Dave Sapienza Denied Entry To NASCAR Mod Tour Miller Lite Salutes Steve Park 200 At Riverhead

An ongoing discord between NASCAR Modified Tour veteran Dave Sapienza and management at Riverhead Raceway has led to Sapienza being denied entry into Saturday’s Miller Lite Salutes Steve Park 200 at the iconic Long Island bullring. 

Sapienza said he was notified Tuesday by NASCAR Modified Tour series director Jimmy Wilson that his submitted entry for the Miller Lite Salutes Steve Park 200 was being denied by NASCAR at the request of Riverhead Raceway track management. 

“I don’t understand this decision,” Sapienza said. “I was never notified of any punishment by E-mail or letter by Riverhead management or NASCAR. I was really looking forward to the Steve Park Memorial race being that I was a big fan of his and really admired him as a racer.”  

Riverhead Raceway co-owner Tom Gatz was not immediately available on Tuesday.

Sapienza said that before finding out he would not be allowed to race, he had intended to let NASCAR know later this week that he was going to offer $36,000 to be added to the purse, with $10,000 extra being paid to the winner, in hopes of adding more prestige to the event honoring Park. 

“It’s really surprising to me that they made a decision like this when you consider the low car counts we’ve seen in the last few [NASCAR Modified] Tour races at Riverhead, and the poor car count they have for the race this week,” Sapienza said.

There are 22 cars on the entry list for Saturday’s event at Riverhead. A 22-car starting field would mark the smallest field in five events this year for the NASCAR Modified Tour. The series has averaged 22.3 cars in the last four series events at Riverhead. The NASCAR Modified Tour has averaged 28.5 cars per event over the first four events of 2025.

Sapienza did not attempt to submit an entry to either of the two NASCAR Modified Tour events held at Riverhead in 2024.

The original issue between Sapienza and Riverhead management began on April 27, 2024. Sapienza was attending an open practice that day at Riverhead. During the practice an official made a mistake in letting cars onto the track leading to Sapienza losing out on his round of practice. 

The disagreement with the track official during the practice grew heated. 

Sapienza said that after the incident track management reached out to him and apologized for the issue later in the day. Sapienza said two days later he was informed he would be put on probation for the 2024 season as a penalty for the practice day incident. Sapienza decided at that point not to compete in any events at the facility in 2024. 

Sapienza exacerbated the issue on Sept. 14, 2024 when Riverhead was hosting the NASCAR Modified Tour Eddie Partridge 256. During the running of that event, Sapienza parked an aerial lift bucket on property adjacent to the Riverhead Raceway property. The bucket lift could be seen by those on the property at Riverhead for the event. The bucket had a cutout figure of Sapienza in it and displayed various signs through the night, some disparaging of track management. 

Sapienza said he was never told by anyone from track management that was he restricted from the facility in any way. Sapienza’s sister Judy Thilberg is the listed owner of Sapienza’s race team. Sapienza said his sister was told by Riverhead general manager John Ellwood recently that she was not allowed on the property. 

Over the history of the NASCAR Modified Tour there have been occasions when a driver competing with the series was under suspension from a particular track where the series was scheduled to run an event. Historically, those drivers were typically allowed to compete in the NASCAR sanctioned touring series event being held at the track even while under suspension for the track’s regular divisions. 

Before the 2024 season NASCAR made it clear that they were allowing track operators or event promoters to be part of the decision making process in allowing or not allowing a particular competitor entry into a NASCAR Modified Tour event at their track. 

A NASCAR spokesperson said the sanctioning body would not have a statement concerning the issue and would only confirm that Sapienza would not be on the entry list for Saturday. 

Sapienza, who lives in Riverhead, got his start in racing competing at the track and raced there regularly before becoming a full-time competitor on the NASCAR Modified Tour in 2015.