Bonsignore All Smiles after Capturing the Pole at New Hampshire; Championship Contenders Give Thoughts for Race Day
RPW Exclusive Column By: Stephen Durham / RPW – LOUDON, NH – Bonsignore was all smiles on Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Bonsignore will lead the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour to the green flag for the Mohegan Sun 100. The other championship contenders in the top 5 in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Series had a mix bag of results on the day Friday.
Bonsignore will get ready to do battle tomorrow and defend his win from June 2024, when the NASCAR Whelen Modifieds last visited.
“It’s always huge to bring a fast car to the biggest race of the year, and we’ve been on the pole here(NHMS) three years,” Bonsignore says “So it’s just a testament to Ryan Stone and all the guys. They work really hard to make sure this car is as trimmed out as possible, and yeah, it’s really cool.”
The key part of qualifying front, is staying up front and controlling the race.
“We can start up front, and hopefully control the race. It’s important, I feel, to control the race, always being a lead, control the restarts, control the pitch stops, just all those things are important here,” Bonsignore explains.
Including the Mohegan Sun 100 at New Hampshire, there is four races left on the season in 2025, but Bonsignore currently trails in the championship standings in 2nd place by 17 points behind Austin Beers.
“Obviously we’re not in the best of situation right now for points, so we’re going to have to try and go out and put pressure on those guys and try and win some races and see what we can do,” Bonsignore says.
Looking at the current NASCAR Whelen Modified standings, the top 5 is separated by 29 points.
Championship leader currently is Austin Beers, was not too happy with his practice and qualifying efforts on Friday. Beers will roll off 18th.
“Not up to par with how our season’s been going. We just haven’t been good all day, didn’t have speed,” Beers explains “we will look to make some changes during the race tomorrow to make us better.”
Patrick Emerling currently sits 3rd in the championship standings, 5 points behind Bonsignore heading into New Hampshire. Emerling will roll off 9th.
“We had a decent modified, we made a lot of gains on the car early on, and I think we’ll have a pretty good piece to race with,” Emerling says.
Craig Lutz currently sits 4th in the championship standings, 7 points back from Emerling. Lutz who has 2 wins on the season, both part of NASCAR weekends, will look to add another. Lutz will roll off on the front row with Bonsignore.
“We were 2nd in practice, and qualified 2nd for the race. That’s a big accomplishment for us,” Lutz explains “We got a really good car, confident in what we got, and we’re really looking forward to tomorrow.”
Matt Hirschman who currently sits tied for 4th in the championship standings will be coming from deep in the field. Rolling off from 25th. We were unable to get a quote from Matt, but it is the first time Hirschman has raced with the NASCAR Whelen Tour since 2014.
