(Press Release from NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications)
With a quarter of the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season officially in the books, the Mod Squad shifts its focus to Seekonk Speedway this Saturday night for the running of the Seekonk 150.
The Seekonk 150 marks a return for the series to Seekonk Speedway after last visiting the track in 2019. It marks the 11th visit by the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour to the third-mile asphalt oval in Massachusetts.
Seekonk Speedway first welcomed the series in 1987, with Reggie Ruggiero outlasting Jimmy Spencer to secure the victory. The series didn’t return again until 2000, when Jerry Marquis visited Victory Lane. Other Tour winners at the track include Chris Kopec, Ed Flemke Jr., Chuck Hossfeld, Eric Beers, Timmy Solomito, Justin Bonsignore and two-time Seekonk winner Doug Coby.
Tickets to Saturday’s Seekonk 150 are available here. Below is everything you need to know about the sixth race of the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.
Seekonk 150 at Seekonk Speedway
What to watch for:
With five races now in the rearview for the stars of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, the battle at the top of the series standings is between Ron Silk and Justin Bonsignore.
Silk, who won the opening race of the season at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway, leads the standings by three points ahead of Bonsingore, who triumphed in Race 4 at New York’s Riverhead Raceway.
Both should be considered contenders Saturday when the Whelen Modified Tour makes its return to Seekonk for the first time since 2019.
Doug Coby is also likely to be among the frontrunners Saturday. The Tommy Baldwin Racing driver is the most recent Tour winner at Seekonk and already has a victory this year, which came at New Hampshire’s Monadnock Speedway last month.
MORE SEEKONK: Watch on FloRacing | Get tickets
Matt Hirschman is still riding a wave of momentum following his victory in the most recent Tour event at New Hampshire’s Lee USA Speedway. He led laps in 2019 at Seekonk and will no doubt be in the mix when the green flag waves Saturday night.
Austin Beers will also be among those to watch Saturday. His father Eric Beers won his first Whelen Modified Tour race at Seekonk in 2005, and Austin would love to join his father as a Tour winner at the track.
Defending Tour champion Jon McKennedy will chase his first victory of the season Saturday at Seekonk alongside fellow 2022 race winners Anthony Nocella and Craig Lutz. One driver, Tommy Wanick, will be making his Whelen Modified Tour debut Saturday night.
The complete entry list for the Seekonk 150 is available here.
RACE FACTS
| Race | Seekonk 150 |
| Date | Saturday, June 10, 2023 |
| Track | Seekonk Speedway |
| Layout | Third-mile asphalt oval |
| Location | Seekonk, Massachusetts |
| Start Time | 8 p.m. ET |
| Laps | 150 |
| Posted awards | $81,600 |
| Live stream | FloRacing (Live) |
Schedule: Saturday, June 10 … Final practice from 3 to 4 p.m. ET … Qualifying at 5:30 p.m. ET … Local racing at 6 p.m. ET … Seekonk 150 at 8 p.m. ET.
Qualifying: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for the Seekonk 150 is limited to 28 starters including Provisional Positions.
Tire allotment: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is eight (8) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by Hoosier, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. Four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. All qualifying tires must remain in impound until released by NASCAR Officials. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice and/or change tires during the event. The tire change rule is zero (0) tires, any position.
Tough looking at that entry list. Only 21 cars, and it looks like probably 2 or 3 ghosts on there that will magically be withdraws on Saturday.
No eric goodale on entry list again? Wasnt on it for lee either, but raced. Im wondering only for the “pick em”……
Modified racing is just so expensive, so many series, its hard to draw cars. Stafford Open Mod series is barely drawing 20 cars and more than half are SK regulars so it is nothing special to the fans.
The biggest farce in modified racing is Seekonk calling itself a 1/3 mile track. To walk 1/3 mile lap around the place, you would have to walk the grandstands! It is a 1/4 mile track and all speeds are inflated by 33%. TOTAL FARCE!
UMM….NO
Is that the incessant screen ID changing, inartful dodger looking to rile up the home team? You scamp. I admire the persistence but the material needs work. Unless they paint lanes on the track and tell drivers they’re disqualified if the cross the line distance and speed is irrelevant to a good race.
Coby, Silk, Bonsignor, Hirschman and McKennedy. It’s an embarrassment of riches as far as top flight teams go. Maybe add Nocella who did very well in last years MMTTS races at Seekonk. You think Hirschman has the edge? Maybe, maybe not. This isn’t like last years MMTTS race where he can putz around the track saving his tires and go green to checkers without pitting. Wait a minute maybe he could right? They using that Riverhead tire compound? See right there talking to myself yet another interesting facet of this race to consider.
Interesting that you bring up tire compound.
the NWMT will be using 490 Left sides, a 500 RF and a new 510 RR for seekonk
The next race, Riverhead, they will be using the 510 on both right sides.
The 490’s were introduced at the first race of the season.
All the short track tires were 500’s last year.
This is being done to “make the NWMT tires more durable and consistent during an event”
not excusing the car count. But due to this change it basically adds another required set to purchase at both seekonk and riverhead. At $800 a set, im sure that kept atleast 1 or 2 cars home.
and for the person that mentioned goodale, his son races at riverhead this weekend. im sure the races he misses will mirror that pretty closely.
Thank you, Seymour! You’re exactly right. Seekonk is as much a 1/3 mile as a 350 is a big-block. And, Doug, if you think it is irrelevant then tell me why Seekonk continues to promote that bald-faced lie. Here’s why: A 12 second lap for a 1/3 mile figures out to 100 mph. A 12 second lap for a 1/4 mile is only 75 mph. Which sounds better for bragging? For them to suggest that cars go as fast, or faster!, at Seekonk than at Stafford (~100mph avg) is total, purposeful, false advertising.
Seymour is correct, you’d have to run up about the tenth row of the bleachers to get close to 1/3 mile.
Come on man Getserious! OK I admit it. It’s hard to get serious about this line of thinking but I love the handle so apologies.
This whole thing about speeds and comparison to Stafford is news to me. How exactly is that relevant to a good or bad race I’m just not getting it. In terms of accuracy even if the track is a quarter mile at the apron not even Fifield will be racing the quarter mile groove. OK maybe real close to it. When alone the fastest cars all race the most advantageous arc and who knows what that is they don’t have odometers do they? To refresh the old mind grapes I’m watching the tour mods on YouTube and they’re running corner apron to wall, a huge arc. Who can say what that distance is?
In 2019 Coby qualified at 11.92/99.6 MPH at Seekonk. Same year Bonsignor qualifed at 11.43/78.79 MPH at Riverhead. Same year Preece qualified at 18.55/97.06 MPH at Stafford. Does any of that mean anything in relationship to each other?
After the race what are we going to be talking about? Who knows but I’m pretty sure it won’t be that was a horrible race. Those speeds they say they’re clocking at close to 100 MPH are completely bogus dude. Yo, Stafford rules man!
Is this one of those shirts and skins deals where the two home teams are battling for superiority saying size matters?
Great comment Zig so what’s the deal? Will everyone be pitting for tires or not?
@zig13 says, Since most teams don’t use previously used tires, there’s real extra cost as they buy tires for each race. FYI, there’s another RS tire (600) under development.
I’d bet you could measure1/4 mile (edge against the infield) and 1/3 mile (edge against the wall), all depends on where you put the tape measure. The straights are wide and the corners are wider. I’ve seen door cars 3-wide in the corner with more than a lane still open. It doesn’t matter to me as long as the racing is good!!
To All:
Yes, absolutely you can measure a track from its inside edge and you will get an entirely different measurement from its outside edge. My understanding is that NASCAR’s baseline for determining the length of an oval race track is by going 15 feet in from the outer wall and measuring from that distance, which would likely be close to the center groove of the track. And arguments about the actual distance of particular race tracks have been happening for years.
Fast Eddie,
I do remember reading somewhere that Seekonk Speedway is 1/4-mile around the inside edge and 1/3 mile-around the outside edge. So the “true distance” that cars travel is probably more like 3/10-mile.
In the end, I think a lot of advertised short track distances are a matter of semantics and fudgy numbers. Up in Northern New England, both Thunder Road and Riverside Speedway are advertised as 1/4-mile — but having been to both, I’m certain you could fit all of Riverside Speedway inside the Thunder Road infield. Like you said, as long as the racing is good, it doesn’t matter.
Doug, no one will be taking tires as its not a change race. will be interesting to see how they can manage them when no one has ever used this particular RR.
but yea just me. this event was originally supposed to be 4 old from home + 8 new at track. they werent allowed 12 new tires even if they wanted. now its 4 new from home + 8 new at track. kinda forces teams hands.
Thanks!