Moving On Up: Patrick Emerling Scores Whelen Mod Tour Win At Claremont, Takes Over Lead In Standings 

It was a doubly good visit to Claremont Motorsports Park for NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver Patrick Emerling and his USNEPower team. 

Emerling not only scored his first victory of the 2026 season, he also rocketed to the top of the Whelen Modified Tour standings at the halfway point of the 16-event schedule. 

Emerling drove by Matt Hirschman for the lead on lap 96 and never trailed again on the way to victory in the 150-lap Whelen Modified Tour Clash at Claremont Friday.

“You know, we have Super Dale [crew chief Dale Hedquist] over here,” Emerling said. “He worked so hard and this whole team works hard. … We came here, we ran a few weeks ago to figure out the track a little bit. We missed a little bit on the race and finished second and it’s the determination of the team. We put in the effort to go and go race another race here to get a feel for the track and then we just made our adjustments and we unloaded that much stronger today.” 

It was the 10th career Whelen Modified Tour victory for the Orchard Park, N.Y. driver and his first since August 6, 2025 at Thompson Speedway. 

Hirschman, of Northampton, Pa., was second and Jon McKennedy of Chelmsford, Mass. third. 

“Just needed to be a little little tighter and a little better drive longer than it lasted,” Hirschman said. “I think you know the best car won tonight, the best handling car. … They just outlasted us tonight. …Once he got ahead of me I think he was just doing a good job of managing his gap But I’m kind of glad he did because it just kept me get me into the game enough to that I ended up still maintaining second. … Of course you want to win, but second still was better than 17 other cars tonight. I’m pleased with that.” 

Said McKennedy: “Overall I’m happy. It was a good run, a solid top three, obviously surrounded here by some great competition. The car was actually, it was pretty good really, we were just a tick loose. … I think overall Patrick had the best car in the race. He drove a great race.” 

Emerling came into the event sitting third in the series standings, 13 points off the lead. Stephen Kopcik came into the event as the points leader, with Austin Beers in second, 10 points off the lead. Kopcik had power steering issues early at Claremont and ended up last in the 19-car field. 

Emerling jumped to the top of the standings following the event. Beers, who was fourth at Claremont, held on to second in the standings, five points behind Emerling. McKennedy moved from fourth to third in the standings, siting nine points off the lead. Kopick crashed to fourth, 10 points off the lead. 

“We kinda had a little bit of a slow start to the season,” Emerling said. “We were kinda struggling and … we were just working at getting in our groove and we’re finally kinda getting that, we’re getting that going. We had a third [July 1 at Seekonk Speedway] and here we end up with a win, so, it’s absolutely incredible.” 

Follow Us On Your Favorite Socials