After 35 years away from the track for the series, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour was heading to Oxford Plains Speedway Saturday with a shortage of drivers with any experience on the .375 nearly circular, flat layout.
For those playing armchair prognosticators, Jon McKennedy was the perfect choice as a favorite due to his depth of experience at the facility in multiple different types of cars.
And that experience paid off handsomely Saturday for the Chelmsford, Mass. driver.
McKennedy went by pole-sitter Stephen Kopcik for the lead on lap nine and held the top spot the rest of the way in winning the Whelen Modified Tour All States Materials Group 150 at Oxford Plains Speedway.
It was the second win of the season for McKennedy, who scored his first win of 2026 on May 16 at Seekonk Speedway.
“[The car] was pretty awesome,” McKennedy said. “I even said on the radio at the end of the race, that might’ve been the most dominant performance they’ve seen in a long time with this series. But at the end of the day, I got a good group of guys behind me. They stick with it.
“It’s great to be back at Oxford. I enjoy racing here. And thanks to [track owner] Tom Mayberry, everyone with NASCAR, for putting this event on.
McKennedy said track experience was invaluable.
“We definitely had a little advantage. I’ve raced here a bunch over the years and a lot of these guys never seen the place. And it’s a very line sensitive track. There’s no markings out there. It’s why your perception is challenging here as far as lift points. And so definitely laps here and experience definitely helped.”
Tyler Rypkema of Owego, N.Y. was third and Eric Goodale of Riverhead, N.Y. third.
“As soon as we crossed the checkered flag, I’m like, ‘Thank God we needed that.’ Get some momentum going again for us. Get some good points today, even though there wasn’t a ton of cars here, but no, I mean, never seen this place before today and it was a fun little track and it was a lot racier than I thought it was going to be earlier today.
It was the first podium finish of the season for Goodale, who had finished 10th or worse in four of the first five events.
“My spotter Jake really talking me down on the radio about overdriving and just backing up my entry,” Goodale said. “Just save, save, save on that right rear [tire] all day. And lap 100, he was like, start to pick it up a little bit. We started to just encroach on the top four there. And I got past Ronnie [Williams], and I ran down the [Rypkema]. And I thought I was going to get him. Lapped traffic got a little hairy there at the end.”
Williams ended up fourth. Fifteen year old series rookie Paulie Hartwig III, making his fifth series start, scored his first top-five finish with a fifth place run. Hartwig’s best series finish over his first four events was 12th.
McKennedy’s victory also paid huge dividends in the standings. Series points leader Stephen Kopcik ended up 14th in the 18 car field. Reigning series champion Austin Beers, who came into the race 10 points behind Kopcik in the standings in second, finished 11th.
McKennedy, the 2022 series champion, came into the race fifth in the standings, 26 points behind Kopcik. He left Oxford third in the standings, nine points off the lead. Patrick Emerling, who finished seventh Saturday, sits fourth in the standings, 12 points behind Kopcik.
With his 11th place finish, Beers saw a streak of 35 consecutive top-10 finishes on the Whelen Modified Tour come to an end.
With qualifying cancelled due to rain, Kopcik started on the pole by virtue of his place as the series points leader coming into the event.
McKennedy, who started fourth, was up to second by lap five and went by Kopcik for the lead on lap nine. Kopcik quickly fell back through the field after being overtaken.
On lap 18 Austin Beers went by Kopcik for second place. With McKennedy leading, Beers in second and Patrick Emerling in third, caution flew on lap 20 for issues with Tommy Catalano.
McKennedy controlled on the restart. From lap 30 to lap 42 Kopcik fell from fourth to 12th.
Caution flew on lap 43 for debris in turn three after an air cleaner came off the car of second place Beers. After the ensuing restart it was clear sailing the rest of the way for McKennedy.
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