The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is finally set to do battle on the newly repaved North Wilkesboro Speedway this weekend after a few weeks’ delay, and some of the best in pavement Modified racing are ready to go for the win in the Tour’s penultimate race of the 2024 season. Let’s give a quick snapshot at the entry list as the super tight championship battle draws to a close.

We’ll start off with the two championship combatants, who are both looking to ride the famous elevator to victory lane at North Wilkesboro for the first time.

Two-time and defending NWMT champion Ron Silk leads three-time champion Justin Bonsignore by just five points with two races left on the calendar. Silk finished second last season on the extremely old pavement at North Wilkesboro. He is also coming off a third-place finish last weekend at Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. And though a third-place run seems good, it’s not good enough when the driver chasing you goes to victory lane.

And that driver, of course, is Bonsignore, who is looking for his fourth NWMT championship and first since 2021. Bonsignore just scored his third win of the season last weekend at Thompson, while leading the most laps to take home as many bonus points as possible. Bonsignore’s win last weekend also gave him sole-possession of third on the all-time NWMT wins list with 43, breaking a tie with the late, great Ted Christopher. Bonsignore finished third at North Wilkesboro on the old pavement last season. 

Patrick Emerling is the driver third in points right now. He currently sits 21 points behind Silk for the lead and 16 behind Bonsignore for second. Emerling finished seventh last weekend at Thompson and failed to lead a lap. But, Emerling had strong finishes at each of the final two tracks on the calendar last season. Emerling, racing for a different team last year, finished fifth at North Wilkesboro.

Of course, the driver that they’ll all most likely be chasing to take that elevator ride to victory lane is none other than “Big Money” Matt Hirschman, who was the driver who got to take that elevator ride one year ago. The Northampton, Pennsylvania native led 80 of the 155 laps run one year ago before winning by 0.564-second on a green-white-checkered overtime finish.

The only other driver to have led a significant number of laps that night last year, also hails from Northampton, Pennsylvania. In fact, he actually lives on the exact same street as Hirschman, Mud Lane. That driver is young Austin Beers. Beers started from the pole and led the first 65 laps before fading to finish 14th.

Joining the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour are three of the championship hopefuls from the SMART Modified Tour as well. Those drivers are teenagers Carson Loftin and Luke Baldwin, and 2008 Daytona 500 champion, Ryan Newman. It’s possible that one of those three drivers will be racing on Sunday as the newly crowned champion as the SMART Modified Tour finale takes place on Saturday night, also at North Wilkesboro Speedway. 

Sunday’s race at North Wilkesboro Speedway is scheduled to go green at 2 p.m. ET live on FloRacing. FloRacing will be live at 1 p.m. ET to carry qualifying for the Brushy Mountain Powersports 150. Race fans can subscribe to FloRacing by clicking here.

NWMT At North Wilkesboro Speedway Entry List