Bulldog Is Back: Eric Berndt To Run Whelen Modified Tour Event At Thompson For Rob Fuller

A nearly 10-year hiatus from competing on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will come to an end Wednesday at Thompson Speedway for Cromwell driver Eric Berndt. 

Berndt, who runs regularly in the SK Modified division at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl, will run Wednesday’s Whelen Modified Tour Thompson 150 presented by FloSports.com for team owner Rob Fuller. 

Berndt will run the event in conjunction with his Ferguson Motorsports team, which fields his car at the Speedbowl. 

“My car owner called me [Thursday] and asked if it was something I would be willing to look into with him,” Berndt said. “I told him I would be and it just went from there.” 

Berndt will drive an LFR car with veteran crew chief Tommy Grasso leading the team at Thompson. 

“Corey Lajoie was supposed to race the car at Thompson for us and he had a sponsorship appearance that came up last minute,” Fuller said. “I got to know [Berndt] from working with Lee [Ferguson] and he seems like a really good guy and he’s obviously a very talented driver. So it’s a good fit for what we’re trying to do.” 

Berndt made his last Whelen Modified Tour start on Sept. 29, 2013 at Stafford Speedway. He has 83 career Whelen Modified Tour starts from 2001 to 2013 with two top-five finishes and 12 top-10’s. He raced full-time with division in 2011, 2012 and 2013. 

Berndt joined up with the newly formed Ferguson Motorsports team prior to the 2022 season to run full-time in an SK Modified at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. He had five wins with the team last year and has two this year. 

Berndt said the team has been looking at the possibility of running selected Tour Type Modified events. Wednesday’s event will mark Berndt’s second Tour Type event in five days. He is on the entry list for Saturday’s Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series event at the Speedbowl with a Ferguson Motorsports owned car. 

“I think they want to test the waters,” Berndt said. “We’re running the Open show this week with our own car with the [Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series]. I think it’s just something they’re interested in, just dipping their toe in right now.

“When this deal came together with Ferguson Motorsports, we set forth with building things up with the an SK Modified at Waterford. They built an Open car last year that we were looking to run and it just didn’t pan out last year. I’ll race wherever they want to race, that’s for sure.”