JUSTIN BONSIGNORE RALLIES FROM MID-RACE TROUBLE TO FINISH THIRD AT RIVERHEAD RACEWAY
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — Justin Bonsignore rallied from some mid-race trouble to capture a solid third-place finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200 at Riverhead Raceway. The race, postponed one day due to weather, started well for the Holtsville, New York, native. Bonsignore won his 17th career Mayhew Tools pole in qualifying on Saturday — which was also his third of the year — and paced the first 49 laps of the race out front.
After losing the top spot, Bonsignore settled inside the top-five and began preparing to save his equipment for a run at the finish — however, slight contact forced Bonsignore to mistakenly hit the kill switch inside the car, shutting the No. 51 Phoenix Communications Modified off briefly, and pushing him outside the top-10. The remainder of the race was spent navigating through traffic and working back into the top-five en route to the third-place finish.
Bonsignore remains three points behind Patrick Emerling in the championship standings leaving his home track.
“It’s tough here now with the spray (on the track), you have to muscle our way to the top,” he said. “It’s not the same track we were winning at for a while. We have to do our homework a little bit and see if when we get back here in September we can get a little better.”
The finish was Bonsignore’s 12th consecutive top-five finish at Riverhead — a span that includes seven wins.
Justin Bonsignore returns to the track on Wednesday, June 30, with the Tri Track Open Modified Series at Seekonk Speedway. The next Whelen Modified Tour race on the schedule is Saturday, July 17, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
For more information on Justin Bonsignore, visit JustinBonsignore.com and follow his athlete page on Facebook.
Sources: Souza Media/Kyle Souza
NASCAR photo