A strong field of Modifieds will descend on North Wilkesboro Speedway (NC) on Saturday October 19th for “The Finale” at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic’s Championship race coincides with the CARS Tour title races giving the fans three races that crown series’ champions on one day. 

Five drivers will compete for the Championship at North Wilkesboro. The points reset for those five competitors,  so Carson Loftin, Luke Baldwin, Burt Myers, Ryan Newman and Danny Bohn will have to beat each other in a one-race, 99-lap showdown to capture the title. 

Saturday also marks the SMART Modified Tour’s first “official” return to North Wilkesboro. Modified Racing is synonymous with Wilkesboro, as the track has hosted the division in various forms since it opened in 1947. The SMART Modified Tour, Southern Modified Auto Racing Teams, was founded in 1989 and raced at the famed .625 mile 13-times. The Southern Modifieds were the first racecars to hit the track during the Race Track Revival in 2022, but it was an unofficially sanctioned event at the time and did not pay points for the SMART Modified Tour. 

Ryan Newman was one of two drivers to win in the Revival races in 2022. The 2008 Daytona 500 winner is part of the “SMART 5” that will enter the Finale with a chance to win the 2024 SMART title. Newman and his Coulter Motorsports, Randy Renfrew led team have tested twice on the new pavement, including the Hoosier Tire test in March. The “Rocketman” has two wins in SMART competition this year, scoring the checkers at the Cardinal 99 at North Carolina’s Tri-County Speedway and the Pace-O-Matic 99 at New River All-American Speedway.

Carson Loftin brings his series leading five wins into North Wilkesboro. The SMART Mod Tour points leader is one of the other drivers on the Tour that have experience at North Wilkesboro, finishing 25th in his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour debut in 2023. Loftin started out the season on fire winning five of the SMART Tour’s first seven races. In the six races since, the 16-year-old third-generation driver has had inconsistency, with three top-fives and three finishes outside of the top-ten. 

The other teenager gunning for the Championship is the red-hot Luke Baldwin. The 17-year-old is riding the momentum of a September victory at Dominion Raceway’s “Flying VA Classic” and a fourth-place finish at last week’s “Battle of SoBo” at South Boston Speedway. Baldwin has competed at North Wilkesboro in the CARS Tour Pro Late Model division. Luke won the 20-thousand-dollar to win Inaugural “King of the Modifieds” race in March so the youngster knows how to perform in big-game moments. 

Burt Myers raced his way into Championship contention with his victory in last week’s “Battle of SoBo.”  The Walnut Cove, NC driver, who won his 11th track title at Bowman Gray Stadium this year, has been the center of controversy following last week’s win at South Boston. The engine / carburetor combination on the famed #1 car was disputed at the end of the event. SMART Officials ruled the car legal, allowing Myers to keep the win and advance to the Championship race. However, based on their findings, the Tour expanded the Championship field to include Ryan Newman and Danny Bohn to bring the number of title-eligible drivers to five. Myers is a three-time and defending SMART Modified Tour Champion.

Danny Bohn, who moonlights in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, is one of the hottest drivers on the SMART Tour heading into North Wilkesboro. The New Jersey native, who now resides in North Carolina, is riding the wave of seven top-five finishes in a row on the Tour. He took home his first “SMARTY Trophy” at Carteret County Speedway in August. The third-generation driver knows what it takes to be a champion as he was the first northern-born Modified Champion at North Carolina’s Bowman Gray Stadium in 2014.

The 27-car entry list for The Finale is chock-full of surprises as several northern invaders who have bolstered the list.  Three-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Champion, and current Whelen Tour points leader, Justin Bonsignore is set to make his debut in the Ken Massa owned #51.  Fourth-place points man Austin Beers will compete in the SMART Tour race as well in the 179 car. New Jersey’s Andrew Krause has entered the race as well. Nine-time SMART Mod winner Matt Hirschman will pilot his Pee Dee Motorsports 60. Hirschman hasn’t won a SMART race since the season opener at Florence Motor Speedway in 2023. Sammy Rameau, who won a SMART race in 2023 at Pulaski County Speedway in Virginia is also entered in his family-owned #06. 

Other notable entries include 13-time Bowman Gray Stadium Champion Tim Brown who will make his return to the SMART Modified Tour after competing full-time with SMART in 2023. Brown scored his record 100th win at the Madhouse in 2024. Winston-Salem, NC’s John Holleman IV, a two-time winner at the Stadium in 2024, will make his second SMART start of the year in his familiar 69 ride. 2000 NASCAR Cup Series Champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Labonte returns to the Tour with his SS Racing #18 to make his fifth start of the SMART season.

A handful of Modified competitors will pull double-duty at North Wilkesboro this weekend and compete in Sunday’s Brushy Mountain Motorsports 150 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour on Sunday.

SMART Modified Tour At North Wilkesboro Speedway Entry List