At Just 15 Years Old, Paulie Hartwig III Reflects on Modified Tour Season

The rising young driver of Paulie Hartwig III began the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season at New Smyrna Speedway pit side. Hartwig was just 14 years old still and wouldn’t turn 15 for another two weeks. 

After that, Hartwig joined the Modified Tour at Martinsville Speedway in late March, where he would get his first career start with the tour. Unfortunately the first two races of the season weren’t kind to the young driver and the Hartwig family owned team. Back to back DNF finishes at Martinsville and Thompson due to mechanical issues, but Hartwig would rebound. 

After Thompson, Hartwig would begin to build momentum into the middle part of the season, picking up strong finishes in the top five and top 10, with his best finish of the season coming towards the end of 2026 at Riverhead with a second place finish.  

Despite finishing his rookie season 10th in the championship standings, it left Hartwig wanting a stronger year after finishing the season with a few bright spots to reflect on.

“It could have been a little bit better, but we got the pole at Thompson, it was really cool for the last race of the season,” Hartwig said. “Coming off of the first race at New Smyrna when we couldn’t race, and then I went to Martinsville, and had that mishap on pitroad, and then at Thompson, the rear main seal broke. I think we were pretty good at all these racetracks. I think we struggled at Thompson for the first two races there. We ended up like 17th, then we started 17th and finished seventh for the August Thompson race. It seems like a really tough time at that place. It’s always sketchy to run to the top there to pass. I can’t really complain about our season and how it went this year.”

Paul Hartwig Jr., a former Tour Type Modified racer himself enjoyed the first full-time season mentoring his son and felt it was a successful year for the family owned team.

“It was a great year for sure, I knew he could do it,” Hartwig Jr said. “I just wish that they would have let him run at New Smyrna to kind of set our season up a little better. But, at the end of the day, he ran up front in all the races that he finished. We had 2 DNFs to start the year, which really hurt our run at the Rookie of the Year. We rebounded with a bunch of top fives and a bunch of top 10s. And it ended up being a solid year. Bobby Geiger definitely had the car dialed in everywhere we went. We showed speed and a lot of friends supported us to make it along the way too.”

Hartwig felt the challenges of visiting new tracks, and is looking forward to 2027 and revisiting the tracks that challenged him with the 31 Elite Racing team.

“Monadnock was a tough time for us, we were running second or third and had that mishap with the lap car,” Hartwig said “I think the only track we really struggled at this year was at Thompson, because every time we just went there, we just struggled really bad. I don’t know why. We’ll see what next year goes with that 31 Elite Racing team and I’m really looking forward to it and hopefully we have better results than we have this year. Just really proud of this team and what we had this year. We’ll go to the Alan Elite Racing team with the 31 and just really looking forward to that next year.” 

For Hartwig III, who will turn 16 years old in February, he is looking forward to improving qualifying efforts in hope of easing the burden of working through the field. 

Hartwig qualified on the pole in the final race of the season at Thompson and that put the young driver out front, leading the first 81 laps of the World Series 150.

“I think my qualifying was our struggle and we struggled really badly at Thompson,” Hartwig III said. “I think we started worse than 16th in the first two Thompson races and then the last one came up and we started on the pole. We started with four inches of tire stagger and then the stagger just literally just went through the roof and we were really loose. We really worked on our qualifying speed this year and then our race trim and stuff on race day. It doesn’t really matter about how I qualify. It was about how your race trim was, we’re going to definitely work on that next year with the 31 team.” 

As a small family owned team out of Galloway Township, New Jersey, it was a year of new adventures and tracks, but it also created new challenges financially for the team.

“We struggled this year with money and such, it’s tight right now,” Hartwig III explained. “My dad doesn’t really do much, but work,  he does landscaping and my mom just got a job, it’s not really going real good here. I’m really excited and looking forward to next year and how good it will be going with the 31 team. Hopefully it helps out with the work shifts, money, and just try to keep Alan Derling happy with the Elite Racing Team and all those guys happy. So hopefully I’ll just get along and just start at the Islip 300 with them and see what we have next year.” 

Hartwig Jr. knew it was a challenge throughout the year, as all the traveling created a financial strain to keep up with, from increasing fuel prices, lodging, and the rest of the expenses.

“It’s not easy as a family owned operation to run up against what we’re running up against,” Hartwig Jr. explained. “It’s almost $7000 a race by the time you get everyone’s way in, buy tires, get a house for everybody or hotels, depending on where we’re at. It’s still like $7000 a race, which is a lot of money for a family of just my wife and myself. I’m just a landscaper, basically. I cut some lawns, and that’s about it. We have a lot of good friends that helped out throughout the season.” 

Despite the challenges of keeping up with the expenses, Hartwig Jr. has worked hard in developing the next generation racer, and he knows his son has the skills to compete.

“You either have it or you don’t have it, it’s simple,” Hartwig Jr. said. “ I worked with him in the backyard since he was a little kid. He was running go-karts in the backyard when he was 3 years old. And I had him out there with the leaves on the track, everything, like just to learn car control and the whole nine yards. I never really cleaned off the track. I actually made him slide around and spin out and stuff like that just to get car control. From those days, you could see that he was going to be good. From the very first couple laps that he turned in a backyard and watching his car control was just unbelievable.” 

Hartwig III knew at a young age his passion for racing, but he has also maintained a humble personality through the years, knowing he has room for development and growth.

“My dad got me started really early, I don’t even think other guys started early like I did,” Hartwig III said. “I started at around three/four years old and that’s what our passion was about. It’s about the reason, and we don’t ever give up on this sport. I think at my age, I’m doing pretty good. I can work on it a little bit, so by my results and stuff and we’re really consistent this year, hopefully next year will bring us a better year, and hopefully 2027 is a good year. “

With Hartwig III joining forces with Elite Racing, it will provide relief for the Hartwig family. The Hartwig Racing team will join forces with Alan Derling and his crew. A welcomed partnership for the Hartwig family.

“It’s definitely going to be better, we’re bringing two crews together,” Hartwig Jr said. “I think that’s going to be a big plus for both of us. Bobby Geiger and Eugene Orlando are going to be working together, Bobby’s going to be the main crew chief, but Eugene’s going to do everything at the shop for us. I think it’s going to be a very good season for everyone involved.” 

With Hartwig’s sophomore season ahead, many tracks are the same as 2026 for next year, but there are new additions, and Hartwig III is looking forward to it.

“Definitely Riverhead and getting back to Stafford in the spring is pretty cool,” Hartwig III said. “With a new track like Thunder Road is definitely pretty cool and special. I’m just really looking forward to next year and to some of the tracks that we went to this year and struggled a little bit at. I think we’re going to be better in 2027.”

Hartwig III and the Elite Racing team will kick the season off with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour April 4th at Thompson Speedway. Hartwig III will look to chase down his first career win with the Modified Tour.