The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race at North Wilkesboro saw many cautions, and drivers shared their disappointment and theories as to why.
The race was held on Sunday afternoon, just before the NASCAR Cup Series hosted their All-Star Race, leading to a big crowd on hand, and the drivers knew the importance of the race. Two of the cautions were due to engine failures. Conner Jones also had an engine failure in practice, preventing him from racing. The longest green flag during the race was only 17 laps, and the average race speed was only 55.056 miles per hour.
Craig Lutz won the race after starting 16th. He noted the speed of the track as well as the multiple parts failures that contributed to all the cautions.
“Last year we had one caution in 150 laps [and] this year we had probably five before lap 20,” Lutz said after the race.
“Ultimately I don’t know what exact thing caused it, but there were a lot of parts failures. This palace you’re going so fast. If your stuff is not proper, you’re going to find that out here. I think that was a majority of the wrecks. And restarts. I think between those two things, that’s what really jammed the race up.”
Luke Baldwin finished runner-up after sustaining damage in a crash during a restart on lap xx. Baldwin said the toe was knocked out an inch after the crash on top of the cosmetic damage. Baldwin isn’t exactly sure what led to all the chaos, but is upset that the race ended up that way.
“I think [it’s] a little bit bigger stage than we’re all used to, I guess,” Baldwin said when asked what he thinks caused the melee.
“I don’t think there’s much of an excuse for all of that. Not saying that I’m perfect, but that was definitely a little embarrassing today. [I] wish we got some more green flag racing. I hate that it was in front of such a big crowd. I’m not sure what really contributed to a wreck every five laps. It really hurt us at the end. We could have been pretty good if we got some green flag laps.”
Tommy Baldwin Jr., veteran crew chief and car owner for Luke, noted the engine failures and racing etiquette when asked about what he thinks caused it.
“We had engine issues and a couple dumb moves by some people,” Baldwin Jr. said
“I hate it for our division because we really race good most of the time and to be center stage [on a] Cup weekend in front of a lot of fans is a let down to be honest. Everybody’s just got to do a better job. We had some damage on that frontstretch wreck that probably cost us a win.”
Justin Bonsignore won both the Whelen and SMART Modified races at the track last October. He seemed to be on track to have a chance to repeat, but he got damaged in the frontstretch crash that Bladwin noted, and had to drive up through the field.
“Not a good job by most of the drivers today,” Bonsignore said.
“Obviously there was a handful of guys that had no damage. I got into the [No.] 77 there and caused a big one. Just not a good look for our series on a national stage like this. I wish we could have done better as a series but all-in-all a good comeback for us.”
Matt Hirschman was caught up in the frontstretch crash and it ended his day. Hirschman won the first race at the speedway for the series in 2023, but did not get a chance to try to win it again.
“I can’t explain that one,” Hirschman said.
“Our race started out good and our car started out good. I think the track changed and the car went in a direction I didn’t want it to go. I ended up getting turned around, and I think we could have recovered. We were in eighth for that restart, with tires on, and it all broke loose at the front. [I] got piled in from the side and then behind and that was it.]
Ryan Newman was in the race, racing in the historic Mystic Missile for Tim Connely. Newman was looking forward to the race and the opportunity to drive such a historic car. He feels like the amount of speedy dry put down after wrecks was a key in contributing to even more.
“They say ‘cautions breed cautions,’” Newman said.
“I will say, the speedy dry was kind of ridiculous. That contributed to what I thought was getting ready to happen with [Patrick] Emerling. I got loose into one there, and I think he got loose beneath everybody else. It’s our [fault] the tracks got stuff on it, but we don’t need to make it worse than it already was. I think we would have been better off running in the oil than we were on the speedy dry the way they had it.”
It is safe to say several things contributed to the chaos we saw. With the nerves of all the drivers and it being so early in the season, as well as the mechanical failures and cleanup process throughout the race, it was hard to avoid. Regardless of why, all the drivers were upset that it devolved to such chaos, and hope they avoid a repeat of this.
