NASCAR Cancels Whelen Modified Tour Events At Iowa Speedway And Martinsville Speedway

They were two events much celebrated for their additions to the 2020 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule. 

And now they are the first two official losses on the Whelen Modified Tour schedule because of the COVID-19 global pandemic. 

NASCAR announced Thursday that the Whelen Modified Tour events at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and Iowa Speedway for 2020 have been cancelled.

The Whelen Modified Tour was set to make its return to Martinsville for the first time since 2010 on May 8. That event had originally been postponed indefinitely.

The Whelen Modified Tour was scheduled to make its Iowa Speedway debut on July 31.

A Tweet posted by NASCAR Thursday afternoon announcing the cancellations also stated: “NASCAR is continuing to work with track & government officials to reschedule events on the 2020 schedule.”

An announcement concerning the Whelen Modified Tour event at Jennerstown (Pa.) Speedway moving to a likely June date is expected soon. That event was originally scheduled for May 23.

The Whelen Modified Tour was originally slated to open its 2020 season at South Boston (Va.) Speedway on March 21. That event was postponed indefinitely. 

The series was then scheduled to run the Liquid Death Icebreaker 150 at Thompson Speedway on April 5. The event was originally postponed to May 16th and then postponed indefinitely.

The third event of the season, the NAPA Spring Sizzler 200 at Stafford Speedway, was originally slated for April 26, was postponed to May 31 and now remains postponed indefinitely.

The Whelen Modified Tour has an event scheduled for June 6 at Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway. Despite no official announcement of a postponement, that event is not expected to take place on that date. The same holds true for the June 20 event scheduled for Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway. 




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Comments

  1. I’M SHOCKED!!!!!!!!

    Did NASCAR check this out first with JD?

  2. They did check with me. I’m told Martinsville will be on the 2021 schedule. They can’t announce anything until after the 2021 cup schedule is announced in July.

    The Iowa date is now a prime reschedule date. Maybe a track like Seekonk jumps on it. Just making lemonade out of lemons here. See you at the track.

  3. JD, one thing for sure is you are getting tons of bad info or you really don’t get any info and you suck at making stuff up.

    Martinsville in 2021 is a safe bet. Only Doug will remember you said that.

  4. I knew these two events were going to be cancelled a long time ago.

  5. wmass01013 says

    OF COURSE you did, YOU KNOW EVERYTHING and tellll us every day
    FOR THE 10 MILLIONTH TIME YOUR RIGHT

  6. Plugs 2020 says

    Dafella knew those events were going to be cancelled back on 1-23-20. He also knew the speedbowl grandstands were never going to be rebuilt back in 2016.

  7. This is bad news for Iowa Speedway, since this was one of the major events for that facility. I think that track only had 5 events on the schedule for the 2020 season.

    They are desperate to get anything to run out there.

    “If you build it they will come” does not apply to race tracks in the middle of Iowa.

  8. WeldingWonders says

    *******THE DAREALGOODFELLA CHRONICLES-AKA THE FORUM KING***********

    The story: Chris Pasteryak Has Fun With LFR Chassis At Whelen Modified Tour Sunoco World Series At Thompson……..October 22, 2018

    darealgoodfella says
    October 23, 2018 at 7:20 am
    Tire management is indeed crucial. The guy that managed tires for the 2 when it was on a dominant run has been on the 51 team this year. See the difference? LOL!!!!!

    darealgoodfella says
    October 24, 2018 at 8:44 am
    No Just Me, it is you and Racer that are clueless.

    Luckily for you, dumb people always know they are right, and everyone else is wrong. You must feel good all the time. You will never experience what it is like to be wrong, and you’ll never know.

    The 51 had that domination that the 2 had in previous seasons. The 2 lost it, it was lost out there. That was due to the talent that left the 2 and is now on the 51. The 2 lost crucial talent to the 51.

    Justin Bonsignore says
    October 29, 2018 at 5:14 pm
    @DaReal
    The ONLY crew member change from 2017 to 2018 on my team was RYAN STONE. Every other crew member returned, no new ones added.
    JR Boccanfuso & Scotty Makszin have been with our team since 2011, with the exception of 2014 when they helped Hirschman. We didn’t take any crew members from the 2 team.

    darealgoodfella says
    October 30, 2018 at 10:30 am
    @JBon
    Nice, well wordsmithed post. Carefully crafted. Can look like it means something.
    Is there or was there, anybody from the 2 team ever on the 51 team? Anybody? Keep in mind, that the 2 and 51 teams have distinct team uniforms. I doubt you guys wear each others uniforms, do you? If so, why would somebody from the 2 team wear the 51 team uniform?
    The talent pool is very small, not enough to go around. When someone leaves one team for another, the scales are tipped rather bigly.
    Better job driving this season. Tire prep and tire management enabled that.

    Justin Bonsignore says
    October 30, 2018 at 2:50 pm
    Steve & Rob – Thank you very much!
    @DaReal
    Other way around, we have had two crew members over the past 5 years leave our team to join the 2 team. None of their team members have joined ours.

    Darealgoodfella is no Joe Friday. Even when he gets the facts from the horses mouth he rejects them.

  9. i had both these dates INKED in as soon as the schedule came out.. i was really looking forward to the seeing the groundpounders on that 7/8 mile track in Iowa. ive never been to the state of iowa. some friends and myself had planned a few nights of minor league baseball games, dirt tracks and of course our main event…the Mod squad! oh well… stay safe!

  10. Yeah, I was planning on Iowa. The mods on that ⅞ mile D-shape would be awesome. Had other side trips planned too.

    Martinsville had the same appeal as Bristol, steeped in history.

  11. Will be interesting to see if Iowa does get a Cup race next year. Nascar just fired the entire speedway staff there last month. Kansas Speedway ownership is running it for Nascar at the moment. Iowa would be cool but America doesn’t need two Kansas dates plus an Iowa date on the Cup schedule unless it’s something like a Thursday-Sunday doubleheader, to use a baseball term.

    Anyone notice the Manning-Brady golf match starts the same time as the Cup race? That might outdraw the Nascar ratings. Man, would that be bad for or Nascar if it does.

  12. Rich Gourley says

    “😷😷😷 darealgoodfella 😷😷😷 says
    May 15, 2020 at 9:41 am
    Yeah, I was planning on Iowa. The mods on that ⅞ mile D-shape would be awesome. Had other side trips planned too.

    Martinsville had the same appeal as Bristol, steeped in history”

    I call BS. There’s no way your leaving your parents basement to go out in public

  13. Todd Carey says

    Ha Rich you hit it right on the head. This dude hasn’t left his house in years. Probably the reason why he has to use a fake name and has never met anyone at any track. Just skip right over his comments because they are all the same. NH will be open for racing soon. Tires and Fuel being sold tomorrow at Monadnack. So much nicer to be positive then the chicken Little rhetoric that the sky is falling. Just a typical fear mongering liberal. Would rather have no racing and stuck in the house for years. Real race fans who ACTUALLY go to the race track cant wait for them to be open. Don’t bother to respond Dareal because I wont read it anyway.

    LETS GO RACING

  14. Fast Eddie says

    Todd, that’s the best news I’ve heard all race season! I hope you’re right about Monadnock, and count me as one who can’t wait for any track in New England to open!

  15. “Real race fans who ACTUALLY go to the race track cant wait for them to be open.”

    I’m a real race fan who attends tracks every weekend, sometimes more than one. I’ve crewed on both oval and lefty-righty cars. While I can’t wait for tracks to open, I also understand science is not a liberal conspiracy.

    The virus has not gone away, and there is still no cure or vaccine. New Hampshire has probably benefited during the pandemic from a low population density, as well as a lack of travel in and out. That can all change with a few large crowds drawing from outside of the state. Racing tends to have a pretty gray haired following, and the disease seems to really nail older folks, so let’s hope most are unaffected.

    I hope I’m wrong, but states who have pushed reopening dates up have already seen a rise in infection. My job normally consists of running projects with people nationwide, but my current focus is how the virus is affecting our operation. My company has ~ 265,000 employees worldwide, so my data pool is rather large.

  16. I’m with you Barry. Although I live racing, and hope to be racing soon, I can wait it out till it’s safe.

  17. I can live without racing. I can’t race if I’m dead.

  18. Why would Iowa be considered for a Cup date?

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