Twice The Ice: Matt Swanson Readies For Double Duty Weekend At Thompson Speedway 

Matt Swanson didn’t need anything to strengthen his loyalty to the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series. 

When the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series ran its first series event on May 11, 2014 at Lee USA Speedway, the then 14-year old Swanson was in the lineup. Swanson won his heat race for that inaugural series event but ended up having to retire from the feature early with an overheating issue. 

And for the last 12 years, when it comes to the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series, Swanson’s dedication has not wavered. 

The now 26-year old Swanson is one of the division’s stalwarts when it comes to series devotion. 

Swanson sits fourth on the division’s all-time series start list. He has started 49 of the division’s 67 series events run since its inception. Only Matt Hirschman (63), Woody Pitkat (63) and Chris Pasteryak (55) have made more series starts. 

So it goes almost without saying that Swanson would be in the lineup when the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series kicks off its 13th season on Saturday with the running of the Propane Plus Heating & Cooling 75 at the Thompson Speedway Icebreaker. 

But an announcement recently by the series operators certainly helped cement that loyalty to the division even more. 

In mid-March, Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series management announced a $50,000 point fund for the division for the 2026 season, backed by USNEPower and Union Insurance Group. The point fund will pay out $11,000 to the series’ 2026 champion. 

“That’s a massive deal,” Swanson told RaceDayCT. “The toughest thing that I’ve seen is you go into the offseason and if you have a bad weekend at the last race of the year you kind of go into the offseason pretty cut-and-dry on funding to kind of revamp these cars and you know make them right for the upcoming season. So I think it’ll be a lot of incentive for teams to run the whole deal and venture out to some of these racetracks that we go to and I think it’s just gonna make the series as a whole more competitive.” 

Last year seven drivers competed in all 10 Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series events. This year the division will run nine events with two events each at Thompson, Stafford Speedway, the New London-Waterford Speedbowl and Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway and one event at Star Speedway in Epping, N,H. 

“I’ll definitely be curious to see how many people end up running the whole deal because I think it’s going to be a shockingly large number because it’s not a crazy schedule,” Swanson said. “It’s one less race compared to last year and there’s really not crazy far tracks. We’re going to really good, solid facilities that welcome Modifieds with open arms and I think it’s going to be great for the series.” 

Swanson and car owner Gary Casella parted ways following the 2025 season. Swanson will run a family owned operation in 2026 that will see him compete not only for a Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series championship, but also in selected NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events. 

The first of those selected Whelen Modified Tour events comes in Sunday’s Icebreaker 150 at Thompson Speedway. 

For Swanson, optimism runs high heading into that event buoyed from the 2025 season. Swanson was the winner of NASCAR’s FloRacing Connecticut Challenge in 2025, which offered a bonus to new teams running all three Thompson events. Over that three race span last year Swanson had a 10th place finish in the Icebreaker 150, a sixth place run in the Thompson 150 in August and a second place finish in the World Series 150 in October. His sixth place average for the three events made him a runaway winner of the special NASCAR bonus challenge. 

Though the one factor tempering Swanson’s optimism is NASCAR’s offseason decision to change from Hoosier to American Racer as the exclusive tire manufacturer for Whelen Modified Tour events. Sunday’s Icebreaker 150 marks the third event of the season for the Whelen Modified Tour. The division opened its season at New Smyrna Speedway on Feb. 7 and competed at Martinsville Speedway on March 28. Most teams Swanson will compete against on Sunday at Thompson already have two events under the belt with the new tire compound. 

“Up until I heard about the change in the tire I was very optimistic about going to Thompson [for the Whelen Modified Tour event],” Swanson said. “I was going back to the shop and seeing what we did with that race car last year and just seeing the little things that we could have done to made it better. But you know obviously now the situation is a little bit different so we’re gonna go into it optimistic but a little less than we originally had planned on just because of the variable with the tire. Lucky enough we do have some friends that are still on the tour full-time and are helping us out and kind of giving us some advice on what to do.” 

Swanson said the current plan is to run all three Whelen Modified Tour events at Thompson, the two series events at Seekonk and the Whelen Modified Tour events at Stafford Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway. 

“I know it’s a common thing that you hear from small teams, you know the help standpoint, you need a small army to go to these Whelen Modified Tour races and be competitive,” Swanson said. “Fortunately enough the last couple years we have been able to slowly assemble a really solid crew of guys that just enjoy going to the racetrack and we all work really well together and they allow me to do what I do in the garage and they they come to the racetrack and give me 110 percent effort and we just all work really well together. 

“Doing my own thing this year racing my cars more than I have in a very long time, if not ever, it’s going to be a task for everybody keeping the cars maintained in the shop and keeping them competitive and it’s going to be a season of learning. I think we’ve done a really good job these last couple years and I think we’ve really stepped up our program.”