The SMART Modified Tour continues its early season stretch of races with its first trip to North Carolina’s Caraway Speedway, a long-time home of Modified racing in the south, on Saturday.

Caraway Speedway is a .455-mile oval located in Sophia, North Carolina, a few minutes to the northwest of Asheboro.

When people think of Modified racing in the South, Caraway is one of the first tracks to come to mind alongside of Bowman Gray Stadium. Caraway has been one of the three homes for the North-South Shootout, one of Modified racing's biggest events.

Saturday’s race at Caraway features an entry list 24 cars strong with some of the best names Modified racing in the south has to offer.

Burt Myers has 13 career victories at Caraway Speedway between multiple racing series throughout his legendary career. The defending series champion is still seeking his first victory with this current iteration of the SMART Modified Tour, and Caraway is a place where that could definitely happen for Myers.

Myers’ brother, Jason, also has visited victory lane at Caraway Speedway once before. Jason Myers, much like Burt, is also searching for his first win with this version of the SMART Modified Tour.

Perhaps the biggest surprise on the entry list is the appearance of the No. 60 of Northampton, Pennsylvania’s Matt Hirschman. Hirschman has won the first two SMART races to start off the season at South Carolina’s Florence Motor Speedway, and North Carolina’s Southern National Motorsports Park. Hirschman was non-committal to this race when asked in victory lane at Southern National if he’d be appearing. Hirschman said he wasn’t sure how many more SMART races, if any, he’d be entering throughout the rest of the season, but here he is looking to make it a hat trick at Caraway.

VIDEO: Watch highlights from last week's SMART Modified race at Caraway Speedway.

One big change on the entry list for Caraway is the appearance of Gary Putnam in his blue No. 77. His car was piloted to a runner-up finish last week at Southern National by Max McLaughlin. Putnam is surely hoping to be able to duplicate the success of McLaughlin, or do one spot better. It is Putnam’s first start of the season with the SMART Modified Tour.

In 2021, the SMART Modified Tour visited Caraway Speedway twice. Hirschman won there the first trip, and Jonathan Brown won the second visit in September, one of his two victories on the year. Brown is entered for Saturday’s race looking to continue September’s success at Caraway. Brown finished 11^th at Southern National last weekend.

2000 NASCAR Cup Series champion Bobby Labonte scored two victories last year, but Caraway was not one of those. He did, however, finish second behind Brown in September. Labonte is on the entry list for this Saturday seeking his first victory of the season.

Brandon Ward scored two wins in his eight races with the SMART Modified Tour last season at Virginia’s Motor Mile Speedway and North Carolina’s Hickory Motor Speedway. Ward has three wins throughout his career at Caraway. So far this season he has recorded a top-five finish in in both races to start off the year. Getting his first win this Saturday at Caraway is a strong possibility.

Saturday’s race is scheduled for 99 laps and is scheduled to go green at approximately 8:30 p.m. ET live on FloRacing.