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NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour

Ryan Preece and Justin Bonsignore tangle on last lap of Musket 250

Adam Glanzman/NASCAR Home Tracks

Two of the best drivers on the Whelen Modified Tour were slugging it out for the inaugural Musket 250, but neither one of them emerged with the win.

Justin Bonsignore and Ryan Preece tangled on the last lap, slamming into the wall and handing Chase Dowling his first career victory.

The chaos began to break- out off of turn two.

On the backstretch, Bonsignore was challenged by Preece as the two approached turn three. Preece dropped his No. 77 Gary Putnam-owned car to the very bottom of the racetrack, almost clipping the grass.

Bonsignore had things set up just as he wanted.

“I wanted to be the leader,” said Bonsignore. “The last bunch of races here have been won from the lead, so I wanted to be the leader coming to the white.”

But going into turn three, the two cars made contact, as Preece’s right front slammed into the left rear of Bonsignore. The two modifieds got hooked together, and pushed up the track and into the SAFER barrier. Preece was then hit by Doug Coby as Preece came back down the racetrack.

Both drivers called the contact a racing incident.

“If we didn’t get hooked together, we probably would’ve been fine, but it is what it is,” Bonsignore said. “That’s just part of this place, and it’s tough.”

Preece concurred.

“He did what he had to do, and I was doing what I had to do,” Preece told Short Track Scene. “I’m sure he would’ve done the same thing as I did… His objective was to hold the bottom and keep me from getting under him and moving him up the racetrack. My objective was to use the run and get under him and kind of dictate where he was gonna put his racecar. At the end of the day, it didn’t work out for either one of us.”

Work it did not. Both cars suffered significant damage, and neither team got the massive payday they were hoping for.

While Bonsignore added another top-10, making him a perfect 14-for-14 in that regard, he was frustrated to have missed out on two shots at wins at Loudon in 2018.

“Unfortunately, nothing to show for it,” he said. “We came here with probably the best cars both times.”

Preece felt similarly.

“It’s a good thing we got a lot of lap money today,” he quipped.

The race with perhaps the most build-up had quite the finish, but not everyone was able to escape unscathed.

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Paul Lambert is an aspiring collegiate journalist. A writer and broadcaster, Paul's excited to cover New England short track racing in 2022. Paul has also been published in the Boston Herald, Speedway Illustrated and on Autoweek.com.

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