Tommy Catalano wins NWMT Monadnock thriller

For Tommy Catalano, watching his brother Trevor earn his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory at Monadnock Speedway last year was emotional for several reasons.

Trevor’s triumph came in only his eighth NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour appearance. Entering Saturday’s Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock Speedway, Tommy had 96 career starts on his resume, none of which had resulted in a win despite several close calls.

Years of patience and hard work brought a second Catalano to Monandock’s Victory Lane in thrilling fashion.

Tommy was tasked with fending off Patrick Emerling during an overtime restart while on older tires. Emerling briefly took the lead from Tommy, but a nudge to Emerling’s back bumper knocked him out of the groove just enough for Tommy to earn an emotional breakthrough victory by the slimmest of margins – .007 seconds.

“I didn’t really want to get [Emerling] like that into [turn three],” Tommy said. “I was hoping to kind of move him up the hill a little bit. Everyone was kind of tight right there. Justin [Bonsignore] was right on my bumper. It’s unbelievable.

“Hopefully this isn’t the last one.”

After starting 12^th, Tommy cycled to the second position after electing to stay on track during a caution with 42 laps remaining that, ironically, involved his brother Trevor.

Tommy lined up second behind Luke Baldwin for the ensuing restart, with Tyler Rypkema providing the two a buffer between Emerling, who led the remaining lead lap cars off pit road. Knowing he needed to move quickly, Tommy dove underneath Baldwin in Turn 1 to take the lead, which also pinned Emerling on the top line.

By the time Emerling worked his way back to second behind Tommy, another caution would trigger an overtime restart. The fastest car at Monadnock all evening would now be lined up to Tommy’s outside for the final two-lap sprint, but even with the odds against him, the seasoned veteran was not ready to surrender the win just yet.

Emerling led at the white flag. Through determination and sheer will, Tommy led at the checkered flag, albeit just barely.

The scene in Victory Lane was nearly identical to last year’s Duel at the Dog 250, with the only difference being the role reversal of the brothers.

As the Catalanos celebrated, Emerling felt a mix of frustration and disappointment with his second-place effort. He was critical of the maneuver Tommy pulled on him to take the victory but does not plan to linger on Saturday’s defeat for long.

“We had the best car today,” Emerling said. “We led basically the whole race and the whole team executed really good. We were doing exactly what we had to do and had the race won in the last corner but got smashed out of the way. That’s not the type of racing that I do, but I guess that’s how it goes.”

If Emerling had edged Tommy at the line, he would have snapped a streak of different winners to open 2025, having previously won at New Smyrna Speedway. Austin Beers’ victory at Lancaster Motorplex last weekend tied the record for seven different winners in seven events that was set in 1999.

Instead, Tommy’s valiant effort during the final laps set a new NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour record; eight winners in the first eight races.

Building up Catalano Motorsports has been a prolonged, methodical effort not only by Tommy, but his mother Amy, his father Dave, his brothers and every member of his team. That elusive first victory finally arrived on Saturday, a day Tommy wasn’t sure would ever materialize.

“It’s just nuts,” Tommy said. “You see all the people that have won so far this year and if you said any of them were going to win their second race [this year], that wouldn’t have surprised me at all. To come here and do what we did is phenomenal.

“You start getting down thinking it’s not meant to be, but you keep plugging away and keep at it.”

Kyle Bonsignore finished third in his 100th NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour start, followed by his cousin Justin Bonsignore and Beers. The rest of the top 10 included Rypkema, Baldwin, Stephen Kopcik, Craig Lutz and Anthony Nocella.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour competitors will have less than 24 hours to prepare for their next race, as the Cheshire County Clash 200 at Monadnock Speedway takes place at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday. FloRacing will carry live coverage of the second part of Monadnock’s doubleheader.