Supersized NASCAR Modified Tour roster reflects leadership’s vision

Under the leadership of NASCAR’s managing director of weekly and touring racing, Joey Dennewitz, alongside partners Whelen Engineering and FloRacing, there has been a concerted effort to grow the Modified Tour that appears to be bearing fruit in advance of the 2026 season.

For one, when looking at the teams that have signaled an intent to chase the championship over the full season, it’s an all-time roster.

Austin Beers and KLM Motorsports are back to defend their crown. Justin Bonsignore and Kenneth Massa Motorsports are back in pursuit of a fifth championship. After dominating in a part-time season, two-time champion Ron Silk is back full-time with Haydt Yannone Racing.

Jon McKennedy, the 2022 champion is back after several part-time seasons, and will contest the full season. Matt Hirschman is back for second full-time stint in a row. Craig Lutz, Tommy Catalano, Kyle Bonsignore and Tyler Rypkema all scored wins last year and have signed an intent to run every race.

Mike Christopher Jr., Teddy Hodgdon and Paulie Hartwig III are all chasing Rookie of the Year honors.  This is just an incredibly stout roster of gritty and charismatic New England short track aces and Dennewitz is really proud of it.

“Iron sharpens iron, Matt,” Dennewitz told Short Track Scene earlier in the week. “At the end of the day, having some of the greatest ever in a Tour Modified go up against new drivers to the series or younger drivers ultimately makes the product and the show that much better.

“I think the race fan in all of us, we enjoy watching those types of experiences clash together. … It’s the age-old racing story, the hardened veterans and the up and comers, and I believe the Modified Tour has a really good mix of that.”

So, how did NASCAR get there? For one, FloRacing and Whelen Engineering have steadily increased the purse with the Sanctioning Body working in a line-item fashion to address concerns like travel costs and competition.

Talkin’ Tires

The most notable change this year is the addition of American Racer as the tire supplier after a longstanding relation with Hoosier Racing Tires.

“I think that’s just another example of us listening to the competitors,” Dennewitz said. “The competitors were frustrated by the consistency in the tires, and more so the cost really, than anything else. I mean, that’s not a secret. The cost to go racing continues to escalate and there are certain costs we can control and certain ones that we can’t.

“I can’t control flights and hotels but we can control the schedule and one of the things that that we set out to do after many years was addressing what I was told is a tire cost issue. It continued to go up and we had a consistency issue. American Racer came to the table with a compelling product.

“We tested in twice and our competitors were happy with the results and then we got to the economics of it and we knocked off 20 percent of the MSRP number year-over-year.”

The tests took place at Jennerstown and New Smyrna and were open to Bonsignore, Beers and Lutz. Beers couldn’t attend due to the filming of the RAM reality show. Bonsignore said Jennerstown was a ‘turning point’ for NASCAR after turning laps on both Hoosier and American Racer. Next they went to New Smyrna with both products.

Bonsignore said teams provided feedback, and NASCAR didn’t make any ‘swing decisions,’ but after the New Smyrna test, the decision was clear.

“I don’t know if the concerns would’ve been resolved by Hoosier and that’s not to slight them, I just don’t know if the issues were having would been able to be resolved,” Bonsignore said. “There’s a discount in the price comparison and there are a handful of more teams looking to race full-time and the lower costs are probably a factor too.”

But really, the issues were just ones Hoosier has battled over the course of this decade in production inconsistency.

“You could put on different sets and have the car do a 180 on you,” Bonsignore said. “I think that was a big concern for a lot of teams. It just became more and more glaring throughout the last couple of years since COVID.

“This isn’t to bash Hoosier by any means. They were a great company and did a lot for our series over the years. We were all trying to work together on getting better but just couldn’t seem to get over the hump.”

Beers said his conversations with Bonsignore and Lutz led him to believe there is less falloff but that the consistency is there.

“So, I do think this was a good change,” Beers said. “This is a positive change because seeing what the tire bill was last year and this year for a full season is a drastic change. It’s going to help car counts but also allowing us to put some of our budget into other area we can improve.

“What NASCAR and American Racer is doing is great. It was a move that was needed to grow car counts and get some really competitive teams to join our series.”

Schedule and communication

The other obvious change is that the season opens with two southern races at New Smyrna and Martinsville but then the series remains in New England the rest of the campaign. That includes the return of Stafford and Oxford Plains to the fold for the first time since 2021 and 1991 respectively.

While NASCAR wants the tour to have a wide-ranging footprint, it was also important to recognize that every team is located in New England and asking them to travel south cost them full-time participants so Dennewitz addressed that too.

“The Modified Tour is strongest when tradition and progress work together,” Dennewitz said. “And I think this schedule, more than any of them, reflects what our fans and our teams told us they wanted.

“There’s always going to be a balance. … There will be a balance of guys that don’t ever want to leave New England but I think everyone agrees that mixing the schedule up and providing new venues, taking the powerful brand of Modified Tour racing to different areas is important.

“Everyone has their different preference on which race tracks they want to go to and I was proud to put Stafford back on this schedule. When I took this job, they said it was going to be impossible but we spent a lot of time on it and am proud to see it come to fruition.”

Bonsignore credited Dennewitz for his reception to listening to everyone.

“I think a big part of that’s Joey,” he said. “It’s been a theme the last couple of years, hearing what our concersn are, at least taking our thoughts and opinions and trying to balance a wide variety of feedback.

“There are a lot of options to race these cars, or in short track racing in general, but Joey has worked hard at this and there’s been a big financial commitment from Whelen that just started last year and we’re starting to see it all reflect in car counts.”

Silk says that Dennewitz ‘has been true to his word’ and that ‘he has worked on everything that he told me he was going to work on’ even if not everyone gets their way with every decision.

“A lot of us had a lot of complaints about the product that Hoosier was giving us,” Silk said. “And until we try this American Racer, we don’t know if there is an improvement out there to be had, but you have to give them credit for giving something a shot.

“We’re not just beating our heads against a wall as a series doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to eventually change. And then they’ve added Gary (Putnam as series director) and he knows what it’s like to race on this tour.

“It’s only going to help us out.”

The champ

There was never a doubt that Austin Beers would begin serving the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and Tour Type Modified community well as ambassador and champion after his coronation at Martinsville.

At 22 years, seven months, and five days old, Beers was the youngest champion in series history but also comes from quality stock as the son of discipline mainstay Eric Beers. At his age, he knew what it meant to be champion and that the work begins even after winning the title.

“I feel a lot of extra weight on me, honestly,” Beers said. “I feel like Justin (Bonsignore) does a great job of promoting Modifieds and being an ambassador, like you said. To me, he is still one of the faces of the Modified Tour, and I just hope to follow his example of what mistakes to avoid and do my best to promote this amazing series.”

For his part, Bonsignore says he’s off to a great start after joining their exclusive club.

“He is clean cut, well spoken and well put together,” Bonsignore said. “He is going to do so many good things for our series. He’s giving us national exposure with the RAM show and that’s only going to make him more well rounded.

“Obviously, I would have loved to continue being the defending champion but he’s going to do a good job. We’re good friends off the race track and he’s still young enough that he comes to me and asks me questions and looks for my opinion.

“I told him, ‘you’re the man now, you’re the face,’ and he’s just such a great kid all around. He comes from a great family and I’m looking forward to another year with him.”

Beers still has carrots to chase in front of him this season. He claimed the championship with a 100 percent top-10 rate and only four races outside of the top-5 but with only two wins, wants to add to the five career total he’s already put together.

“I’ve put a lot of thought into that,” Beers said. “I want to be as consistent as possible because that’s how we won our championship but winning on the Modified Tour is what it’s about.

“If you win enough, you can overcome bad races too. I want to win more but I don’t want to lose any of my consistency. We saw with Emerling that his team was fast everywhere we went but they had those two or three DNFs and you can’t come back from that.

“The championship is still our number one goal and if I have to give up a spot or two, I’m not going to risk our chances to go back-to-back.”

For Dennewitz, having Beers emerge as one of the bright young stars on the Tour has been one of the most rewarding elements of his job.

“Idolizing the drivers that he beat to win a championship to become the youngest champion in our oldest division here at NASCAR is pretty special,” Dennewitz said. “And judging off of his championship speech and what he’s going on to do to be considered for Truck Series rides, it’s one hell of a story that NASCAR will continue to tell throughout this season.

“Frankly, I don’t think he’s done yet. He’s got a few more championship seasons left in him.”

Entry list for the NASCAR Modified Tour opener at New Smyrna

Expect parity

Another thing about the change over to a completely different tire and tire manufacturer is that no one has a usable notebook going into the 2026 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.

This is a completely blank slate and a chance for anyone to come in and take on the recent powerhouses of the tour.

“I think you’re going to see some parity with it,” Beers said. “There are going to be some races where we all have to figure out how hard we can push these tires or how much we have to conserve them.

“I don’t think anyone has an answer yet for the entire schedule and I think that’s kind of a fun challenge.”

Bonsignore expects ‘the best teams to still be the best teams’ but agrees there will be some early surprises.

“It’s going to take a couple of races to see what we learn and who gets a hold of them first,” Bonsignore said. “I don’t think there was a huge difference in the tires from the test, nothing stood out to be as glaring, but there are some subtle changes.

“I do think it’s going to open opportunities for teams in those first couple of races to position themselves in a way they couldn’t before. But at the end of the season, I think the best teams are going to rise to the top.”