The 2025 World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway kicks off in just under one month. Nine consecutive nights of racing on the historic high-banked half-mile that sits just outside the shadow Daytona International Speedway awaits, and entries are pouring in.

Right now it’s the northern invaders known as the Mod Squad leading the way on pre-entries. The Tour Modifieds already have more than 20 entries filed, including some heavy-hitters from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

One of the surprises on the entry list for the ground-pounders is Islip, New York’s Timmy Solomito. Solomito is fresh off a massive win at Wall Stadium’s Turkey Derby back in November with his family-operated race team, which is the same team that Solomito will be bringing to Florida in February. Solomito, a nine-time NWMT winner, has scored three top-five finishes in 18 starts at New Smyrna Speedway. 

One of the many contenders expected is Riverhead, New York’s Eric Goodale. Goodale has won four times during World Series competition at New Smyrna, although he hasn’t visited victory lane on the frontstretch there since 2016. One of those four wins came in the John Blewett III Memorial 76 back in 2015, and some of Goodale’s strongest runs have come in either the Blewett Memorial race or the Richie Evans Memorial 100. Goodale is definitely a fan of the longer races at New Smyrna, and he proved that again in 2024. Goodale finished fifth in the 76-lapper, third in one of the 50-lappers, and second to Matt Hirschman in the Evans race last year.

But perhaps the biggest heavy-hitter currently entered is Orchard Park, New York’s Patrick Emerling. Emerling finished third in NWMT points in 2024 with a brand new first-year team, scoring three wins on the season. Emerling is no stranger to victory lane at New Smyrna either, as he’s won there on three occasions during the World Series, most recently in 2021. But more impressively. Emerling has finished in the top five in exactly half of his World Series starts. That’s 31 top-five finishes in 62 career starts. Even better, he’s scored a top 10 finish in 50 of those 62 starts. 

Other big names already entered for the Tour Modifieds are Crag Lutz, Ronnie Williams, Dave Sapienza, and the entire Catalano clan of Tommy, Timmy, Trevor, and Amy Catalano.

The entry list for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour 200 will be released at a later date.

On the Late Model side, the entry lists are also heavy with northerners at the moment. In fact, currently only two drivers across both the Super and Pro Late Model entry lists (Gavan Boschele, and Brandon Lopez) have hometowns from south of the Mason-Dixon Line. There’s actually more drivers from Canada entered (four) than there are drivers from the southeastern United States. We’re sure that will change, but it’s an interesting anomaly right now. 

When it comes to the Super Late Models, headlining the entry list at the moment is Mooresville, North Carolina’s Gavan Boschele. Boschele will be racing for Donnie Wilson Motorsports throughout the World Series, and that pairing just won the SLM half of the Red Eye 50/50 at New Smyrna last weekend. 

The entry list for the ASA STARS National Tour 200 will be released at a later date.

On the Pro Late Model side, there’s a few interesting names, but we’ll start with two that made their names racing without fenders on dirt in Oklahoma. We’re talking about Jade Avedisian from Clovis, Oklahoma, and Taylor Reimer, from Tulsa. 

Avedisian, 18, made history at the Chili Bowl two years ago when she became the first woman to finish on the podium in a prelim night. She also became the highest finishing woman at the Chili Bowl later that week when she finished 18th in the Saturday A-Main. And she did all of that at just 16 years old. In 2024, she began to transition to pavement stock car racing, and she won in just her second start behind the wheel of a Pro Late Model at Hickory Motor Speedway in the Fall Brawl. Avedisian led 74 of the 100 laps that night. She’ll be behind the wheel of a Donnie Wilson Motorsports Pro Late Model in February.

Reimer went to victory lane in Limited Late Model competition three times in 2024 with Lee Faulk Racing as she also began her transition to pavement racing recently. Reimer also scored top 10 finishes in both of her ARCA Menards Series starts in 2024, though both of those starts came on the dirt. Reimer will be back on the dirt at the Chili Bowl before she heads to New Smyrna for the World Series.

Another interesting name on the Pro Late Model entry list is Quebec’s Raphael Lessard. Lessard is a former CARS Tour Super Late Model champion back in 2016, he won a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway in 2020, and at one point was one of the top prospects in NASCAR before his funding dried up. Lessard has since been racing occasionally with the NASCAR Canada Series, and Serie ACT Quebec where he’s won eight times in the last two seasons and won the championship in each of the last two years. Lessard has visited World Series victory lane one time, in a Pro Late Model back in 2016.

The entire World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway, including the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour 200 and the ASA STARS National Tour 200, will be broadcast live on FloRacing February 7-15. Fans can subscribe to FloRacing by clicking here.

2025 World Series of Asphalt At New Smyrna Speedway Entry Lists

Tour Modifieds

Super Late Models

Pro Late Models

602 Modifieds