The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour rolling into New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July is like the NASCAR Cup Series rolling into Daytona International Speedway in February. It’s the Daytona 500 for pavement Modifieds. The Mohegan Sun 100 on Saturday evening is a race that every Modified driver dreams about winning, and the importance of this race is very evident when looking at an entry list containing 30 of the best Modified teams in the Northeast.

That entry list is headlined by a NASCAR Cup Series driver in Corey LaJoie. This will be LaJoie’s first NWMT start since last year’s thrilling season finale at Martinsville Speedway that saw LaJoie park it in victory lane for the first time. LaJoie ran this race last season and drove to a ninth-place finish.

Another name that everyone will be keeping an eye on this Saturday is that of the defending winner of this race, Anthony Nocella. The Massachusetts native was in the right place at the right time as Patrick Emerling and Eric Goodale crashed coming to the checkered flag. Nocella was able to sneak by and grab his first career victory in style. 

But that was with a different team. Last year Nocella was in his family-owned car. This year, he’s behind the wheel of the No. 46 for Goodie Racing. This weekend is just the second start of the season for Nocella with this team. His first race was last weekend at Wall Stadium Speedway where he finished 12th.

2011 champion Ron Silk is on one of the hottest streaks of his career as he heads to the Magic Mile. Silk enters New Hampshire looking for his third straight victory, as he’s scored wins at Riverhead Raceway and Wall Stadium in the last two races. Silk had never won at either track before those wins, but he has plenty of experience finding victory lane at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Silk has crossed the Granite Stripe first on three occasions, the first coming back in 2009, and the most recent coming in 2019. 

Silk enters this weekend with a 14-point lead over Justin Bonsignore. This race last year was the one blemish on Silk’s season, as he crashed at the halfway mark and finished 21st. 

Speaking of Bonsignore, this race last year wasn’t what the three-time champion has come to expect out of his trips to New Hampshire either. Dating back to September of 2017, Bonsignore had finished no worse than seventh in seven starts before he finished 12th here last season. Bonsignore does have one victory at New Hampshire, which came in the fall of the 2016 season.

Of course, one cannot talk about the Modifieds at New Hampshire Motor Speedway without talking about Bobby Santos III. Santos has six victories at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, including a run of three straight wins between 2017 and 2018. His six wins has him in a tie for third on the all-time wins list with Reggie Ruggiero for the Modifieds at New Hampshire, only Mike Stefanik (eight) and Tony Hirschman (seven) have more.

Six-time champion Doug Coby is in need of a strong run Saturday. Coby enters this weekend’s race 39 points back of Silk for the championship lead, but NHMS has been a place of strength for Coby throughout the years as he’s scored four victories there, as well as 13 top-five finishes and 21 top 10 finishes in 36 starts.

Saturday’s Mohegan Sun 100 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is scheduled to go green at 6 p.m. ET live on FloRacing. Fans can subscribe to FloRacing by clicking here.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Entry List