DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In a contentious championship battle that began in the first race of the season at New Smyrna Speedway only miles from the birthplace of NASCAR, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour title will once again be decided in the final race of the season at one of NASCAR’s most historic tracks as Justin Bonsignore and Ron Silk enter the finale at Martinsville Speedway separated by 10 points.
When two drivers are as evenly matched on the track as Bonsignore and Silk, and when there is as much on the line as a championship that could help cement a driver’s legacy among the greatest in the sport – friends can become foes as the on-track rivalry spills off it.
“Justin and I have known each other since we were kids,” said Silk of the friendship. “We get along really good … until we don’t get along. And then we don’t speak to each other.
“There were some words after Monadnock this year and some words after Riverhead last year. But for the most part we just try to keep our distance. It’s certainly tense. There’s no doubt about it.”
It has become a familiar scene as a three-time champion (2018, 2020, 2021) in Bonsignore and the two-time and reigning champion (2011, 2023) in Silk are knotted in a close battle at the end of the season. A year ago, Silk led his rival by 13 points heading into the finale and held on for his second championship.
This season, although both drivers have four wins each, the tables are turned as Bonsignore holds the points edge heading into the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 event on Saturday.
After the IMSA-sanctioned Mazda MX-5 Cup takes to an oval for the first time ever to comprise the opening 100 laps of the double-header event at 6 p.m. ET, the Whelen Modified Tour will battle it out under the lights for the title in a 200-lap championship showdown at 8 p.m. ET.
Bonsignore can make the math simple for himself – if he finishes fourth or better on Saturday night, regardless of any other factors, he will become a four-time champion. But Bonsignore knows that Silk won’t let it happen that easily, and he’s not going to back down either.
“I don’t like the point where it’s gotten,” said Bonsignore. “I’ll do what I have to do and stand up for ourselves and our team. But I would prefer it to go back to kind of how Doug [Coby] and I had rivalries over the years. There was a lot of mutual respect, and we got into each other and raced hard, but it was never to this point.
“They’re here to win races just as much as we are. When there’s as much passion and effort and everything that goes into these races, between two teams, it’s going to get heated at times.”
Silk opened the season in February with the win at New Smyrna Speedway as Bonsignore finished second – and then the duo flip-flopped the results at Richmond in the Tour’s next race in March. The largest lead held by either competitor all season was a 15-point margin in favor of Silk following the race at Seekonk Speedway to start the month of June.
Through the opening nine races of the season, Silk posted three wins and held the points lead, but Bonsignore began chipping back away at his advantage, notching a trio of top-three results in August. Those finishes gave him the lead in the standings for a pair of races, the first time he led the points all year. But a 15th-place effort by Bonsignore as Silk stood atop the podium at Riverhead Raceway handed the lead back to Silk by 11 points with three races to go.
Bonsignore bounced back once again, however, winning at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on Oct. 13, and then again in dominant fashion last weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway to take a 10-point lead heading into this weekend’s finale.
To add to the drama, there’s another driver still mathematically in the mix hoping to play spoiler as Patrick Emerling sits in third place in the standings, 24 points behind Bonsignore. Emerling came on strong in the second half of the season, winning three races. But he would need a lot of help and uncharacteristically bad results from both Bonsignore and Silk to win the title, but with the duo pushing each other, anything can happen in the finale.
When it comes to racing at Martinsville in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, Silk has the most experience of the three. He’s raced at the half-mile circuit eight times, but has only posted one top-five back in 2009. He finished sixth in this race last year.
Bonsignore has had the most success at Martinsville of the three, with a trio of top-three results including a runner-up finish a year ago, in his four starts at the track. Emerling has three starts at the track, with a single top-five finish, which came in the most recent race when he placed third.
“I would expect anybody on the last lap at Martinsville to use the bumper, because it’s a Grandfather Clock,” concluded Bonsignore.