The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour makes its long-awaited return to Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday night for the first time since 2021. In those days, Stafford had three dates on the calendar. In some years it had more. Which is what makes Friday’s race feel like a wrong that has lasted for five years is finally being righted.
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2026 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Stafford Speedway
The last time the Tour raced at Stafford, Justin Bonsignore claimed the victory and also his third NWMT championship. The now four-time champion is entered for Friday’s race, which will be his seventh start of the season. Bonsignore has one victory so far this season, which came way back in February in the season-opener at New Smyrna Speedway. In his 41 starts at Stafford, the Holtsville, New York native has just one win, but he has 14 top five finishes and 27 top 10 finishes.
Patrick Emerling also scored a victory at Stafford in that 2021 season. Emerling sits tied atop the points standings with defending champion Austin Beers entering Friday’s race. So far he’s scored three victories this season and has led 348 laps, the most of any driver. Emerling has made 27 starts at Stafford with one win to his statline, nine top five finishes, and 14 top 10 finishes.
For Austin Beers, this will be just the second time the Northampton, Pennsylvania driver is making a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour start at Stafford Motor Speedway. Beers’ only prior start at Stafford came in the season finale of the 2021 season, which was just the fourth career start for Beers. He started seventh and finished 13th that day. Since then, Beers has gone on to claim five NWMT victories and the 2025 championship. And while his NWMT experience at Stafford may be on the lighter side, Beers actually has plenty of laps at the historic half-mile oval thanks to making a bunch of starts in the track’s headlining SK Modified division.
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The full entry list for Friday’s GAF 150 can be found below.
Friday’s race at Stafford will be 150 laps long, and the green flag is expected to fly at 8:45 p.m. ET. Fans can watch all of the action live on FloRacing with a FloRacing subscription. Fans can subscribe to FloRacing by
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Stafford Motor Speedway Entry List
|
Car No. |
Driver |
Team Name / Team Owner |
Crew Chief |
|
1 |
Patrick Emerling |
USNE Motorsports |
Dale Hedquist |
|
3 |
Tyler Rypkema |
BRE Racing |
Greg Fournier |
|
05 |
Teddy Hodgdon IV |
Teddy Hodgdon Racing |
Ted Hodgdon |
|
8 |
John-Michael Shenette |
Eighty-Two Autosport |
Scott Morin |
|
15 |
Joey Cipriano III |
Fueled Up Motorsports |
Tyler Hines |
|
18 |
Ken Heagy |
Heagy Motorsports |
Greg Gorman |
|
20 |
Max Zachem |
Morgan Zachem Racing |
Ken Zachem |
|
21 |
Stephen Kopcik |
Wanick Motorsports |
Nick Kopcik |
|
28 |
Doug Coby |
Jett Motorsports |
John McKenna |
|
31 |
Michael Christopher Jr. |
Elite Motorsports |
Eugene Orlando |
|
36 |
Dave Sapienza |
Sapienza Racing |
Greg Kleila |
|
44 |
Chase Dowling |
Tinio Racing |
Danny Gamache |
|
50 |
Ronnie Williams |
Ronnie Williams |
Adam Skowyra |
|
51 |
Justin Bonsignore |
Kenneth Massa Motorsports |
Ryan Stone |
|
54 |
Tommy Catalano |
Catalano Motorsports |
Rick Kluth |
|
56 |
Trevor Catalano |
Catalano Motorsports |
David Catalano |
|
58 |
Eric Goodale |
Goodie Motorsports |
Rob Hyer |
|
60 |
Matt Hirschman |
Pee Dee Motorsports |
Mike Stein |
|
64 |
Austin Beers |
KLM Motorsports |
Ron Yuhas |
|
73 |
Paulie Hartwig III |
Hartwig Racing |
Paul Hartwig Jr. |
|
79 |
Jon McKennedy |
Jonathan McKennedy Racing |
Patrick Walsh |
|
82 |
Andrew Molleur |
DWR Racing |
Michael Molleur |
|
89 |
Matt Swanson |
Matt Swanson |
John Swanson |
|
95 |
Matt Kimball |
Apex Racing |
Cory Plummer |
|
106 |
Cory DiMatteo |
TJS Holdings |
John Lowinski |
