SHOW ME THE MONEY! – 2024 Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 300 At Martinsville Speedway

“Two passions have powerful influence over the affairs of man; The love of power and the love of money.”

Benjamin Franklin

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour comes to Martinsville Speedway truly at a historical turning point. And I feel that maybe the northern modified contingent may not see how perfect it was to arrive at that crossroads south of the Mason/Dixon line at Martinsville Speedway in the Virginia foothills in Ridgeway. So much stock car racing history rest on the grounds there. And ironically, it truly all started with the NASCAR modifieds on July 4th, 1948. Yeah, the tradition runs deep. The bond between Modified racing and Martinsville formed in the very beginning. Truthfully though, for me, a southern Modified fan since my beginning, well at least as far back as I can remember, my radar goes up every time I can feel another historic moment for the racing genre arising. So, upon hearing that NASCAR was about to make an announcement regarding it’s Whelen Modified Tour, I immediately accepted the invite from Martinsville Speedway to be at the historic track for that moment. Of course, it wasn’t a twist my arm type of deal as the tour was already immersed in a historical moment already with Justin Bonsignore locked in a heated championship battle with defending champion Ron Silk as Bonsignore was on the verge of becoming second on the all time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win list. And at the end of it, they would either both be locked in as three time champions heading into next year, or Bonsignore would be headed into legendary status few drivers ever reach at this level of competition.

I’m probably getting ahead of myself here but there’s an important bit to get into, maybe more important than you know, and, I’m sure I can give you a different perspective on it than you’ve come to realize. But before we can get into it, we have to take a closer look at the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 300 that also featured an exciting debut at ‘The Short Track’ for the IMSA Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup!

IMSA WHELEN MAZDA MX-5 CUP POWERED BY MICHELIN MARTINSVILLE DEBUT

With a lap of 22.900 seconds, the # 96 of Jared Thomas makes history by becoming the very first Mazda MX-5 Cup polesitter at Martinsville Speedway. Starting in second will be the # 13 of Westin Workman followed by 2024 series champion Gresham Wagner in the # 5, Late Model Stock regular Landen Lewis in the # 31, and # 87 Selin Rollan. The field rounds out of turn four, the flagman likes what he sees, and we’re green for the first time at Martinsville! Thomas assumes the early advantage as Rollan gets around MX-5 rookie Lewis. Thomas won’t be able to run away however as you can put the top four under a blanket! Lewis loses another spot, this time to the # 22 of Jeremy Fletcher. Workman now gets shuffled to the high side, kicking him to fourth. But he’ll fight back to third around Rollan as Rollan goes aflame! It’ll end his night as the caution comes out for the first time. After some confusion and gamesmanship under caution after the choose, Thomas will lead Lewis, Wagner, Workman, and Fletcher to the green. Thomas gets away again as there’s bumper tag behind! Wagner takes second back with Workman moving to third, bringing Fletcher and # 8 Tom Long with him as Lewis gets kicked all the way to eighth. Workman continues his upward trajectory, regulating Wagner to third as the stage caution flies halfway through, awarding Thomas a cool $3,500!

Adjustments in the pits and choose decisions have been made, with Thomas, Wagner, Workman, # 56 Nathan Nicholson, and Fletcher completing the top five. Thomas launches like a rocket as Nicholson and Fletcher battle hard for fourth. Fletcher will win that battle, leaving Nicholson on the outside to deal with some door banging. Nicholson falls back, allowing Long to break back into the top five. Put that aside though as Lewis and company will try and freight train Long. Lewis gets by as # 86 Jagger Jones makes a bold three wide move going into three, sending multi-discipline oval racer # 2 Andy Jankowiak around! Another caution means another choose, with Thomas, Workman, Wagner, Lewis, and Fletcher heading the pack. Workman is a thorn in Thomas’ side this time around, but it’s still not enough as Thomas clears. Lewis goes backward again, allowing Fletcher to move to third with Nicholson and Long behind. But there’s a stack up, leaving a hole open to Lewis in fifth! And a move for the lead! Workman looks to the inside, but Thomas shuts the door in his face. Here comes Workman again! He forces his way under Thomas and takes the lead! But Jankowiak is around on the backstretch and collects the # 44 of Bobby Gossett! That will bring the caution out for the fourth time. Knowing things are about to get very physical, a bunch of frontrunners take the inside, repainting the top five as Workman, Lewis, Thomas, # 99 Capers Zentmeyer, and Fletcher. They all try to make a bee line to the bottom, letting Fletcher around for fourth while Nicholson takes fifth. Thomas moves Lewis out of the groove while Nicholson muscles his way to fourth. Haymakers are being thrown, with Fletcher shoving Nicholson by Lewis and now up the track! Fletcher takes third as they’re three wide for fourth! Nicholson survives as he returns the favor to Fletcher! Zentmeyer pushes Lewis into Nicholson as they all get sideways!

Fletcher is out of the groove, giving Nicholson third followed by Lewis. And Thomas is around Workman for the lead! But Workman is back to the inside as they doorbang for the spot! It’s an amazing battle but it’ll be broken up as Nicholson wrecks in three! That sets up our one and only green white checkered attempt. Workman, Zentmeyer, Thomas, # 76 Frankie Barroso, and Lewis are the top five. Thomas bump and runs Workman! Workman now has to deal with a determined Lewis as Thomas runs away at the end for the historic win at Martinsville and $25,000! Workman isn’t pleased after the checkered as he gives multiple bumps to Thomas, just what we imagined after a showdown at Martinsville. Workman finishes second, Lewis rebounds for third, Long comes back for fourth, and Zentmeyer rounds out the top five.

NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR 2024 SEASON FINALE

Coming in with a slim points lead is # 51 Justin Bonsignore over # 16 Ron Silk, but he starts it off right with a qualifying time of 18.872 seconds, enough to grab the Mayhew Tools Pole Award ahead of 2024 SMART Modified Tour Powered By Pace-O-Matic champion # 7 Luke Baldwin, # 14 Jacob Lutz, # 64 Austin Beers, and # 56 Trevor Catalano. The flagman looks over the line up one last time in 2024, approves the formation, and we’re green at The Paperclip! Bonsignore darts out to the point as # 46 Craig Lutz kills two birds with one stone, sliding by Trevor Catalano and Beers. And Trevor Catalano has a problem out of four! He slows just enough to mandate a caution, but it’ll be a quickie as Bonsignore, Baldwin, Jacob Lutz, Craig Lutz, and Beers come back to the green. Craig Lutz assumes third as # 60 “Money” Matt Hirschman challenges Beers for fifth. Beers hangs on as Bonsignore continues to lead. But we’re back under caution as # 54 Tommy Catalano and # 4 Tim Connolly crash in four after contact between # 3 Tyler Rypkema and Tommy Catalano. Tommy Catalano is none too happy as he gives Rypkema the double birds as he comes by under caution. Bonsignore, Baldwin, Craig Lutz, Jacob Lutz, and Beers are your top five. Bonsignore clears again while Beers moves to fourth. The field starts to get into a rhythm sooner than later but it’ll be interrupted by a bad break for # 84 Tyler Catalano, who is up in smoke in turn four. After various pit stops are made, the top five will now be made up of # 1 Patrick Emerling, Silk, Trevor Catalano, Bonsignore, and Beers. Emerling positions himself in front with Trevor Catalano moving up into second. But not for long as Beers takes second followed by a swift change for the lead! That’ll kick Emerling to the high side as the field continues to shuffle. After all is said and done, Craig Lutz is now in second followed by Emerling, Trevor Catalano, and Silk. Now Craig Lutz takes the lead away as Silk tries to hold off Bonsignore.

It won’t happen though as Bonsignore makes his way to fifth and now fourth while Emerling starts to fall. Baldwin will follow Bonsignore through as Bonsignore continues his charge through the pack. He’ll get by Trevor Catalano who now has the challenge of holding off Baldwin. Baldwin is able to get around and now Trevor Catalano spins in the middle of one and two! He’ll get it back rolling as drivers will use this caution as an opportunity to pit. After all is settled, Bonsignore will lead accompanied by Silk, Beers, Craig Lutz, and Emerling. Bonsignore shoots out ahead of the pack as Silk gets shifted out of line. Silk’s bleeding will be stopped however as the # 38 of Bobby Labonte goes around on the frontstretch. Silk slots out in sixth as Bonsignore will line up in front again followed by Beers, Craig Lutz, Emerling, and Hirschman. Hirschman slips by Emerling as Bonsignore again executes a fantastic restart. And Silk has a problem! He comes to pit road with an issue, taking his championship chances along with him! A heartbreak for last year’s titleholder! The # 8 of Ryan Newman moves into fifth as Bonsignore now leads with the notion that he knows he has the title locked up. Fifth place is like a game of musical chairs as now Jacob Lutz takes the spot. The battle for third is in the air as Hirschman pressures Craig Lutz enough to open the door. He’ll take the spot quickly, setting his sights on second place Beers as Bonsignore continues to build a gap. Jacob Lutz motors by Craig Lutz, as the # 14 machine has started to come alive during the late stages. Hirschman also turns the wick up late as he takes second. Beers falls victim to Jacob Lutz while behind, Newman mounts a late race charge to fifth. Up front though, it’s all about Justin Bonsignore as he wins the race and the 2024 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Championship! Hirschman comes home second, Jacob Lutz third, Beers fourth, and Newman fifth.

MY TAKE

With so much on the line, I don’t think I’ve seen a much more dominating performance. Yeah, Silk had trouble in the race, but what Justin Bonsignore did this year coming down the end of the season was nothing short of epic. Tying for second on the all time win list with Reggie Ruggiero at North Wilkesboro, a day removed from winning in his SMART Tour debut at the revived speedway, Bonsignore comes into Martinsville and wins his fourth title. All of that he made look easy really, but it was far from that in reality. At the end of September and the race at Monandock Speedway, Bonsignore was 11 points behind defending champion Ron Silk with just three races left in the season. But Justin didn’t look back as he took the next three on his way to his fourth title. All of those titles and the 45 wins that put him second on the all time win list came with team owner Ken Massa who saw the driver he wanted to start a team with back in 2009. What’s followed since is a confirmation of what Massa saw in Bonsignore back at Riverhead. A winner and a champion who’s now joined the list of the all time greatest modified drivers. But for Massa and his driver Justin Bonsignore, it all stemmed for the love of the sport that they’ve never relinquished. I highly doubt that at this time they even know how historical their partnership has been. The thing is though, they’re not done yet, and at Martinsville Speedway, it looked as though they may just be hitting their stride.

They’ll have even more to race for going forward too. All the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour teams and drivers will as well thanks to the news that came out of Martinsville before the cars even hit the track for the season finale. Whelen announced that they have renewed their title sponsorship agreement for at least another 5 years which will take them to 2029. It includes amenities such as a 250% increase in championship payout which will guarantee $65,000 plus additional contingency money for the series champion and a doubled mid pack payout. It also includes provisions that will provide for higher race purses. Guaranteed minimum of $11,000 to win, $2,000 to start with additional awards totaling $2,000 plus. This is exciting news for the series! And amidst some chatter that the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour was on the verge of losing status, the series and their series sponsor Whelen just upped the game in a huge way. It’s an important development that goes a long way to show their true dedication. And for a southern Modified fan like me, that’s a big deal. It should be a big deal to all Modified fans. But for a southern Modified fan, when there is an announcement from NASCAR coming as it pertains to Modifieds, you aren’t sure where it’s going to go. Modified racing began in the south in the 1940’s and as many of you true Mod fans know it survived and in fact flourished up north where now Mods are king. It would take a whole article to explain to many how this became so, and we may do one in the future, but for now you should just understand that here in Late Model country there are still many of us who admire what the northern racers and teams have put into Mod racing to keep it a thriving premier racing genre.

Southern Modified racing has survived against the odds, but when you hear names like Richie Evans, Mike Stefanik, Reggie Ruggiero, Jeff Fuller…I could go on and on but you get the point…it’s easy to see and understand where the Modified powerbase lies and where it has for a very long time. But this is a new era. And we’ve said many times that to survive and move forward in this era, especially when it comes to tracks and tours, the status quo isn’t going to get it done. It now becomes obvious even to the most adamant critic that NASCAR and Whelen understand they had to do more and now they have. I can’t understate how critical that is. And it comes at a time when the youth in the sport and in odified racing are fixing to show themselves in a big way. You can count on that. The timing on NASCAR’s Whelen Modified Tour announcement couldn’t be any better in assuring that. So everything considered, this past Saturday was nothing short of historic. The IMSA Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup debuted it’s series at Martinsville and lived up to the hype in a tremendously exciting race and Justin Bonsignore truly entered the realm of the absolute elite in modified racing beMcoming the second winningest driver on his way to his fourth championship. Ah yeah…for a short track racing fan like me, it was a day I won’t soon forget. Until next time, as always, See You At The Track!

(Race write ups by Joshua Weatherman. Intro and My Take written by Billy Weatherman. Copyright 2024 SHORT TRACK REPORT)