Last week it was reported exclusively by RaceDayCT that NASCAR officials were in discussion with management at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, N.H. to schedule a Whelen Modified Tour at quarter-mile oval this season.
Monday NASCAR made the plan official.
NASCAR and Monadnock Speedway announced Monday that the Whelen Modified Tour will return to the track for an Aug. 29 event.
It will mark the first event for the series at the track since 2016.
It is the fourth new event added to the 2020 Whelen Modified Tour schedule since June and the third new event added at a New Hampshire facility.
The Whelen Modified Tour ran for the first time in its history at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H. on July 4. A second event at White Mountain has been added to the schedule for Aug. 1.
The first event of the 2020 season – the Wade Cole Memorial 133 presented by Dunleavy’s Truck & Trailer on June 21 at Jennerstown (Pa.) Speedway – was also an add-on to the series schedule.
Justin Bonsignore, the 2018 Whelen Modified Tour champion, has won both events run this season.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour has run 12 times at Monadnock Speedway since the series’ inception in 1985. The division ran one event each year from 1985 to 1990 at Monadnock. There was a 20 year layoff in between events at the facility before the division returned in 2010.
The series ran one event annually at the track from 2010 to 2016. Timmy Solomito won the last event at the track on July 24, 2016. Bonsignore won events at the track in 2013 and 2014. Reigning Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby won at Monadnock in 2015.
COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns have decimated the original 2020 Whelen Modified Tour schedule.
Thus far, six of 17 events on the original NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event have been cancelled. Events have been cancelled at Thomson Speedway (April 5), Stafford Speedway (April 26 and Aug. 7), Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (May 8),
New Hampshire Motor Speedway (July 18) and Iowa Speedway (July 31).
Stafford Speedway is scheduled to host the Whelen Modified Tour on Sept. 27 as part of its NAPA Fall Final weekend though it seems unlikely that event will take place with 25 percent capacity restrictions in place for Connecticut tracks.
It was announced late last month that Thompson Speedway will host the Whelen Modified Tour on Aug. 19 and Oct. 11 with the events run by a new operational group led by the track’s former general manager Terry Eames.
The Whelen Modified Tour had added an event to the schedule to be run May 30 at Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Speedway but it was ultimately postponed due to weather. NASCAR has not rescheduled that event.
The Jennerstown event originally scheduled for May 23 was rescheduled to Aug. 22.
The June 6 event Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway and July 11 event at Wall (N.J.) Stadium have been postponed indefinitely.
The event scheduled for June 20 at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway has been postponed to Oct. 17, with Riverhead still scheduled to also host the series on Sept. 19.
The Whelen Modified Tour Musket 200, as part of Full Throttle Weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, remains scheduled for Sept. 12. A Sept. 5 event at Oswego (N.Y.) Speedway also remains scheduled.
Hey Shawn, the NWMT schedule has been updated.
😉
Just looked at the schedule on NASCAR’s site, if everything stays scheduled in September starting with the first Thompson race in August the schedule is packed now through the end of the season. Every weekend has a race and they race three days after Thompson in Jennerstown.
Just looked on NASCAR Member website and I don’t see an entry blank for Thompson on the 19th yet, also Jimmy Wilson hasn’t sent any announcements to the teams. If I was a betting man, I would say Thompson on the 19th is a no go.
I love the New Hampshire State Liquor Store Tour!
Well, just watched President Pine Sol do a press briefing. The only thing we need to know is he said things are going to get worse. If #TheClodfather says it’s is going to get worse, it’s gonna get really, really, really bad. He was choking back the vomit 🤮 🤢 coming up as he was saying that.
Many news outlets latched onto that President Pine Sol stated things were going to get worse and were Tweeting it immediately.
I would also be surprised if thompsons August race goes off. Trying to make a go of full wmt purse with a 25 percent fan capacity doesn’t seem like a profitable venture. I dont see restrictions being lifted by then. Nj which has been doing pretty good won’t have fans at NFL games in fall. Ny closed down drive in parking at ocfs this weekend. Not sure why wmt is working with all these non nascar tracks and running reduced purse shows and not the tracks which have supported them thru the years.
@Csg, NASCAR will work with any track.. The tracks are the ones that are deciding they don’t want a race. The tracks are most likely looking at the numbers as far if it’s profitable for them.
Just Me got it right. Mark Arute has said that at this point in time running a WMT race is not financially feasible given the 25% fan capacity.
I don’t think Thompson will have any racing this year they haven’t even submitted a reopening plan to the state for the oval.
So it becomes a matter of which tracks are willing to hold races for the WMT, given all the restrictions.
If Waterford does reopen, they might become a factor in the future.