speedway
Saturday, Sept. 9 Monadnock Speedway
Saturday, Sept. 16 Riverhead Raceway
Saturday, Sept. 30 North Wilkesboro Speedway
Sunday, Oct. 8 Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park
Thursday, Oct. 26 Martinsville Speedway