The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to Long Island’s Riverhead Raceway for the second time this season to pay tribute to Eddie Partridge, a long-time team-owner on the Tour and considered by many to be the savior of Riverhead Raceway, in Saturday’s “Eddie Partridge 256.”

Heading to Riverhead means heading to Justin Bonsignore’s house. Okay, not literally, but the three-time champion did grow up less than 30 minutes west of the famed quarter-mile bullring. But we say it’s Justin Bonsignore’s house because he effectively owns this place now. 

Of Bonsignore’s 42 career victories (which has him third on the all-time wins list), a staggering 11 of them have come at his home race track. The only track where Bonsignore has scored more wins is at Thompson where he’s won an astounding 13 times. Bonsignore’s 11 victories at Riverhead have him tied with Mike Ewanitsko for the most NWMT wins all-time at Riverhead. 

In fact, Bonsignore has the chance to break two ties if he were to win on Saturday night. Bonsignore is currently tied for third on the NWMT all-time wins list with the late legend, Ted Christopher, with 42 victories, along with the aforementioned tie with Ewanitkso. A win Saturday would give Bonsignore sole-possession of first on the all-time NWMT wins list at Riverhead with 12 victories, and would move him into sole-possession of third on the all-time NWMT wins list with 43. Bonsignore is also the defending winner of the Eddie Partridge 256. He and his Ken Massa Motorsports team led by crew chief Ryan Stone have won this race each of the past two years. 

But there has been one race held at Riverhead between last year’s Eddie Partridge 256 and this Saturday’s race, and that race was won by Bonsignore’s main rival for the championship, Ron Silk. The defending champion Silk led 81 of the 200 laps run at Riverhead back in May to score his second career victory at the Long Island bullring. And while for much of Silk’s career Riverhead was a place of struggle, that can’t be said any longer. Silk has won two of the last three races at Riverhead with a combined laps-led total of 95. But even in races he’s lost, Silk has managed to lead a ton of laps. Look at the 2023 May race for example. Silk finished second to Bonsignore after leading 164 of the 212 laps. Last September in this race Silk led 139 of the 256 laps before ultimately finishing third. Ever since Silk joined Haydt-Yannone Racing, Riverhead has been one of Silk’s strongest tracks, so it would surprise nobody if he picked up his third career win at Riverhead Saturday night. And it would come at a good time, too, as he now trails Bonsignore by five points.

One driver to watch out for that has run a partial schedule the last two seasons is Riverhead’s Eric Goodale. Goodale will be racing with a heavy heart Saturday night. It will be Goodale’s first race without longtime crew chief Jason Shephard, who passed away unexpectedly last month at the age of 39. Goodale scored his first NWMT victory at home at Riverhead back in 2014. It was a win that brought everyone in the crowd to their feet in elation, and if he could find victory lane on Saturday the reaction would surely be the same once again.

Speaking of Riverhead locals, you can’t talk about threats for a win and not talk about the drivers making up the “Long Island Gang,” which this week consists of Timmy “The Natural” Solomito, Mark Stewart, Roger Turbush, Jack Handley Jr., and JB Fortin. 

Solomito and Fortin have each spent significant time racing with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, though to different levels of success. Solomito scored nine NWMT victories across two seasons in 2016 and 2017. Fortin, much like Stewart, Turbush, and Handley, is still looking for his first NWMT victory. 

But Solomito is no doubt the best chance the “Long Island Gang” has of getting back to Riverhead’s victory lane in a NWMT race. Solomito has scored a handful of wins in weekly competition this season, including the Cecil Palm Trees 66 a couple weeks back, and three of his nine NWMT wins have come at his home track. 

Saturday’s Eddie Partridge 256 at Riverhead Raceway is expected to see the green flag fly at 8 p.m. ET. Race fans can watch all of the action live on FloRacing with a FloRacing subscription. Fans can subscribe to FloRacing by clicking here.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour At Riverhead Raceway Entry List