For the first time in five years, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will headline the jam-packed Icebreaker weekend at Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. The event that for so long opened the season for the mighty Modifieds is now the third race of the year, but it always brings the excitement no matter where it falls on the calendar.

Sunday’s 150-lap showdown on the 5/8-mile high-banked oval is the first of three trips to the Northeastern corner of the Nutmeg State for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, and they’re bringing an entry list full of contenders.

We’ll start with the most recent winner at Thompson Speedway, and that, of course, is the defending series champion, Ron Silk. The Connecticut native’s win here at the World Series last October propelled him to his second championship. The win was Silk’s sixth at Thompson dating back to 2007. However, Silk only has two wins at Thompson in the last 12 years. 

Meanwhile, Silk’s biggest rival and the Tour’s most recent winner, Justin Bonsignore, absolutely loves Thompson Speedway. This track is Bonsignore’s best along with his home track of Riverhead Raceway. Bonsignore has won here a total of 13 times throughout his career dating back to 2012. Bonsignore even had a stretch of six wins in a row at Thompson throughout 2018-2019. 

But it was this track last year that probably ruined Bonsignore’s bid at becoming a four-time champion. Bonsignore missed a shift on a late-race restart and fell deep into the field. He gained a few spots back but was only able to get back to 13th while Silk went on to win the race and eventually the championship one race later.

After winning last week at Richmond Raceway, Bonsignore told FloRacing that he has a lot to make up for this week at Thompson.

Another driver that is excellent at Thompson is Franklin, Massachusetts’s Bobby Santos III. Santos has been to victory lane on the frontstretch of the “Big T” a total of five times throughout his career dating back to 2007. But he has not seen the checkered flag first at Thompson since 2016.

Amazingly, only two other drivers on this week’s entry list have scored victories at Thompson Speedway. Even more amazing, Matt Hirschman is not one of them. Yes, you read that right. Even though the Hirschman name has won at Thompson five times, all of those wins came from his father, Tony Hirschman. Thompson hasn’t been the kindest of tracks to Matt Hirschman, and the track nearly derailed his entire 2023 season when he broke his arm in a crash there back in August. 

Craig Lutz and Eric Goodale are those two drivers with wins at Thompson. Lutz is actually a two-time winner at Thompson, with his victories coming in 2020 and 2022. Goodale has one win at Thompson, which came during 2022’s World Series weekend in October.

Sunday’s 150-lap race at Thompson is the first afternoon race of the 2024 season. The green flag is scheduled to wave at 4:30 p.m. ET live on FloRacing. To become a FloRacing subscriber, click here.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Thompson Icebreaker Entry List