Jake Johnson To Run Full-Time On Whelen Modified Tour For Boehler Racing Enterprises

(Press Release from NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications)

For the first time since 2020, Boehler Racing Enterprises will have one driver competing full-time aboard the legendary Ole Blue No. 3 with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

That driver is Jake Johnson, the reigning NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award winner. He will tackle the entire schedule for the first time after part-time schedules with the team in 2022 and 2023.

“Jake is unique. He is very focused and determined, and he wants to run with the best of the best,” said team owner Michael Boehler, son of Boehler Racing Enterprises founder Lenny Boehler. “I think the key part is him knowing now what he wants and us being ready to deliver it.”

The naming of Johnson as the full-time driver of the No. 3 Modified owned by the legendary Boehler family is a full-circle moment for the 21-year-old from Rehoboth, Massachusetts.

Johnson is a life-long fan of Ole Blue, the nickname given to the famous blue No. 3 Modified wheeled through the years by champions like Bugsy Stevens, Wayne Anderson and Tony Hirschman.

Now he’ll become the latest in a long line of full-time drivers of the No. 3, something Johnson is still working to fully comprehend.

“I had an Ole Blue diecast when I was a kid that Bugsy Stevens signed,” Johnson said. “I always had it on the mantle in the living room. Now I’m driving it, which is the wildest part. I look at my dad and go, ‘Oh, isn’t that weird?’ It’s kind of funny how it came completely full circle.”

Johnson has taken a unique road to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. For most of his racing career, his focus was on Late Models, with Modifieds only recently becoming Johnson’s primary focus.

He is perhaps best known for his victory in the 2020 running of the Snowflake 100, the annual precursor to the Snowball Derby at Florida’s Five Flags Speedway. Johnson never officially led a lap in that event; he was awarded the victory when event officials penalized Stephen Nasse for spinning rival Bubba Pollard coming to the checkered flag.

Johnson recalls driving a Modified early in his career, but after injuring one of his fingers in a crash, his mother forbid him from racing one.

That rule didn’t stick, and now Johnson is preparing for his first full NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.

“I drove a Modified once when I was a little kid, and I wrecked and broke my thumb,” Johnson recalled. “My mom, she had enough of the open-wheel stuff. It’s just funny because now here I am.”

The goal for the combination of Johnson and Boehler Racing Enterprises is to return the team to its winning ways. The team hasn’t won a Tour race since Rowan Pennink scored a victory at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in 2017.

In his 19 starts to date on the Tour, Johnson has come close to victory a few times. His best effort came late last year at Thompson, where he led 22 laps and finished second to eventual series champion Ron Silk.

Boehler is hopeful that, with one driver behind the wheel and the team completely focused on the Whelen Modified Tour, a return to Victory Lane will come sooner than later.

“Winning is definitely what we all look forward to and want to do,” Boehler said. “We compete against those three or four teams that dominate all the time. How do we get just that little bit better and beat those guys? I think that’s the main focus.”

If Johnson can add his name to the list of drivers to take Ole Blue to Victory Lane, it’ll mean the completion of a childhood dream that for a time he didn’t think was attainable.

“To get to Victory Lane, every race you go to you’ve got to have a chance to finish in the top five,” Johnson said. “That’s where wins are going to come. We’ve had a lot of good races, but we had a few bad ones sprinkled in.

“It takes a lot of ingredients to make the correct recipe. I think we’re working on that right now and getting it perfect. In 2024 I hope we hit the ground running.”