And Matt Hirschman was the star of the show in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race.
The 39-year-old from Northampton, Pennsylvania, won the Mayhew Tools Dominator Pole Award on Saturday night at the half-mile paved oval, and that starting position combined with a slick pit strategy led to Hirschman’s win in the first Modified Tour race at New Smyrna.
“This being the first time the Whelen Modifieds are here, it just means a lot,” Hirschman told FloRacing in Victory Lane. “Of all the things we’ve done with this team — and this is our sixth year — coming to Florida has been the most enjoyable thing I’ve done with these guys. You feel like you’ve made it when you come down here and win a big race.”
Hirschman led the first 73 of 200 laps Saturday at New Smyrna before surrendering the point to Ryan Preece. The race then featured five more lead changes, including Hirschman’s re-taking the spot for good on Lap 162.
Eric Goodale, Mike Christopher Jr., Jon McKennedy and Tyler Rypkema rounded out the top five. Craig Lutz, Ron Silk, Tommy Catalano, Patrick Emerling and Preece completed the top 10.
Justin Bonsignore, the defending Whelen Modified Tour champion, 31st after an engine issue took him out of the race after 32 laps.
Below are more highlights from Night 2 of the 2022 World Series of Stock Car Auto Racing.
Giovanni Ruggiero, a rookie at New Smyrna’s World Series of Asphalt, easily won Saturday night’s the Pro Late Model division race.
Tank Tucker won Saturday’s Florida Modified feature race after multiple red flags. It marked his 22nd World Series win and his second in two nights.
Travis Devendorf won the evening’s Sportsman feature to close the action.
Sunday’s Night 3 action at the 2022 World Series of Asphalt features Super Late Models, Modifieds, Pro Late Models, 602 Modifieds and E-Mods.
All of the racing, which begins at 7:30 p.m. ET, can be viewed live on FloRacing.
Matt Hirschman grew up dreaming of Daytona, but the Northampton, Pennsylvania, native etched his name in different Florida racing history Saturday night.
Hirschman claimed the checkered flag at New Smyrna Speedway in the inaugural NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race at the half-mile bullring, opening the 2022 season by winning the Mayhew Tools Dominator Pole Award and heading the field over the final 40 laps to earn his fifth career Tour victory Saturday in the New Smyrna Visitors Bureau 200.
“I never made it to Daytona or the Daytona 500, but coming down here to be a part of Speedweeks and win races, and this being the first time the Whelen Modifieds are ever here, it just means a lot,” Hirschman told FloRacing. “It’s a lot of work. I appreciate all the effort by the PD Motorsports team and we got a lot of work ahead of us yet this week.”
Indeed, New Smyrna’s World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing is still young and has featured modified events for decades. Hirschman has found plenty of success around the high-banked bullring in a tour modified, winning three of the last four class titles. But never had the Whelen Modified Tour hosted an official event at the 0.48-mile track.
Hirschman, whose family has a rich history in modifieds between himself and his father Tony Hirschman, took a moment to soak in the win in a very familiar Victory Lane.
“You feel like you made it when you come down here and you win a big race,” Hirschman said. “Like I said, never made it to Daytona, but this is huge for me. I’m really proud of everybody, myself included. that we’ve been able to accomplish so much down here. Awesome.”
The winning decision came under the race’s final caution on Lap 150, when Hirschman came down pit road for one last stop after saving some fresh rubber for a late charge.
“It was my call,” Hirschman said. “I’m not taking any credit away from anybody else, but we talked about it a little bit, and I made the call to [say] let’s put them on now. And if a perfect caution came for someone at the end, and you get beat by that, that’s racing.”
Instead, it was Hirschman who rocketed to the front around Ron Silk and brought Eric Goodale along with him. Goodale held within 0.3 seconds of Hirschman for most of the run, but in the end, Hirschman was just too strong.
Matt Hirschman in action during the New Smyrna Visitors Bureau 200 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway on Feb. 12, 2022. (Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)
“I knew I’d probably want it to get him early on in that run,” Goodale said. “Matt’s way too good of a driver to make mistakes late in the race, and I knew about with about 15 laps to go he probably had the better car. But I was hoping the lapped traffic or a mistake on his behalf would put us right back there in the mix, and we were driving away from third, so I was just trying to thing as hard as I could to not make any mistakes and stay with him in case he bobbled there.
“But just proud of my guys. We’ve been fast right from our first time out here today, so just really happy with the overall speed of the car.”
The No. 60 car Hirschman wheeled started on the pole alongside Ryan Preece, who found himself driving the familiar “Ole Blue” for Jan Boehler, just like he did back in 2008. Hirschman got the jump and maintained the lead over the first 60 laps of the race. But shortly before the halfway mark, Preece was able to get to Hirschman’s inside and use the lapped car of Ken Hagy as a pick to get to the lead.
Hirschman began to fade and found himself seventh as the third caution of the day found Matt Kimball backwards on the inside of Turn 2 at Lap 97.
Pit strategy jumbled the field and found Hirschman mired back in 15th place while others like Silk, Andrew Krause, Jon McKennedy and Austin Beers cycled to the front of the field.
The event came to a halt at Lap 141 though when a battle for fourth went awry. Preece battled to the inside of Krause exiting the fourth turn and washed up into Krause’s driver-side door. The No. 3 broke loose, and Preece corrected back into Krause’s left rear, sending both cars sliding with Krause’s No. 24 car getting the worst of it, pounding the inside wall on the frontstretch hard with the left front of the vehicle. Krause exited the car unharmed while Preece carried on.
The final yellow of the day flew at Lap 150, when seven cars piled into each other along the backstretch, with only Chris Young among those unable to continue.
At the finish, behind Hirschman, Goodale, Mike Christopher Jr., Jon McKennedy and Tyler Rypkema completed the top five. Rounding out the top 10 were Craig Lutz, Silk, Tommy Catalano, Patrick Emerling and Preece.
Christopher was named the Sunoco Rookie of the Race as the highest-finishing rookie driver at New Smyrna.
Three-time and defending tour champion Justin Bonsignore saw his night end after just 32 laps as a mechanical failure took him out of contention.
Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing driver and co-owner Brad Keselowski celebrated his 38th birthday on Saturday and also saw a new paint scheme for his No. 6 Ford revealed.
RFK Racing revealed the Wyndham Rewards look for both Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford as well as that of teammate Chris Buescher’s No. 17 Ford on Saturday afternoon.
The 2022 look on the Next Gen car largely reverses the colors from last year’s scheme with the blue covering the hood and side panel featuring more white than previously. The 2021 look driven by Ryan Newman saw the hood largely white and the side panels carrying more blue. You can compare this year’s look with the 2021 look to the right.
The 2022 season marks Keselowski’s first with the organization following a 12-year run with Team Penske that saw him win 34 of 35 Cup wins to date there as well as the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series championship and the 2010 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.
Brad May, who has won the Super Late Model track championship at New Smyrna multiple times, dominated the 35-lap Super Late Model opener Friday night at the half-mile paved oval.
“(Victory Lane) is definitely the place I want to be,” May told FloRacing after his victory. “I spend a lot of time here during the year, but when Speedweeks comes around, the level of these guys is unbelievable. It’s the greatest teams in the country we’re racing against. I knew I was going to have to fight hard early and try to check out because I knew they’d be coming quick.”
Sammy Smith, the 2021 ARCA Menards Series East champion who recently announced a 2022 ARCA Menards Series ride with Kyle Busch Motorsports, finished second in the Super Late Model race behind May.
Derek Griffith, Jesse Love and Gave Sommers rounded out the top five.
Below are more highlights from Night 1 of 2022 World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna.
Adam Briggs won Friday’s 35-lap Sportsman race to open the night.
Michael Hinde won the Pro Late Model division Friday night at New Smyrna.
Tank Tucker emerged victorious in the Florida Modified event.
Stephen Wright took the checkered flag Friday in the Bomber A division at New Smyrna.
Saturday’s action at the World Series features the debut of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, which will open its 2022 season with the New Smyrna Visitors Bureau 200.
The Whelen Modified Tour race and all World Series of Asphalt action can be viewed live on FloRacing.
NASCAR officials announced Friday that veteran crew chief Eddie Troconis has been reinstated.
Troconis was suspended Oct. 6 after the race weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. Friday’s announcement indicated that Troconis is eligible to return to all NASCAR activity.
Troconis’ NASCAR membership was suspended after a violation of Section 12.8.1.c in the 2021 NASCAR Rule Book. Officials did not list specifics about the violation, but confirmed that the infraction did not stem from a competition-related or on-track incident.
That means that the violation fell under the rule book’s headings of either:
Physical confrontation with a NASCAR Official, media members, fans, etc.
Member-to-Member confrontation(s) with physical violence and other violent manifestations such as significant threat(s) and/or abuse and/or endangerment.
Troconis was on the pit box last year for 17 races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and 20 races in the Camping World Truck Series. He was serving as crew chief for Young’s Motorsports’ No. 02 team and driver Kris Wright at the time of the Talladega incident.
Troconis has two Camping World Truck Series wins in his career, both coming while teamed up with ThorSport Racing and driver Ben Rhodes from 2017-18.
Sixteen NASCAR Cup Series drivers qualify for the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs each season by virtue of wins or points. The path to the Bill France Cup then requires surviving three elimination rounds with three races apiece before the ultimate Championship 4 title battle.
The 2021 NASCAR Playoffs field consisted of, in order of final standings: Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Kurt Busch, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Aric Almirola and Michael McDowell. All of them are eligible yet again in 2022, though not all — Keselowski and Kurt Busch — are in the same car as last year. One — Almirola — even has plans to retire from full-time competition at season’s end and another — McDowell — notched his first career Cup win in the Daytona 500 after 13 years without a Cup victory.
NASCAR.com’s RJ Kraft and Terrin Waack offer their pick for which playoff driver from 2021 will not make the postseason field in 2022 which begins at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 4 and ends at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 6.
KRAFT: I’d be surprised if Michael McDowell repeats as a playoff driver — with no top 15s in his final 22 races last year, it’s just difficult to see the path there without scoring another win on a superspeedway. With the Next Gen car debuting and teams having to find fresh data points and create new notebooks, NASCAR fans are going to be in for a surprise with someone from one of the powerhouse teams struggling to make the postseason. In that regard, I am taking Christopher Bell to not make it into the playoff field after making it last year.
Is that a bit of a hot take? Perhaps, since the Joe Gibbs Racing driver did close out 2021 with five top-nine finishes in his last six races but I think Bell has the biggest mountain to climb in the JGR camp as he led the fewest laps of that quartet. Another thing to consider with Bell is that the overall consistency just wasn’t there with him as much as it was with most of the playoff field from 2021. His 15.8 average finish was third-worst among the playoff drivers with only McDowell and Almirola posting lower marks. Without his win at the Daytona Road Course, Bell would have been in a fight just to make the playoffs — granted having a win after the second race of the season also likely shifted the No. 20 team’s priorities.
Bell is still a rising talent, but it would not surprise me if his sophomore season at JGR carried with it some lessons that made him more formidable in the long run.
WAACK: Aric Almirola. In his last full-time NASCAR schedule, Almirola will not make the playoffs. If it weren’t for his 2021 win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which came in Race 22 of 26 in the regular season, the driver of the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford would not have qualified. His highest point ranking was 20th after Race 2, and even that wouldn’t have cut it had he somehow managed to reach it again before the deadline. He finished 16th (Watkins Glen International), 19th (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course), 17th (Michigan International Speedway) and 14th (Daytona International Speedway) in the four races before playoffs began, too. No wins, no berth.
Through 388 career starts, Almirola has never had back-to-back seasons with wins. If 2022 keeps to that trend, that’s another reason he won’t make the playoffs. Almirola announced his retirement from the sport back in early January, opting out to spend more time with his family. He’s bound to give it all he has in his last go-around. That just might not be enough.
Wendell Scott Jr., son of pioneering NASCAR Hall of Famer Wendell Scott, has died.
Wendell Scott Jr. was a fixture on the crew of his father’s family-based team, which broke barriers as the first full-time entry for a Black driver in NASCAR’s top series. The elder Scott became the first Black driver to win a Cup Series race, breaking through on Dec. 1, 1963, in Jacksonville, Florida.
ISC Archives | Getty Images
“From his younger days working on his father’s race car, Wendell Scott Jr.’s passion for racing helped lift his father to the pinnacle of our sport,” NASCAR officials said in a statement released Friday. “When his time as a competitor concluded, Wendell dedicated his life to preserving – and growing – his father’s rich legacy. NASCAR is saddened to learn of his passing, and extends its deepest condolences to the entire Scott family during this difficult time.”
Wendell Scott was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2015. Scott Jr. was among the family members making the trip from their Danville, Virginia, home to celebrate.
“It took extreme tenacity and a lot of forgiveness on a lot of people’s parts to get where we are today,” Wendell Scott Jr. said after the induction ceremonies, recounting how he and his siblings balanced school work with mechanical savvy on his father’s cars as a youngster. “This tonight is about we’re in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and Daddy was the one that convinced us that this would happen.”
Wendell Scott Jr. was credited with three starts as a driver in the former NASCAR Grand National East Series during the 1973 season. Campaigning the No. 34 that his father raced with, he scored a best finish of 13th place at Hickory (N.C.) Speedway that November.
“My dad gave me the opportunity to race a few times, and that was my goal, to win a race,” Scott Jr. said in 2013. “And I discovered that when I tried to win a race from a historical perspective, I did worse. When they put that helmet on you, you jump in the car – in the old days, they’d pound on the hood. That meant you were on your own. That’s when you’ve got to become a racer and don’t rob yourself of the opportunity to enjoy the moment.”
Wendell Scott made 495 starts in the NASCAR Cup Series from 1961-73. NASCAR officials corrected a historical wrong last season, presenting a replica of the race winner’s trophy from that 1963 Jacksonville event to Scott’s family – something race promoters refused to do on that day – at Daytona International Speedway.
Wendell Scott died in 1990. He would have turned 100 years old in 2021. His legacy is kept alive by the Wendell Scott Foundation, which provides youth services and educational assistance for children. The non-profit also has plans for a museum honoring Scott’s racing career in the former Woolworth Building in downtown Danville.
Our 2022 Silly Season Tracker is below, listing what we know for full-time NASCAR Xfinity and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams in 2021. We’ll update this page as teams finalize their plans for next season. Anything highlighted in red indicates news on that driver and ride for beyond 2021, and clicking on the red line will give you more information on the move and its impact.
Mayer takes over the No. 1 seat after seeing significant seat time in the No. 8 in 2021. He will work with Taylor Moyer. Michael Annett, who drove the No. 1 over the last few seasons for JRM, retired at the end of 2021.
After part-time duty in 2021 with JRM, Berry has landed a full ride with Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team for the 2022 season. Bumgarner slides over from the No. 1 box to lead Berry's team. The two won at Las Vegas together in 2021.
JR Motorsports announced at the end of August that Gragson would return for a fourth season with the organization. Dave Elenz will not be the crew chief as he is moving to the Cup Series with Richard Petty Motorsports. Luke Lambert will move from RFK Racing to take over those duties.
Landon Cassill joins Kaulig Racing for the 2022 in a ride that should see him reach the playoffs just as Jeb Burton and Ross Chastain have in the same seat. Trinchere was crew chief for AJ Allmendinger in 2021.
AJ Allmendinger agreed to a contract extension to remain at Kaulig Racing in 2022 full-time in the Xfinity Series, while also piloting a second Cup Series entry part-time. Schlicker formerly commanded the No. 10 Kaulig entry with Ross Chastain and Jeb Burton.
Harrison Burton will be driving the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford in the 2022 Cup Series season. This leaves the No. 20 seat currently vacant although former crew chief Dave Rogers told SiriusXM that JGR will only field three Xfinity teams in 2022.
Alfredo will drive for Our Motorsports in 2022 after running a season in the Cup Series with Front Row Motorsports. He ran a partial schedule in 2020 for RCR.
Allen Hart comes over to be the crew chief and technical director after multiple years as a race engineer at JR Motorsports. Ryan Truex will drive at Daytona, while Jeffrey Earnhardt will make multiple starts for the team.
Gase is teaming up with Patrick Emerling to form Emerling-Gase Motorsports, which will field the No. 35 full-time and another car for a part-time ride. The driver lineup will include Gase, Emerling, Shane Lee and others to be announced.
Tommy Joe Martins and Caesar Bacarella are partnering to form a new team where they will have seat time, along with newcomer Rajah Caruth during the 2022 season. The organization will have a second full-time car that will see Kaz Grala, Ryan Ellis and Sage Karam as part of its driver lineup.
Buford will be back for a second season and the organization is entering an enhanced partnership with RCR while relocating to RCR's Welcome, North Carolina campus.
Gibbs will drive the No. 54 for the full season after a four-win partial campaign in 2021. The No. 54 car was shared by multiple drivers in 2021 including Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell, and Gibbs.
After three seasons and eight wins with Hattori, Hill will move up to the Xfinity Series with Richard Childress Racing for the 2022 season. No number has been announced for the full-time effort.
Perkins and CR7 make up the single-entry team for 2022 with crew chief Doug George, an 18-year veteran atop the box, leading the team. Next season will be Perkins' first full-time NASCAR national series ride.
Johnny Sauter is running a partial schedule in the No. 47 G2G Racing Toyota in 2022 but he is also running a partial slate with ThorSport Racing (in an unknown truck number), according to FS1's Todd Bodine.
20-year-old Tyler Ankrum is the new driver of the No. 16 Toyota Tundra for Hattori Racing Enterprises in the Truck Series. Ankrum has three full seasons of experience in the series, with playoff berths in 2019 and 2020.
Enfinger will be moving to GMS -- the organization where he scored his first Truck win in 2016. He has a two-year deal to drive full time for the organization. Chase Purdy drove this truck in 2021.
Thompson will run a full season in 2022 and is set to make his Truck debut in the 2021 season finale at Phoenix. He ran the bulk of the ARCA West season in 2021 as well.
