The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is back in northeastern Connecticut for the third and final time in what has been a thrilling 2024 season. Nearly 30 of the best pavement Modified racers in the northeast are headed to Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park to compete in the “World Series 150,” which will be the 155th race at the historic 5/8-mile facility for NASCAR’s oldest division. So, let’s begin our breakdown of the entry list to see who has the best chance of taking down the victory on Sunday evening.

We’ll start with the Tour’s most recent winner here at Thompson, and that is Orchard Park, New York’s Patrick Emerling. Emerling’s victory at Thompson in August, his first at the track known as “The Big T” has been the catalyst for his rise from middle-of-the-pack to championship contender. Emerling was 39 points out of the lead back in August. Now, he’s just 16 points back of defending champion Ron Silk heading back to Thompson. His win at Thompson kicked off a run of three wins in four races, and Emerling is still the Tour’s most recent winner as well. You can read more about Emerling’s improbable late-season charge into title contention here.

Now we’ll take a look at Silk, who is coming off another rough race at New Hampshire’s Monadnock Speedway where he finished seventh. Okay, that’s not a rough race for most people, but for Silk over the last couple of seasons, it is. But, fortunately for the Norwalk, Connecticut native, Silk is heading to what has been one of his best race tracks of his career, but especially in recent seasons. Silk has won at Thompson seven times and has scored a top five finish in 27 of his 61 starts. He’s finished in the top 10 on 39 occasions. And two of those seven wins have come in the last three races. Silk is the defending winner of the World Series 150, and he won the Icebreaker 150 earlier this season, leading a combined 129 of the 300 laps along the way. Silk finished seventh here back in August.

But as good as Silk has been at Thompson, his stats still don’t compare to those of Justin Bonsignore’s. The Holtsville, New York driver has been exquisite at Thompson through the years. In 45 starts, Bonsignore has gone to victory lane 13 times. He’s finished in the top five in 24 of those races, and in the top 10 in 30 of them. Bonsignore has more wins at Thompson than any other race track in his career. His 13 victories have him tied for second on the NWMT all-time wins list at Thompson with the late, great Ted Christopher. A win on Sunday would also put him in sole possession of second place all-time at Thompson, just one win back of tying the legendary Mike Stefanik for most ever at Thompson. A win on Sunday 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.

Speaking of the championship, let’s take a quick look at where things stand on that front with just three races remaining. 

We already mentioned that Emerling trails Silk by just 16 points after making up 23 points over the last four races by winning three of the last four events. In that same timespan, Bonsignore went from leading Silk by four points to trailing Silk by 11 heading to Thompson on Sunday thanks to finishes of 15th at Riverhead Raceway and eighth at Monadnock Speedway. So with three races remaining, it’s Silk, who is looking for his third title overall and second in a row, leading Bonsignore, who is looking for his third career title, by 11 points, and Emerling, who is in search of his first NWMT championship, by 16 points.

Other drivers to watch out for include Craig Lutz, who has gone to victory lane at Thompson on two occasions, and of course there’s Matt Hirschman, who is surprisingly still in search of his first win at Thompson. Hirschman has made 28 NWMT starts at Thompson with a best finish of second on two occasions. 

The final three races of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season can all be seen live exclusively on FloRacing with a FloRacing subscription. Race fans can subscribe to FloRacing by clicking here.

NWMT At Thompson Speedway Entry List