Posted on by Staff Report

Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200

Riverhead Raceway

2018 Main Header Final

  • Entry list
Car No. Driver Car owner Crew Chief Chassis Mfg Sponsor
01 Melissa Fifield Kenneth Fifield Jake Marosz FURY Race Cars Pine Knoll Auto Sales
3 Donny Lia Jan Boehler Greg Fournier Boehler Racing Propane Plus – Huntington Honda
5 John Beatty Jr. Mark Mina Gregory Smith Troyer Elite Sound Studios
7 Doug Coby Tommy Baldwin Tommy Baldwin Troyer TBA
15 Kyle Soper Wayne Anderson Tom Soper Troyer Eastport Foods
16 Ron Silk Tyler Haydt Philip Moran FURY Race Cars Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes
18 Ken Heagy Robert Pollifrone Greg Gorman FURY Race Cars Buoy One Seafood Market and Restaurant
22 Kyle Bonsignore Kyle Bonsignore Cam McDermott FURY Race Cars Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto
26 Eddie Brunnhoelzl Sean McDonald Chad McDonald Troyer Lakeland Landscape Supply
32 Tyler Rypkema Dean Rypkema Zach Truesdail FURY Race Cars Northeast Drilling / MUSCO Lighting
34 J.B. Fortin Nicole Fortin Kenneth Lechner FURY Race Cars Red Camel Racing, Johns Fuel, John Tree Removal, Golden Jalapenos
36 David Sapienza Judy Thilberg Tommy Grasso LFR Sapienza Enterprises
49 Chris Young Chris Young TBA LFR J&H Homestead
51 Justin Bonsignore Kenneth Massa Ryan Stone FURY Race Cars Phoenix Communications, Inc.
54 Tommy Catalano David Catalano David Catalano FURY Race Cars FX Caprara
58 Eric Goodale Edgar Goodale Jason Shepphard FURY Race Cars GAF Roofing
64 Austin Beers Mike Murphy Ron Yuhas Jr LFR Dell Electric, Lumiere Electrical, Andrew James Interiors, AP Marquadt & Sons
66 Timmy Solomito Jerry Solomito TBA LFR Natural Designs, Highmark
71 James Pritchard Jr. James Pritchard Joseph Pritchard FURY Race Cars Freeway Automotive & Tire Pros / Wicklow & Lauroma Landscaping
78 Walter Sutcliffe Jr. Steven Sutcliffe Kevin Anderson Troyer Last Minute Racing
79 Jon McKennedy Tim Lepine Dale Hedquist LFR Middlesex Interiors
81 Chris Turbush Patrick Kennedy TBA Troyer Mike Smith
82 Craig Lutz Danny Watts, Jr. Scott Tocci LFR Danny’s Cesspool Pool Service
96 Matthew Brode Howie Brode TBA Troyer Peter Clark Motorsports
170 Dylan Slepian Rob Pelis Brian Magee Chevrolet Eastport Feeds
188 Roger Turbush Patrick Kennedy Jarrod Hayes FURY Race Cars Rheem
Posted on by Staff Report

Derrell Edwards, jackman for the No. 11 Toyota driven by Denny Hamlin, signed an extension with Joe Gibbs Racing, the team announced Tuesday.

Edwards’ extension keeps him with the organization through 2027. The sixth-year pit crew member joined JGR at the start of the 2021 season as a member of Christopher Bell’s No. 20 team before joining Hamlin’s crew for 2022.

RELATED: Nashville schedule | Point standings

Edwards, a graduate of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program, became the program’s first member to win the Daytona 500 when Austin Dillon’s Richard Childress Racing team won the event in February 2018.

Edwards joined the Cup Series as a member of Paul Menard’s pit crew at RCR in 2017 before transitioning to the No. 3 team in 2018.

A Baltimore native, Edwards played NCAA Division I basketball at High Point University (NC) where he won a Big South Conference championship in his senior year.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

If he has his way, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson could be back behind the wheel of a Hendrick Motorsports-built vehicle next summer.

Johnson, now racing full-time in the IndyCar Series, is working to determine whether he will be able to participate in the 2023 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans as NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports, his longtime employer, plan to compete as part of Le Mans’ Garage 56 next year.

MORE: Garage 56 info

“I’m still eagerly awaiting the (IndyCar) schedule,” Johnson said in a Tuesday teleconference. “I’m pushing behind the scenes to (IndyCar President) Jay Fry and others to try to understand what the schedule might be. I want to go to Le Mans. It would be an amazing experience to go with Hendrick and Action Express and the way this whole partnership works.

“But I think so much hinges on the schedule being released to understand if I can, and from the team standpoint what drivers would be at the top of their list.”

Johnson earned each of his 83 victories and seven titles in Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 48 Chevrolet. Since 2020, the California native has competed in 20 IndyCar races along with additional starts for Action Express in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

“I’m thankful to have had a few conversations with them (Hendrick and Action Express) and I know that there’s interest,” Johnson said. “I certainly have a ton of interest to do it. We’re just waiting for that first domino to fall.

“I feel like the interest is really high on both sides. We haven’t been able to talk anything more formal because the schedule is not out.”

Hendrick and NASCAR announced their intent to compete as part of Le Man’s Garage 56 initiative in March, marking the first stock car endeavor in the world-famous event since 1976. Garage 56 was introduced in 2012 as a special single-entry class reserved for innovative cars. It allows for the testing of new technologies and fostering of creativity and innovation without taking away the spot of a car from the traditional starting grid.

Posted on by Staff Report

Hendrick Motorsports has extended its partnership with Valvoline through 2027, the team announced on Tuesday.

The new agreement is for five years and keeps Valvoline as a primary sponsor of 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson (three races) and teammate William Byron (two races), and as major associate sponsor of the team’s full stable of Chevrolet race cars.

In addition, Valvoline will remain the presenting sponsor of the annual Randy Dorton Hendrick Engine Builder Showdown, a competition that brings together Hendrick Motorsports engine builders and Hendrick Automotive Group master technicians.

Last year, Valvoline expanded its Hendrick Motorsports program to add primary sponsorship of Larson’s No. 5 and Byron’s No. 24. The five annual primary races represented an increase of three over the three previous seasons (2018-2020).

For 2022, the company has also added a sixth primary race and will be featured on the No. 24 Chevrolet for this weekend’s Cup Series event at Nashville Superspeedway (5 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“We are tremendously proud of our partnership with Valvoline,” team owner Rick Hendrick said in a release. “Because of Valvoline’s commitment to quality and innovation, we’ve enjoyed great success together both at the track and in our dealerships. Extending the relationship will allow us to continue putting the very best products in our race cars and in the vehicles of our customers across the country.”

Since 2014, Hendrick Motorsports has earned a NASCAR-best three Cup Series championships (2016, 2020 and 2021) with Valvoline products in its Chevrolet racing engines.

“The Valvoline team is thrilled to continue our partnership with Hendrick Motorsports and Hendrick Automotive Group,” said Heidi Matheys, senior vice president and chief marketing and transformation officer at Valvoline Inc. “Our decade-long relationship has driven success both on and off the track.  We look forward to driving more wins with the amazing Hendrick organization in the future.”

 

Posted on by Staff Report

There are 10 races remaining in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season. The NASCAR Digital Media editorial team has 10 questions its staff answered. Now you can, too.

2022 NASCAR Cup Series: Full schedule | Point standings | Playoff outlook

1. Who inside the playoffs bubble most likely to drop out?

ALBERT: Aric Almirola. The SHR pilot started solidly with three top 10s in the first three Cup Series races of the year, but his spot on the bubble remains precarious. That perch will likely get the squeeze as the 2022 winner list continues to grow.

DeCOLA: Aric Almirola. We’re trending toward 16 winners and I’m not sure he’ll be one of them (though he did shock at New Hampshire just last year).

LUVENDER: Martin Truex Jr. Yes, really. While he’s got a 65-point cushion and ranks sixth in the regular-season standings, it seems the No. 19 team has lost some of its magic in 2022 and isn’t showing signs of a return. Truex has just two top-five finishes this season; by Race 16 last year, he had six top fives and three wins. The uncertainty of the 2017 champ’s future can’t help things, either.

MONTGOMERY: Unfortunately, Tyler Reddick will miss the playoffs in his third season at Richard Childress Racing. Reddick has flashed elite speed at times but struggled with consistency the entire year. Though the No. 8 team has been close at times, including two runner-up finishes, it is hard to see them regrouping down a tough stretch where other teams have already gotten a jump start on elevating their performance.

RICHARDSON: Aric Almirola will drop out of the bubble. He’s one of those drivers who is always there toward the last four of the 16 playoff drivers, but when I see names like Kevin Harvick, Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones still outside the bubble, it’s hard to see Almirola staying in front of them given the times they’ve been in contention to win races this season.

STURNIOLO: Aric Almirola. Almirola started the year so well, but his top-10 streak over the first three races feels like it was a lifetime ago. Others beneath him in points have shown more consistent speed, which makes me leery about the No. 10 team’s playoff hopes.

WINKLER: Aric Almirola has some work to do if he’s going to make the playoffs in his final season before he retires from full-time duty. Not only is he currently the closest driver to the cutline (plus seven points to the good), but he also has only two top-10 finishes since reeling off three in a row to start the season. Luckily for him, New Hampshire is coming up, and that’s where he pulled off a surprise win last season.

2. Who outside the playoff bubble is most likely to jump in?

ALBERT: Tyler Reddick. A recent rough patch – four finishes of 30th or worse in a seven-race span – has hurt the RCR driver’s place in the standings. But his tendency to run up front has kept Reddick in ticket-punching contention.

DeCOLA: Kevin Harvick. A 16-driver playoff field that doesn’t include the nine-time 2020 winner feels inconceivable. Then again, so did a playoff field without Jimmie Johnson.

LUVENDER: Kevin Harvick. It seems he’s on the verge of a breakthrough after his fall from grace in the 2020 playoffs. While he hasn’t yet won a race — or even a stage — this season, the No. 4 is getting closer as of late. Harvick’s quietly logged five top-10 finishes in the past seven races. That level of consistency is enough to claw back into playoff contention.

STURNIOLO: Tyler Reddick. Reddick’s inconsistency is concerning, particularly since he has finished 30th or worse in four of the last seven races. But the No. 8 Chevrolet still has speed that shouldn’t be overlooked. Reddick appears likely to find his way to Victory Lane sometime in the next 10 races, which would alleviate any regular-season concerns over consistency.

@NASCARCASM: Kevin Harvick will absolutely squeak his way into the playoff field. Despite the very un-Happy Harvick after the race this past weekend, he has still had three top-five finishes in the last five races, and this off weekend will give the No. 4 team the opportunity to shake off the pit-road woes from Sonoma. Having earned a playoff berth 15 times, it’s almost unfathomable to envision a postseason without Harvick. Look for the team to hit its stride as the regular season comes to an end. They call him “The Closer” for a reason … among like 38 other nicknames, but that’s like the most prominent one.

3. Will there be more than 16 winners?

DeCOLA: Think we land on exactly 16. We’ll likely see four drivers win from this group: Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones, with several other notable names (Aric Almirola, Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Bubba Wallace) making for interesting wild-card possibilities. There really is a significant chance a one-time winner gets left out of the playoffs.

LUVENDER: No. By now, we’ve seen which drivers are the weekly contenders. Among the 12 winners so far this year, there have already been four repeat winners. Sure, unlikely winners like Chase Briscoe at Phoenix, Kurt Busch at Kansas and Daniel Suárez at Sonoma have already happened this year (and you could even argue Denny Hamlin in his two wins in the midst of an otherwise disastrous season), but the likelihood of the trend continuing throughout the summer seems slim.

WAACK: Why not? Bring on the chaos. It would be the first time since the elimination playoff format was implemented in 2014 that all 16 spots are filled with winners. There have been more repeat winners (four) through 16 races than last season (three), but the difference is, there have been four drivers this year to win their first career race — the most since 2011. That’s the trend I don’t see stopping anytime soon.

WINKLER: I don’t think there will be more than 16 drivers who get a win this season, but getting to 16 has a realistic chance. Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Kevin Harvick, Tyler Reddick and Martin Truex Jr. are looming with goose eggs in their respective win columns, and they will be tough outs the rest of the way. Plus, with three road courses and Daytona still left on the regular-season schedule, a surprise winner could jump into the mix.

4. Who are your Championship 4 drivers?

DeCOLA: Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain.

LUVENDER: That’s a tough one! I’ll go for consistency given the unpredictable nature of this season: Kyle Busch (most top 10s), Ross Chastain (most top fives), Chase Elliott (current points leader) and Joey Logano (22 in ’22, of course).

MONTGOMERY: Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin.

RICHARDSON: The Next Gen car has certainly made predicting the playoffs difficult, so I’m going to go a bit bold here with the Championship 4. As long as he limits conflict with other drivers, Ross Chastain’s consistency and speed make him a good fit to compete for a title in Phoenix. “Mr. Opportunistic” Joey Logano will pick up a win in the Round of 8 to secure a spot after doing enough to point his way through the postseason. Kyle Busch’s rollercoaster may drive people away, but when he’s mistake-free, he usually finishes inside the top five. He has been on the cusp of the Championship 4 multiple times now, but I think Alex Bowman could be competing for a title in his home state. It helps that Las Vegas is added to the Round of 8 along with Martinsville, so if Bowman is in the Round of 8, I think he’ll be racing for a title in November.

WAACK: Ross Chastain, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman.

5. Who is your Rookie of the Year pick?

ALBERT: Austin Cindric. The Team Penske driver was the award’s early front-runner before the season hardly got started, thanks to his opening victory in the Daytona 500. Since then, he has backed that up as the top-finishing rookie in nine of the 16 races, besting Harrison Burton’s six.

DeCOLA: Austin Cindric. Locked it up in February.

LUVENDER: Austin Cindric. The other Rookie of the Year contenders have struggled — neither Harrison Burton nor Todd Gilliland has scored a top-10 finish — while Cindric won the Daytona 500 and even grabbed a stage win in St. Louis.

STURNIOLO: Austin Cindric. It’s hard to bet against the only rookie with a win this year, especially when that win came courtesy of the Daytona 500. Todd Gilliland and Harrison Burton have shown their flashes of speed, but Cindric is the only member of the rookie class to score a top-10 finish, which he has done three times in 16 races.

@NASCARCASM: The 2022 Rookie of the Year maybe, possibly, perhaps will be Austin Cindric. Generally winning the Daytona 500 helps that whole campaign along. Not to mention he’s 121 points ahead of the next closest eligible rookie, Harrison Burton. So yes, I think it’s very likely Austin Cindric will be the 2022 Rookie of the Year. That snapping sound you hear right now is this limb upon which I’m going really far out.

6. What regular-season race will shake up the playoff picture most?

DeCOLA: Daytona. There’s a real possibility we’ll have 16 winners already by then, which ramps up the desperation for all the single-win drivers and should make the overall event pretty tense throughout.

LUVENDER: Atlanta. The March trip to the newly-upgraded Atlanta track was a wild one, featuring 11 cautions and 12 cars knocked out from crash damage — not to mention 45 lead changes and even a surprise top-five finish for Corey LaJoie. The warmer Georgia weather will likely create a hotter, slicker track, which is bound to create another challenge and a new layer of unpredictability.

MONTGOMERY: It will not be one single race but the type of race: road courses. We have seen so many varying strategies this season and not one driver has been exceptionally dominant at putting a complete race together. Ross Chastain started his hot streak at COTA. Chris Buescher and Kevin Harvick were true contenders for basically the first time this season at Sonoma and proved the usual ringers may not have as strong of a grip as they used to. And of course, Daniel Suárez dominated there late. Sure, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott have still looked at the top of their class. But quick lap times won’t always mean a win. With a slew of road circuits on the horizon, I wouldn’t be surprised if two or three first-time winners added to the season’s quickly growing total.

STURNIOLO: This is a great question because so many unknowns lie ahead. There’s something about Michigan that feels wholly unpredictable, but with Daytona slated as the regular-season finale, the threat of the “Big One” looms too large to overlook. The points impact that overhangs that event coupled with a plethora of different winners implies there may be some carnage on hand come Aug. 27.

WINKLER: It’s got to be the regular-season finale at Daytona, right? And that’s why NASCAR making it the regular-season finale is such a devious delight. We all know how superspeedway races can be unpredictable and full of drama, but toss in a final playoff spot or two on the line, and things will get real — and really crazy and exciting, too.

7. Will there be a brand-new champion this year?

ALBERT: Yes. The prevailing wisdom might say no, that experience will carry the day for those who have claimed the Cup Series crown before. But in this season of unpredictability and first-time victors, all those shifts in team strength and momentum have opened up the field of contenders.

DeCOLA: Yes. James Dennis Alan Hamlin will finally be crowned a Cup Series champion, because it’s the only fitting end to how bizarre and captivating his season has been.

LUVENDER: No. There are too many former champions running well to prevent a new champion this year. The only driver close to contending for a championship, Ross Chastain, has never made the playoffs before and can’t rely on years of experience, unlike veterans like Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott and Joey Logano.

MONTGOMERY: Kyle Busch is going to win the 2022 Cup Series championship. It will give him three overall and will perhaps be his most emphatic in a season with so many question marks surrounding the future of the No. 18 team. The combination of his stellar performance this year, realizing he could realistically have four wins already, and the chip on his shoulder, will spur him to greatness once again.

WAACK: Yes. As I mentioned earlier, there have been four drivers who captured their first career win this year — the most the sport has seen in a single season since 2011 (five). And only five of the 12 different winners overall this season — aka those with provisional playoff berths — have a championship on their record. New is in this season.

8. Which former champion will not make the playoff field?

DeCOLA: Brad Keselowski. Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing has looked better than expected at times this year, but Keselowski’s first season as driver/owner really sunk after a costly penalty and lack of consistency. Could see a huge bounce-back in 2023.

LUVENDER: Martin Truex Jr. The combination of a struggling No. 19 and a seemingly unprecedented number of different winners will leave the 2017 champ out of this year’s playoff field. The Next Gen car just doesn’t seem to create the “Martin Magic” we’re accustomed to seeing.

@NASCARCASM: Unfortunately it’s going to be Brad Keselowski, and it has a little something to do with a 100-point penalty levied upon the team after the first race at Atlanta. While it hasn’t been the debut year for RFK Racing that Keselowski was likely hoping for, Trackhouse Racing has shown you can have a relatively quiet freshman year and an absolute gangbusters sophomore year. Here’s hoping RFK Racing follows suit. But there’s just no coming back from a 100-point deficit. Ask any Jacksonville Jaguars fan.

WAACK: Martin Truex Jr. Only two top-five finishes, yet five outside the top 20? Doesn’t scream playoff worthy, despite ranking sixth in the standings. As more first-time winners join the fold, which I’ve already said is bound to happen, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Truex get the cut rather than make it.

9. Who hasn’t won but you expect to still in the regular season?

DeCOLA: Former “Big Three” members Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. are the biggest surprises to not win yet, but Ryan Blaney will be the next first-time 2022 winner.

LUVENDER: Ryan Blaney. With four stage wins, an All-Star Race win, his three poles and his ability to contend just about anywhere, it’s a wonder YRB hasn’t already won a points-paying race.

MONTGOMERY: Ryan Blaney has to win at some point, right? The regular-season races are dwindling, but the No. 12 team’s speed has been among the best to this point. As the odd one out of the win column at Team Penske, expect the off week to bring a new intensity in the push for a playoff berth.

RICHARDSON: Tyler Reddick has been on the cusp of wins so many times this season that another winless year would just be unfair. With how well he ran at Auto Club, I’d give him a good chance at Michigan.

WAACK: Tyler Reddick. Only one driver has more runner-up finishes without a win all-time than Reddick, who has five in his career (two this season). The difference is, Reddick is going to win. He has the speed, leading more than double the laps this year (249) than his two prior (73 combined between 2020-21). Once he does, I think he’s going to tick multiple off.

10. Who is most likely to win his way into the playoffs with a last-shot move in the regular-season finale?

ALBERT: Bubba Wallace. The 23XI Racing driver’s early exit at Sonoma cost him three spots in the standings, further reinforcing that a win, not points, would be the basis for a potential playoff berth. There’s hardly a more likely place for that to happen than at Daytona, where Wallace has been a close-call runner-up his last two times out.

DeCOLA: Despite what I said earlier, Brad Keselowski. There’s a good chance he reminds everyone why he’s one of the best superspeedway drivers in the sport and blows up the playoff grid by punching his ticket in the regular-season finale at Daytona.

LUVENDER: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. He has shown flashes of speed in 2022 — like his second-place finish at Dover that kicked off a run of four-straight top-eight finishes — and he’s quite good at draft-heavy tracks like Daytona, where he has won before. If there’s anybody who’s not afraid to go for it, it’s Stenhouse.

MONTGOMERY: After all the turmoil RFK Racing has been through in its inaugural year, Brad Keselowski will win the regular-season finale at Daytona, launching him into the playoffs from miles below the cutline.

WAACK: Brad Keselowski, and this is the main reason I didn’t list him as the former champion who won’t make the playoffs. Kes finished ninth in the Daytona 500, proving his No. 6 Ford capable. The 2012 champ also holds the most superspeedway wins among active drivers with seven.

Posted on by Staff Report

Kevin Meendering will serve as the interim crew chief of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driven by Kyle Larson for the next four races, the team announced Monday.

RELATED: Nashville schedule | Points standings

Cliff Daniels, the full-time leader of the team, is set to begin serving a four-race suspension for a penalty dealt after the right-front wheel of Larson’s car detached during the June 12 event at Sonoma Raceway. The infraction falls against Section 10.5.2.6 of the NASCAR Rule Book: “Loss or separation of an improperly installed tire/wheel from the vehicle.”

Meendering will head the crew for the upcoming races at Nashville Superspeedway, Road America, Atlanta Motor Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Meendering has 21 starts as a Cup crew chief for Hendrick along with three wins, 39 top fives and 77 top 10s in 98 Xfinity Series starts. Currently leading Hendrick’s three-race return to the Xfinity Series, Meendering also led Elliott Sadler to the regular-season Xfinity championship in 2017 to accompany top-five points finishes in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Meendering and Larson will both pull double duty at Road America, where both will compete in the Xfinity Series together on July 2.

Larson, the defending Cup champion, won the inaugural Cup race at Nashville in 2021.
Posted on by Brandon White

A calm and orderly Sunday afternoon for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Monadnock Speedway took an unexpected turn in the closing laps.

Although Ron Silk dominated the day, the finish to the Duel at the Dog 200 would be settled between two other veterans in Matt Hirschman and three-time Tour champion Justin Bonsignore, both of whom wanted a piece of the $83,763 purse.

RESULTS: Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock Speedway

It would be Bonsignore taking home the checkered flag, but the final laps were not without controversy, as Hirschman saw a potential victory erased after he was blocked repeatedly by the slower car of J.B. Fortin.

Below are the key takeaways from Sunday’s Duel at the Dog 200.

Justin Bonsignore finally shakes off bad luck

While the circumstances surrounding his win were slightly unorthodox, Justin Bonsignore was simply relieved to get back into Victory Lane at Monadnock Speedway on Sunday.

Consistently one of the top drivers on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour every year, the 2022 season has been anything but relaxing for Bonsignore through the first five races.

A victory at Richmond Raceway was the only highlight for Bonsignore prior to Sunday’s triumph at Monadnock. A 31st-place finish in the season-opener at New Smyrna Speedway immediately placed Bonsignore in a deep hole, with his other finishes aside from the victory at Richmond being outside the top-five.

Returning to familiar territory provided Bonsignore the confidence he needed to put together a strong run in Sunday’s race, as he already had three victories at Monadnock on his resume, including the most recent Tour event at the facility in 2020.

Bonsignore still faces a significant deficit in the points as the Tour enters the second half of its 2022 schedule, but his performance at Monadnock provided a reminder to the rest of the field that he will still be competitive until the finale at Martinsville Speedway.

The series’ second visit to Riverhead Raceway, where Bonsignore has eight wins, will only present another opportunity for him to bounce back.

Big Money Matt Hirschman frustrated with runner-up

While Justin Bonsignore celebrated his second win of 2022, Matt Hirschman was left fuming over how Sunday’s Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock Speedway turned out.

Hirschman never anticipated that a lapped car would end up costing him a win Sunday afternoon and was puzzled as to why J.B. Fortin believed he was justified in blocking him and deciding the race in Bonsignore’s favor.

Everything had gone according to plan during the afternoon for Hirschman, who had already claimed a victory earlier this year at New Smyrna Speedway and was prepared to fend off Bonsignore for the win as the two negotiated the lapped traffic.

With Hirschman not going for the championship in the Whelen Modified Tour, his goal is to win every single race he enters in the series and race everyone with respect, which is something that he felt Fortin did not do during the final laps of the Duel at the Dog 200

Hirschman plans to move forward from Sunday while also keeping the incident with Fortin in the back of his mind when the two inevitably meet again on the track.

Fortin would later issue a statement on Facebook addressing the late-race incident with Hirschman.

“Just going to start off by saying, racing is not easy and if it was there would be 100’s of cars showing up to qualify,” Fortin said. “We were hanging on from lap 100 on. What happened was definitely not intentional. I should have backed the corner up more. I struggled the whole race down in that corner. When we got down into 3 I was afraid to take Matt out with the back of the car, (or) else I would’ve turned down under the yellow. Unfortunately the right-front bumped his bar and ripped the wheel out of my hand. By the time I got ahold of the wheel Justin was to my door (and my) spotter screaming inside.

“I feel terrible for what happened. You never want to be the cause of someone’s bad day. I understand how everyone feels and sees what happened. We don’t operate as a team like that. I don’t condone taking people out of races. We were running 13 second laps with split second decisions. Sorry for costing Matt a win, not that it matters much at this point.”

The championship runs through Ron Silk

Ron Silk is quietly putting together another season worthy of a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship.

Even though he came up short of a victory in Sunday’s Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock, Silk still managed to lead a race-high 110 laps before settling for third behind Bonsignore and Hirschman.

Silk’s strong performance only bolstered the narrow points lead he maintained heading into the weekend as he looks to tally his second NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour title. His lone title to date came during the 2011 season when he drove for Ed Partridge.

As with 2011, consistency has been a theme for Silk through the first six races. Despite having yet to bring home a win, Silk has not recorded a finish outside the top-10 and has now recorded a top-five finish in three of the last four races.

Silk said a win is inevitable if he maintains his streak of solid finishes and keeps plenty of distance between Bonsignore and the rest of the Tour field.

NOTES:

  • Doug Coby, who had won the last two NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races he entered with Tommy Baldwin Racing, did not lead a single lap in Sunday’s Duel at the Dog 200 but still managed to bring home a fifth-place finish.
  • Fresh off his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory at Jennerstown Speedway, Mike Christopher Jr. served as a last-minute replacement for Jimmy Blewett, who could not take part in Sunday’s rescheduled Duel at the Dog 200 due to a previous family commitment. Christopher struggled to climb from the back of the field and finished in 13th as the last car on the lead lap.
  • Sunday was a career afternoon for Westminster, Massachusetts, native Sam Rameau. He recorded his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour top-five finish at Monadnock, eclipsing his previous best run of sixth at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in 2020.
  • Jacob Perry brought home his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour top-10 finish after starting in the 16th position. Perry had only made two prior appearances with the series at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Lee USA Speedway, which resulted in finishes of 38th and 15th.
Posted on by Dustin Albino

Nashville Superspeedway put on an entertaining race last year in the Cup Series’ inaugural event, Joey Logano believes. The 2018 Cup champion’s weekend forecast calls for more of the same in Sunday’s Ally 400 (5 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Entering last year’s race at Nashville, many drivers were concerned it would be hard to pass. However, with resin added to the racing surface for the first time, it widened the track out to allow for multiple grooves to exist.

“I remember it being a really good race,” Logano told NASCAR.com last week. “The track was really wide, there were places to go, ways to pass cars with a decent amount of tire fall off at times.”

MORE: Full Nashville schedule | Superlatives so far

Logano was one of just 13 drivers in last year’s field to have had prior experience at the 1.333-mile track. He remembers testing at the track when he was a hot prospect for Joe Gibbs Racing, while a tornado ripped through the city.

The No. 22 team, which has proved over the last several years to be stellar at inaugural events, started third and finished 10th on the concrete oval. But Logano has a hard time putting his finger on what Nashville is comparable to.

“I joke about this, but that track has an identity crisis,” he said. “It doesn’t know what it wants to be. It’s too big to be a short track, but too small to be a speedway. I think when you’re setting up your car you’re thinking the same thing: ‘How much brake are we going to use?’”

Logano said teams ended up using a fair amount of brakes in last year’s race. He compared it to a short track, but the only problem is the cars are going “really fast” and that burns up the brakes quickly. But the Next Gen car has bigger brakes compared to the Gen 6 car.

Entering the weekend, Logano doesn’t believe he can compare Nashville to any track the Next Gen car has visited yet either, which makes it that much more of a question mark.

“I have a hard time saying what race it’s going to be like,” he said. “That’s why you’ve got to watch; we don’t even know. I think the unknown is what drives a lot of hype and a lot of questions. People want to watch things that are unpredictable.”

Through the opening 16 races of the season, Logano is one of four drivers to have multiple wins. The No. 22 team ranks fifth in the championship standings, just 30 points outside the lead.

MORE: Cup playoff picture | Full standings

Words that come to mind when describing his season are “up and down” or “roller coaster,” which make sense given the No. 22 team has two wins and five finishes of 17th or worse in the last seven races. Despite the inconsistency, Logano gained 10 points on regular season championship leader Chase Elliott at Sonoma by electing to stay out and score stage points.

“You see it every week; there’s teams that you think have it figured out and the next week, they’re in the way and have an issue,” he said. “It’s like, ‘What the heck is going on?’ It’s up and down and crazy. It’s because of the new car and nobody has it figured out, so you have a lot of inconsistencies for that reason.”

Unlike some other drivers, Logano says he pays attention to where he ranks in the standings because it affects his strategy. And right now, he’s got his eyes set on chasing the regular-season title.

“There’s 15 playoff points if you win that thing,” he stated. “I think there’s a check that comes along with it, too. I don’t know what it is, but playoff points are very important.”

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

Ten races may seem like a lot of time for winless NASCAR Cup Series drivers to clinch a berth in the playoffs. But with 12 spots already clinched for the postseason, just four open spots remain in the postseason bracket.

There are still a handful of big-name drivers seeking their maiden win of 2022 like Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell and past champions Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick.

Tyler Reddick has fallen just short of a win a handful of times. Could he or a consistent Michael McDowell be the next to strike to earn a playoff position?

Much is unknown heading into the summer months and with two superspeedways and three road courses left on the regular-season calendar, the door is open for first-time winners to emerge and burst the playoff bubble. NASCAR.com’s Cameron Richardson and Sean Montgomery debate.

RELATED: Cup Series standings | See remaining schedule

RICHARDSON: I might be stretching here a little bit but there’s something about Erik Jones this season that has stood out. His results may not jump, but given the surprises already this season, why can’t Jones be the next in line to break into Victory lane?

According to NASCAR’s loop data, Jones had an average running position of 12.139 in the Daytona 500 before a late wreck took him out of the race. At Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, Jones ranked sixth among drivers in average position.

Jones has a superspeedway win under his belt (Daytona, summer 2018) and with his ability to run up front for a long duration of a race, he has to be a player to win the second Atlanta race three weeks from now.

Given Kyle Larson’s dominance at Nashville Superspeedway last year and the monopoly Hendrick Motorsports and Trackhouse Racing have purchased over the last eight road-course events, it’s difficult to lock in a driver earning their first win of the season in the next two weeks, which makes Atlanta the next-best place for the 13th different winner of 2022.

The No. 43 team had its best run of the year with a third-place finish at Auto Club Speedway, where Jones led 18 laps. The race weekend at Michigan International Speedway isn’t until August, but the 2-mile oval most-closely resembles Auto Club, making it another good spot for Jones to earn that first victory of the year.

No matter the track, give me “That Jones Boy” to be the next driver to clinch his spot in the playoffs.

MONTGOMERY: It has been a while since we have heard this name and seen this face in Victory Lane. My pick is Kevin Harvick. Though he has been inconsistent in a handful of races, Harvick’s solid stretches this season greatly outweigh his struggles.

The No. 4 team fell just shy of the win at Richmond Raceway, finishing runner-up to match its best finish since the Bristol Night Race in September 2021. And Harvick and company have three top-four finishes in the last five races, anchored by a surprisingly competitive day at Sonoma Raceway. That performance was alone enough to sway, showcasing that the team can be competitive at various tracks and racing styles.

Harvick has a solid chance to end his winless drought with a mixed-bag schedule on the horizon — a pair of road courses, a revamped superspeedway in Atlanta, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and the ‘Tricky Triangle” in the Poconos.

On top of all that, the chip on Harvick’s shoulder is growing with every winless race and frustrating in-race incident. The last time “The Closer” went back-to-back seasons without a victory was 2008-09 (winless in 2021). Harvick has also never led under 100 laps through a full season in his entire career and currently only sits at 13 in 16 races.

History is on the side of the established veteran. And to put it simply, his best in 2022 is still yet to come. He will be the next winless driver this season to earn the checkered flag.

Posted on by Brandon White

In a season filled with positives and negatives, luck was on Justin Bonsignore’s side during the closing laps of Sunday’s Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock Speedway.

Contact between race leader Matt Hirschman and the lapped car of J.B. Fortin with three laps remaining created an opportunity for Bonsignore to slip past them on the bottom for his second victory on the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

Bonsignore was prepared to settle for a second-place finish but was stunned that Fortin essentially gifted him the victory by interfering with Hirschman.

“I’d guess you’d rather be lucky than good any day,” Bonsignore said. “Matt [and I] were neck-and-neck, but I’m not sure what’s going between [him and Fortin]. I could kind of see it coming from a mile away, so I got into [Turn 3], hooked the bottom and stood in the throttle for the first time all day.”

RELATED: Results from the Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock Speedway

Good luck has been hard to come by for Bonsignore through the first five races of the season.

Despite getting an early victory at Richmond Raceway, Bonsignore had not recorded another finish inside the top five prior to Saturday’s Duel at the Dog 200. The mixture of poor performances and mechanical issues relegated Bonsignore to seventh in the Modified Tour standings; 37 points behind leader Ron Silk.

Mother Nature cut Bonsignore a break when persistent rain showers on Saturday evening resulted in the starting lineup being set by practice speeds. Bonsignore’s time of 12.854 seconds allowed him to start on pole for the rescheduled Duel at the Dog 200 on Sunday.

Bonsignore’s lead only lasted a handful of laps before he was passed by Hirschman. With plenty of time at his disposal, Bonsignore took care of his equipment and watched as Silk chased down Hirschman to take control of the race.

Silk proved to be untouchable for most of the afternoon but admitted his car started to fall off as the race neared its conclusion, which forced him to settle for a third-place finish behind Bonsignore and Hirschman.

Like Bonsignore, Silk was puzzled by Fortin’s decision to block Hirschman and cost him the victory.

“[Fortin] just ran [Hirschman] all over the track and it looked like it was intentional,” Silk said. “It didn’t really affect my finish, which was right about where it should have been. I had a great car the whole race, but I ran out of grip with about 20 laps to go. It was a good effort, and we led a lot of laps, which is all you can do.”

Even though he did not get a win, Silk still managed to bolster his small points lead with Tommy Catalano and Jon McKennedy both enduring inconsistent afternoons.

Silk has yet to find Victory Lane so far in 2022, but he envisions a win coming to pass sooner rather than later with how efficient he and his team have been with six top-10 finishes in six races.

“You never know when you’re going to have some sort of trouble,” Silk said. “We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing, but we need to be up here racing for the lead and get top threes. I’m pretty confident going to all of these tracks and with the team that we have, we can knock off a win anywhere.”

Silk knows consistency will be imperative over the next several weeks, as he is expecting Bonsignore to be a part of the championship conversation once the season finale at Martinsville Speedway arrives in October.

Bonsignore is not used to facing points deficits this large shortly before the halfway point of a season, but he is still confident he can shake off the bad luck and put together performances worthy of a fourth Modified Tour title.

With one of his favorite tracks in Riverhead Raceway next on the schedule, Bonsignore is ready to start his turnaround when the next green flag flies.

“It’s good to get back [to Victory Lane],” Bonsignore said. “We were going to have a good run either way, but this is what you have to do to win these races. We’ve really been struggling these past few weeks and I’m just happy to finish on the lead lap. Sure enough, we won as well.”

Sam Rameau and Doug Coby rounded out the top-five finishers at Monadnock. Completing the top 10 were Eric Goodale, Jake Johnson, Austin Beers, Catalano and Jacob Perry.

A replay of Sunday’s Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock Speedway can be seen on the USA Network on June 25 at 11 a.m. ET.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will be back at the track next weekend for their second visit to Riverhead Raceway in Riverhead, New York, on Saturday evening. The race will be shown live on FloRacing.