Landon Huffman adds Tour Type Modified races to 2024 schedule

In addition to a full-time CARS Tour bid, Landon Huffman will also go Tour Type Modified racing next season.

Huffman revealed on Monday that he would occasionally drive a No. 98 under the Shamrock Motorsports banner. The car will be housed at the Huffman Racing shop in Claremont, North Carolina but is owned by Justin and Ernie Hanney.

The team has origins in the 1960s and 70s with the elder Hanney, Ernie, owning a Modified Stock Car for the likes of Richie Evans and Eddie Flemke.

“I got connected with a guy named Justin Hanney, who is a longtime family friend,” Huffman detailed to NASCAR.com. “Actually his father (Ernie Hanney) built engines and owned part of an engine shop that worked with my dad (Robert Huffman) in the ’90s during the Goody’s Dash Series days called Golden Shamrock. They developed a really good friendship over the years. Once my dad got out of racing, Justin’s dad Ernie closed shop and Ernie moved out West with Justin, who lives in Washington State now.

“Over the last year or so, they’ve been putting together a plan to restart their Modified team that ran in the late ’60s and early ’70s called Shamrock Motorsports. They got the funding put together to do so. Justin’s going to own and operate it out of his headquarters in Washington State, and I’ll operate all racing operations here out of my shop.”

Huffman had long desired to race a Tour Type Modifed. It’s something that has come up in conversation a lot but especially now with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour having strong events in the south alongside a very healthy SMART tour and Bowman Gray Stadium. The team will make its debut at the World Series of Asphalt in February and then the Whelen Modified Tour debut on March 29 at Richmond Raceway. They also have aims to race at North Wilkesboro on October 5 and Martinsville on October 26.

If all goes well, the team hopes to contest a full NASCAR Modified Tour bid at some point. Their first car is one they purchased from Tommy Baldwin Racing.

“I’ve talked to a lot of people who have started in Late Model Stocks or in the Late Model world and transitioned to Modifieds,” Huffman said. “(Bowman Gray Stadium champion) Brandon Ward is a very good friend of ours, so I’ve been talking to him and kind of using him as a mentor to sort of help me. He’s been kind of preparing me for what to expect in the car.

“Honestly, man, it’s got four tires and a motor; it can’t be all that much different. It’s got really wide, sticky tires, and they don’t weigh anything. Everybody says they’re a blast to drive, so I know going into it that it’s going to be a lot of fun.”