Whelen Modified Tours Stat Advance: Bristol
Analyzing the Bush’s Beans 150 at Bristol Motor Speedway
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour head into a midweek combination event with the Bush’s Beans 150 on Wednesday night at Bristol Motor Speedway. Below is a look at the race itself and some of the selected participants.
Bush’s Beans 150 Race Setup:
This marks the only stop of the season for both the Whelen Modified Tour and the Whelen Southern Modified Tour at Bristol Motor Speedway, and it is also the only combination race of 2016 for the two series. The track has held seven previous Whelen Modified Tour and Whelen Southern Modified Tour combination races, with only NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Ryan Newman posting multiple overall wins. On the Whelen Modified Tour, three-time champion Doug Coby, of Milford, Connecticut, holds a 15-point lead over Justin Bonsignore of Holtsville, New York after 10 of 17 races, while three-time 2016 race winner Burt Myers of Walnut Cove, North Carolina, leads Andy Seuss and George Brunnhoelzl III in the Whelen Southern Modified Tour standings.
At Bristol Motor Speedway:
History:
• Groundbreaking for Bristol International Speedway, as Bristol Motor Speedway was originally known, took place in 1960. The track was an exact half-mile.
• First NASCAR Sprint Cup race was July 30, 1961; Jack Smith won the event (with relief from Johnny Allen).
• In the fall of 1969, the track was reshaped and re-measured to .533-miles.
• The name changed to Bristol International Raceway in 1978.
• The first night race was held in the fall of 1978.
• The surface was changed from asphalt to concrete in 1992.
• The name changed to Bristol Motor Speedway in May 1996.
• The track was resurfaced between races in 2007, and the turns were ground down in 2013 to eliminate part of the progressive banking.
Notebook:
• The format for the Bristol combination races sees the competitors from the NASCAR Whelen Modified and Whelen Southern Modified Tours compete for an overall checkered flag and purse, but earn points respective to their own tours. The highest-finishing driver from the tour that does not take the checkered flag is credited for a win for that tour.
• This will be the 14th all-time, points-paying combination race between the NWMT and NWSMT. There were six such events at Martinsville Speedway from 2005-10, and this will be the eighth at Bristol. The two tours have also competed in seven non-points combo races on the short track at Daytona International Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in recent seasons.
Bristol Data:
Race: #11 of 17 overall for the Whelen Modified Tour; #7 of 11 overall for the Whelen Southern Modified Tour
Race Date: Wednesday, Aug. 17 at 6:05 p.m. ET
Telecast: NBCSN – Friday, Aug. 26, 9 p.m.
Track Layout: .533-mile banked concrete oval
Race Length: 150 laps (79.95 miles)
Qualifying/Race Data:
2015 Winner: Ryan Preece (overall), Andy Seuss (NWSMT)
2015 Pole Sitter: Woody Pitkat
1-lap Qualifying Record: 130.940 mph (Woody Pitkat, August 2015)
150-lap Race Record: 101.025 mph (Ryan Newman, August 2010)
Active Category Leaders at Bristol:
Wins
1. Ryan Newman … 2
3. Five others tied at … 1
Poles
1. Justin Bonsignore … 2
2. Five others tied at … 1
Laps Led – Overall
1. Ted Christopher … 236
2. Todd Szegedy … 140
3. Donny Lia … 133
Laps Completed – Overall
1. Eric Goodale … 974
2. Jamie Tomaino … 954
3. Andy Seuss … 921
Selected Driver Highlights:
Jimmy Blewett (No. 4 Starrett Dodge)
• Is ranked fifth in the standings headed into this week with one win, five top-5 and seven top-10 finishes in 10 races.
• Won at Stafford Motor Speedway for his first win since 2009.
• Returned to full-time competition this season with owner Bob Garbarino’s Mystic Missile team.
Danny Bohn (No. 40 Dunleavy’s Truck & Trailer/Williams Trucking Chevrolet)
• Has made two career starts at Bristol.
• Finished second among NWSMT drivers in his first start at the track in 2012.
• Is fifth in the current NWSMT standings with three top fives and five top 10s in 6 races.
Justin Bonsignore (No. 51 M3 Technology Chevrolet)
• Sits second in the Whelen Modified Tour standings with one win, seven top fives and eight top 10s in 10 starts.
• Has the most top-five finishes of any driver on the tour this season with seven.
• Has two career poles at Bristol.
George Brunnhoelzl III (No. 28 Dunleavy’s Truck and Trailer Repair Chevrolet)
• Third in the Whelen Southern Modified Tour standings with two wins, four top fives, and six top 10s through six races.
• Is a four-time NWSMT champion with 27 career wins.
• Has two career NWSMT wins at Bristol, including the first race held there in 2009.
Doug Coby (No. 2 Dunleavy’s Repair Chevrolet)
• Three-time Whelen Modified Tour champion leads the standings this season with three wins, five top fives, and eight top 10s in 10 races this season.
• Has two wins at Stafford this season and a win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
• In five career Bristol starts, has four Top-10 starting positions but has just one top five finish with an average finish of 13.8.
• Has never led a lap at Bristol.
Donny Lia (No. 8 Sypher Construction/Bardahl Chevrolet)
• Two-time Tour champion has 17 career wins.
• Has one win and one pole in his career at Bristol.
• Finished third overall in this race in 2015.
• Sits fourth in the current series standings with three top fives and seven top 10s in 10 races.
Burt Myers (No. 4 Remington SCT/Speedway Auto/Citrusafe Ford)
• 2010 Whelen Southern Modified Tour champion leads the current standings with three wins and six top fives in six races this season.
• Has two wins at Caraway and one win at Bowman Gray this season.
• Has one win and one career pole at Bristol.
• In seven career Bristol starts, he has four top fives and five top 10s.
Jason Myers (No. 41 Moorefield Enterprises Ford)
• Sits fourth in the NWSMT standings with three top fives and four top 10s in 6 races.
• Has three career wins, at Bowman Gray, Langley, and Caraway.
• In seven career Bristol starts, has three top fives and five top 10s.
Ryan Newman (No. 107 Menards/Aggressive Hydraulics Chevrolet)
• Has two career wins at Bristol, posting consecutive victories in 2010 and 2011.
• In six career starts at Bristol, has only one finish outside the top five.
• Has four career Whelen Modified Tour wins, two each at Bristol and Loudon, but none since his Bristol win in 2011.
Ryan Preece (No. 6 T.S. Haulers/Riverhead Raceway Chevrolet)
• Is the defending winner of the Bush’s Beans 150 at Bristol.
• Full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series driver has 15 career Whelen Modified Tour wins.
• In six career starts at Bristol, has posted four top fives and five top 10s.
Andy Seuss (No. 11 Davis Roofing/Vestal GMC Chevrolet)
• Sits second in the NWSMT standings with one win, six top fives, and six top 10s through six races, one of only two drivers to finish in the top five in every race this season.
• Owns 22 career victories.
• Has finished in the top 10 in all seven of his career Bristol starts.
• Was the NWSMT winner in this race last season.
Ron Silk (No. 82 Horton Avenue Materials Chevrolet)
• Sits eighth in the current standings with one win, three top fives, and six top 10s through nine races.
• 2011 champion won both the pole and the race at Bristol in 2012.
• Won at New London-Waterford Speedbowl in May.
Timmy Solomito (No. 16 Diversified Metals/R.B. Enterprises Ford)
• Sits third in the current standings with three wins and four top fives in nine races.
• Recorded his first career Whelen Modified Tour win in the season opener at Thompson, leading 50 of 150 laps en route to the victory. Also won at Riverhead and Monadnock this season.
• Has finished eighth in both of his career starts at Bristol.
Up To Speed:
• This is the 32nd season of NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour racing. The inaugural race was contested March 31, 1985, at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.
• The 2016 schedule features 17 points races at nine different tracks across four states, while the Whelen Southern Modified Tour has 10 races this season at seven different tracks.
• The 10 races of the NWMT season featured six different winners — Doug Coby (three times) Timmy Solomito (three times), Justin Bonsignore, Jimmy Blewett, Ron Silk and Bobby Santos III. Santos also won the non-points Whelen All-Star Shootout at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. On the NWSMT, there have been three different winners in the first six races of the season — Burt Myers (three), George Brunnhoelzl III (two) and Andy Seuss.
STravis Barrett for NASCAR