The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is back in action after a few weeks off, and for the first time this season, the Granite State of New Hampshire will be the location for this week’s battle. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s best head to the high-banked quarter-mile of Monadnock Speedway for the first of three visits for this Saturday’s Granite State Derby.

In 2023, the Tour visited Monadnock Speedway two times with former series champions scoring the victory in both visits. Six-time champion Doug Coby took the win in the 200-lap “Duel at the Dog” last May, while three-time champion Justin Bonsignore led all 150-laps on his way to the win in last fall’s Winchester Fair.

While Coby and the Tommy Baldwin Racing No. 7NY are not entered for this week’s race, Bonsignore and his Ken Massa Motorsports team lead by crew chief Ryan Stone, are. And Monadnock is an excellent track for them to even the score with defending champion Ron Silk. While Silk has two wins so far this season to Bonsignore’s one, Bonsignore is the all-time wins leader at Monadnock with five victories to his name. 

Along with Bonsignore and Silk, the driver to watch for this week is Northampton, Pennsylvania’s Matt Hirschman. Amazingly, Hirschman is still looking for his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory at Monadnock, even though he’s been a dominator of “Open Modified” competition at just about every track in New Hampshire. Hirschman has finished second and third and never outside the top 10 in all five prior starts at Monadnock Speedway.

Hirschman was also the inaugural champion of the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup in 2022, which is a “championship within a championship” put on by Monadnock Speedway promoter, Josh Vanada and his JDV Productions company. This year, the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup will be contested entirely at Monadnock Speedway. The champion will be whoever scores the most points across the three Monadnock races. The aforementioned Coby was the champion of the 2023 edition.

One name that might make some heads turn on this weekend’s entry list is the driver of the No. 79 car, and that is Jon McKennedy. The 2022 series champion is making his first start of the 2024 season, and just his second start since parting ways with his former team owned by Tim and Sheryll Lepine. McKennedy announced a partial season schedule earlier this year with this weekend’s race being slated as his season debut. In four previous starts at Monadnock, McKennedy has one pole position and one runner-up finish. That second-place result came in this race one year ago.

This weekend’s Granite State Derby will take place on Saturday, May 4 with the green flag scheduled to wave on the 150-lap race at 6 p.m. ET live on FloRacing. Fans that are not currently FloRacing subscribers can subscribe by clicking here.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Monadnock Speedway Entry List