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The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will once again open its season at Myrtle Beach Speedway in March and will feature 16 points-paying events at nine different tracks.

The calendar spotlights some of the northeast’s most iconic short tracks, includes three fast southern venues and features the longest distance race in the history of the Tour as it takes center stage at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September for a 250-lap showdown.

“Year in and year out, the Tour puts on some of the most exciting and pulse-pounding action in racing, and we are looking forward to the 2018 season,” said Jim Cassidy, NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations. “We’ve made some tweaks in the dates to alleviate some of the schedule congestion and better help teams work through the season. In 2017, we saw six drivers enter the final race of the season with a shot at the title, and we’re eager to watch that high level of competition continuing next season.”

The Tour’s return to Seekonk Speedway in Massachusetts has been moved from August to June 2. The date change means the tour will only have one instance where it will race three weeks in a row, and will have at least a weekend off between races on 10 different occasions.

Last year, the tour began its new unified era with the season opener at Myrtle Beach. South Carolina’s semi-banked half-mile oval held its first NASCAR event in 1958, and will once again host the opener on Saturday, March 17.

NASCAR and New Hampshire Motor Speedway announced over the summer that the tour will be the headliner on Saturday, Sept. 22 as part of a special event that will also include the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and NASCAR Pinty’s Series.

NASCAR’s only open-wheel division will also visit New Hampshire in July with a championship points race as well as the annual invitational, non-points All-Star Shootout. The tour will also be part of the national series weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway in August.

Following Myrtle Beach, the Tour will return to New England for two of the staple weekends of the early racing season: The 44rd Annual Icebreaker at Thompson and the 47th Annual NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway.

The oldest tour in NASCAR also features two races at Long Island’s Riverhead Raceway, a bullring known for their high-intensity, close-quarters Modified action, as well as return trips to New York’s Oswego Speedway and Virgina’s Langley Speedway in Hampton.

Here is the complete 2018 Whelen Modified Tour schedule

2018 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Schedule

March 17: Myrtle Beach Speedway, Myrtle Beach, S.C.
April 8: Thompson Speedway, Thompson, Ct.
April 29: Stafford Motor Speedway, Stafford, Ct.
June 2: Seekonk Speedway, Seekonk, Mass.
June 13: Thompson Speedway, Thompson, Ct.
June 23: Langley Speedway, Hampton, Va.
July 7: Riverhead Raceway, Riverhead, N.Y.
July 20: New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, N.H. (non-points exhibition)
July 21: New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, N.H.
Aug. 3: Stafford Motor Speedway, Stafford, Ct.
Aug. 8: Thompson Speedway, Thompson, Ct.
Aug. 15: Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, Tenn.
Sept. 1: Oswego Speedway, Oswego, N.Y.
Sept. 8: Riverhead Raceway, Riverhead, N.Y.
Sept. 22: New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, N.H.
Sept. 30: Stafford Motor Speedway, Stafford, Ct.
Oct. 14: Thompson Speedway, Thompson, Ct.

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