Column By: MARTY CZEKALA / RPW – LANCASTER, NY – It was a race of pit strategy Saturday night in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s Nu-Way Auto Parts 150 at Lancaster Motorplex.
In the end, it came down to the pair of former winners.
Austin Beers led 74 laps and held off Patrick Emerling in the final laps to successfully defend his victory and take his first NWMT win of the season and first since last year’s running at Lancaster.
“We’ve been struggling this season with top twos and giving races up,” Beers said post-race. “Really proud of our team’s effort.”
Beers was one of the first drivers on pit road in a race littered with cautions. Beers was part of one group, along with Matt Hirschman and Trevor Catalano. In contrast, a second group was separated by about 10 laps, including Justin Bonsignore, Craig Lutz and Ron Silk.
Beers and Bonsignore would swap the lead under caution when one or the other pitted.
“We pitted for rears just before the caution before them,” Beers explained on his track strategy. Then we had two cautions and took the second set for right sides. I just had great track position.”
The No. 64 eventually took the lead under yellow, passing Hirschman, Trevor Catalano, and Jake Lutz with 53 to go before the caution waved.
Patrick Emerling, the inaugural winner of this race in 2021, appeared to be on the same strategy as Beers, jumping up to second when Craig Lutz and Bonsignore pitted with around 50 to go.
In the final 20 laps, Emerling would duel with Bonsignore’s No. 51 for second on fresher Hoosiers. Emerling would close in on the final laps, but the laps ran out and the Orchard Park native had to settle for runner-up.
“A long run would’ve helped us,” Emerling told RPW. “Lately, our car seems to do well on the long run. We didn’t get much of that. The 64 was really good tonight. Gotta keep up these strong runs and we’ll get there.”
Justin Bonsignore led 50 laps in the prior two outings at Lancaster and had another strong outing leading the second most laps at 56. However, with fresher tires, the No. 51 ended up on the bottom step of the podium.
“That’s the best car we’ve had on speed all year aside from Loudon and Richmond,” said Bonsignore. “A step in the right direction. It was good to get back up front and lead laps.”
Unofficially, Bonsignore was able to reduce Ron Silk’s point lead from eight to one. Silk’s No. 16 spun with about 13 to go and returned to finish 10th.
“You hate to see your competitors have things go wrong,” Bonsignore said. “It’s good to gain a couple points on him. I wanted to win, but to have good confidence in the car, we’ll take it.”
Coming off the family’s first NWMT victory with Trevor driving, the Catalanos returned home to the Empire State looking for another win. After going quickest in practice, Tommy Catalano was the highest finisher of the family in fifth in a throwback scheme honoring Patsy and Joe, who died 16 years ago.
The Catalanos also had racing photographer Evan Canfield riding along on the roof, who died earlier this week. Beers, who had Canfield’s sticker on the C-pillar of the race car, dedicated his win to Canfield and his family.
Mother Nature also played a factor in race day. Showers came in from the late morning to early afternoon. NASCAR’s track drying team went to work to start the program to dry the excess water and weepers off the asphalt. Practice was moved back and limited, but qualifying was canceled, and the starting lineup was set via the book. The start of the race was pushed back 40 minutes from its original start time.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour heads to Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park Aug. 14. They’ll be back in New York Aug. 31 for the Toyota Mod Classic 150 at Oswego Speedway.
