Danny Bohn claimed the victory in the SMART Modified Tour’s opening round of the playoffs at Franklin County Raceway on Saturday night.
Bohn started his weekend with a third place qualifying effort and a front-row starting position, thanks in part to the SMART Tour’s qualifying redraw procedure.
The major storyline coming into the event was the fate of one of the five championship-eligible drivers’ season ending at the conclusion of the race.
Luke Baldwin, Ryan Newman, and Paulie Hartwig III were all in a comfortable position to advance to the next rounds. In contrast, the two bubble drivers, Joey Coulter and Jake Crum, were the exact opposite of that.
Coulter entered the Mod Squad Nationals just two points over Crum, meaning Crum would have to finish three positions ahead of him on the racetrack to advance.
Heading into the weekend, Coulter was admittedly nervous about being on the championship bubble, but was not overly concerned with the outcome of the race, even if that meant championship elimination
“There is a little more pressure just because of the situation, but at the end of the day, it’s one lap at a time, one adjustment at a time … we’re headed to [North] Wilkesboro no matter what.”
When the green flag dropped for the start of the event, eventual race-winner Danny Bohn was able to get a jump on pole-starter and playoff driver Luke Baldwin and lead the first lap.
Bohn was able to maintain the lead until the first caution of the day came out for the stage break. Bohn was followed by Joey Braun and Luke Baldwin, who were both able to collect the three bonus points given out for the break alongside Bohn.
While the caution was out, pit road was a lonely place. None of the front-runners or playoff drivers decided to make the trip to change tires or service their cars. None, except for Jake Crum, who had been running towards the back of the field and desperately needed to jump in front of Joey Coulter.
Before the stage break, Long Island, NY’s Joey Braun was actively chasing down Danny Bohn for the race lead. Braun, who had one of the fastest cars in practice, now had Bohn to his outside for the restart of the race.
Braun was able to fire off a blistering restart heading into turn one, clearing Bohn for the race lead. Before the Hill Enterprises entry was able to pull away too far, SMART Tour officials rescinded the restart, claiming that Braun had jumped the start. One moment, Braun was in clean mountain air; the next, he was forced to the back of the pack for the retired restart.
Bohn, this time, was able to fire off in front of the second place restarter, this time being Luke Baldwin. He would maintain the lead until the first caution for incident flew on lap 62.
Slate Myers, who had been running in the 13th position, blew a tire heading into turn one and came to a standstill, forcing SMART Tour officials to throw the yellow flag. This incident came at a great time for Jake Crum, who had already pit and would be able to cycle to the lead if the rest of the field came down for a tune-up.
Luckily for Crum, that exact scenario played out, putting him in the catbird’s seat for the final 37 laps but, more importantly, six spots ahead of Joey Coulter for the restart.
Even on thirty-lap older tires, Crum was able to get a jump on Danny Bohn on the restart, clearing him by the time they got to the backstretch.
Crum would be able to lead the next handful of laps with little pressure, until with about 15 to go when Bohn and Luke Baldwin started pushing Crum for the race lead.
Eventually, the older tires and pressure from faster cars were too much, as with ten laps to go, Crum would concede both first and second place with ten laps remaining, instead now focusing on beating Joey Coulter by the required three spots to advance.
This now put the battle between the race-dominating Danny Bohn and Luke Baldwin, who both had heartbreaking results when the SMART Tour visited Franklin County last in May.
Bohn had dominated that race, just as he did today, but got shuffled back in the late restart and couldn’t find his way back to the front of the field
Baldwin was the one who capitalized on Bohn’s bad restart, until a hard-charging Ryan Newman was able to get past him. Newman and he would battle for the race win, culminating in a jaw-dropping photo finish where Baldwin finished 2nd.
Now, four months later, both have a chance for redemption.
The two battled for the last seven laps of the event, with Bohn holding a defensive line and Baldwin doing everything in his power to get under the No. 25 machine. Ultimately, it was too little too late for Baldwin, as Bohn was able to cross the line first and pick up his third career SMART Tour victory.
Meanwhile, in the playoff race, Jake Crum was able to maintain his 3rd-place pace, and Joey Coulter was only able to watch as his championship hopes slipped from his fingers with an eigth-place finish.
The SMART Modified Tour will continue its post-season at Tri-County Raceway on October 11 as Luke Baldwin, Ryan Newman, Paulie Hartwig IIII, and Jake Crum will fight for the 3 open spots in the SMART3 finale race at North Wilkesboro.
SMART Mod Squad Nationals
Franklin County Speedway
September 20 2025
1. #25 Danny Bohn
2. #7 Luke Baldwin
3. #99 Jake Crum
4. #79 Joey Braun
5. #2 Ryan Newman
6. #1 Burt Myers
7. #40 Carter McMurray
8. #02 Joey Coulter IV
9. #73 Paulie Hartiwg III
10. #16VA Jonathan Cash
11. #7NY Jack Baldwin
12. #12 Cody Norman
13. #21 Jimmy Wallace
14. #4 Slate Myers
15. #15 Carson Loftin
