The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour rolls into Monadock Speedway for Saturday’s Cheshire County Clash 200 for the third race of the 2025 season, and the first true short track race as well. So far the Tour has only raced on two tracks, and both are a half-mile or larger. But Saturday’s race at Monadnock will be the first on a bullring of the season.

After two races Patrick Emerling has asserted himself as the championship favorite, proving that his run at the end of last season was no fluke. Emerling stormed from the back of the field to the win in the season opener at New Smyrna Speedway back in February. He then rebounded from an early issue on pit road at Thompson Speedway in the Icebreaker to finish second. Emerling has one victory at Monadnock, which came last fall. 

Emerling leads the points standings over 2023 champion Ron Silk by six points, although as we all know, Silk does not plan to run their entire schedule this year. That said, Silk has already been to victory lane once, scoring the win last race at Thompson. But Silk has historically not fared the best at Monadnock. Not a single one of his 27 victories have come there, though he has come close a few times recently with a second place finish last summer as his best moment there.

Third in points after two races is Austin Beers, who sits nine points back of Emerling. Beers has been consistent so far, with starts of second and fourth, and finishes of fifth and fourth, though he and his team need to find a little bit more to start contending for more wins and the championship. This weekend’s race could be the place where they break through, though as Beers has run well here in the past. He has two second-place finishes at Monadnock, including this race one year ago.

One point behind Beers in fourth in points is the four-time and defending champion, Justin Bonsignore. Bonsignore’s first two races have not been as smooth as he and his Ken Massa Motorsports team would have liked them to be. Bonsignore rallied from two laps down at New Smyrna to finish third, then finished fifth at Thompson after contact on pit road late in the race with Silk left some damage on the nose of Bonsignore’s No. 51 machine. But he’s heading to a place where he’s had a lot of success throughout his career. Of his 45 career victories, five of them have come at Monadnock. However, Bonsignore did not finish in the top five in any of the three races here last year on the newly repaved surface. His best finish at Monadnock in 2024 was sixth in the spring.

Rounding out the top five in the points standings is Newtown, Connecticut’s Stephen Kopcik. Kopcik has finishes of sixth and seventh in the first two races to start off this season, but he now has momentum on his side heading to The Granite State. Kopcik is fresh off the biggest win of his career after he took home the trophy in last Sunday’s Spring Sizzler at Stafford Motor Speedway. Kopcik has made two NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour starts at Monadnock to date and has finishes of 13th and 11th.

The entire entry list for Saturday’s Cheshire County Clash 200 can be found below.

Saturday’s race at Monadnock Speedway is expected to go green at 3:45 p.m. ET live on FloRacing. Fans can subscribe to FloRacing by clicking here.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour At Monadnock Speedway Entry List