As was reported by RaceDayCT on May 22, Whelen Engineering of Chester will serve as the title sponsor for the inaugural 40-lap shootout NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour non-points exhibition event on July 11 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The event will be billed as the Whelen All-Star Shootout and will be part of the Oxford Casino Pole Day racing card on the Friday of the Sprint Cup Series Camping World RV Sales 301 weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The event will have $28,000 purse and pay at least $4,500 to win, with contingencies. Teams will earn at least $800 to start, with some special bonuses included for the event.
“We take a lot of pride in New Hampshire Motor Speedway being known as the ‘Super Bowl’ venue of modified racing,” New Hampshire Motor Speedway executive vice president and general manager Jerry Gappens said in a release. “With the addition of the Whelen Modified Shootout, a 100-mile NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race and the new NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying format, I truly believe we have the most exciting ‘Pole Day’ on the circuit.”
The event will be run in two 20-lap segments. The field for the event will be capped at 20 drivers. The starting lineup for the first segment will be set by a random draw. Before the second segment, a decision will be made to invert the lineup by between 4 and 10 positions. There will be a caution between segments to reset the lineup, but the laps run will not be counted toward the race total of 40. There will be no pit stops.
Eligibility to make the will field will include current and past champions of the Whelen Modified Tour and Whelen Southern Modified Tour. Also included will be the 2013 Whelen Modified Tour and Whelen Southern Modified Tour Sunoco Rookie of the Year award winners. Any remaining spots in the 20-car field will be filled by drivers with the most wins in in either series since 2005 through June 20, 2014 who do not already meet eligibility criteria.
“It’s cool because we only get to race the Southern Modified Tour drivers if we travel down to their series, and only once a year when we go to Bristol – so it’s cool to have them come up and especially here in New Hampshire, it’s basically our Daytona 500,” Reigning Whelen Modified Tour champion Ryan Preece of Berlin said. “It’s a great event and coming here it’s one of our biggest crowds and there’s a lot of energy going throughout the track, so it’s definitely exciting. I think having the Southern Tour champs and obviously the northern Modified Tour champs is going to make it interesting.”
The race is expected to take a green flag at about 2:10 p.m, on July 11. The Whelen All-Star Shootout will be televised by FOX Sports. Broadcast are expected to be announced at a later date.
The Modifieds put on a good show most of the time at NHMS. However, I would rather see the time & energy, as well as the Money put into a points paying Tour Race at another track and fill the stands on Saturday like they do most every year with a larger purse & LIVE TV (not on a delay)
I see half the teams riding in the back making it an extra practice or some doing a start and park.
The Tri Track series is paying more than this. Stafford’s 5K is paying only 500$ less and gives more to the winner. This should’ve had at least a 50,000$ purse.
So, instead of being behind NHMS for adding this race and purse people would rather complain about what should have been done and keep dreaming? Let’s applaud them for giving the fans more racing. They could just focus on road racing instead…
DR I agree that it’s a cool concept. But NASCAR has bullied and has tried to kill off the WMT for years now. Go to a VMRS race. And you will see more Fans and Teams then a WMT race. (That’s my thought.) The purse is low. And it wont even pay for their tires it would take for them to run the event. If you don’t win that is.
How would they make it better? Who knows. I would not mind seeing a bubble header weekend. Like the Indy Car guys do for Street Tracks. Race one on Friday. Race Two on Saturday. 200 Laps of WMT racing. Two point days. I don’t think that it would ever work out or if it can ever be done. But it is a interesting concept.
There should be a payout for the car that is leading at the end of the first 20 laps. This is going to be a practice session for most teams. Needs a better purse.
What coverage is this Modified Shootout going to get? It’s on Friday, the stands will be empty, and what TV coverage will it get?
Paul, I like you idea. If teams are going to spend two days at places like Stafford, Thompson and NHMS I think Id rather see 50-75 features on each day rather than 150lap events (100@NHMS) at the end of the weekend. If your going to be at the track you might as well race, right?