The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park for the second time this season and the 154th time in the history of the series on Wednesday night. Nearly 30 of the best Modified drivers in the country have filed entries to take on “The Big T” and go for the win, so let’s take a look at who might be the contenders.

We’ll start with Matt Hirschman, who is looking for a bit of redemption at Thompson after last August. For those that don’t remember, Hirschman was caught up in a multi-car wreck on the backstretch. The Northampton, Pennsylvania driver broke his wrist in that crash and was sidelined for a few weeks. Hirschman skipped last fall’s World Series 150 at Thompson following the crash, and he finished ninth at Thompson in this spring’s Icebreaker 150. It would be poetic in a sense if Hirschman visits Thompson’s victory lane on Wednesday one year removed from getting injured here.

But if Hirschman wants to win on Wednesday he has to go through the defending champion, Ron Silk, who has been on fire at Thompson of late. Silk has won the last two races in a row at Thompson dating back to last fall’s World Series 150. Silk has led 129 of the 300 laps run in those last two races. 

And Silk will need to be that good again on Wednesday night, because the results haven’t been exactly what Silk has been used to in the last three races. Silk finished tenth after getting caught up in a crash at New Hampshire Motor Speedway back in June. He backed that up with a strong, much-needed runner-up finish at Monadnock Speedway a few weeks later, but then finished tenth again at Lancaster Motorplex earlier this month. All of that has allowed Justin Bonsignore to close to within one point of Silk entering Wednesday’s race at a track where Bonsignore is one of the all-time greats.

So that leads us to Bonsignore, a three-time champion on the Tour, and one of the best to ever race at the historic Thompson Speedway. Bonsignore is the defending winner of this race, leading a race-high 75 laps one year ago. Bonsignore also has 13 victories at Thompson, which has him tied with the late great Ted Christopher for second all-time in NWMT competition. A win on Wednesday would put Bonsignore in sole-possession of second place all-time and would put him just one victory behind the late great Mike Stefanik. Stefanik’s 15 NWMT victories at Thompson is the most all-time. A win on Wednesday would also put Bonsignore into sole-possession of third on the all-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour wins list in general at 43 wins. Bonsignore has been tied with Christopher for third with 42 wins following his dominant performance at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June.

It's safe to say that Bonsignore, as he is every race, is a heavy favorite for the win on Wednesday night, and a win would be big for his hopes of winning a fourth NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship.

That’s just a snapshot of the 27-car entry list for Wednesday’s 150-lap showdown at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. The entire entry list can be found below.

Wednesday’s race is available to FloRacing subscribers. Race fans can subscribe to FloRacing by clicking here.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour At Thompson Entry List