THOMPSON, Conn. — Patrick Emerling drove from the rear of the field to win the 750th race in the history of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.
Piloting a car adorned with Geoff Bodine’s iconic No. 1 Big Red Modified scheme in the Thompson 150, Emerling emulated the legendary competitor by methodically carving his way through the field.
With 26 laps remaining, Emerling utilized fresh tires to make the race-winning pass on Jake Johnson and score his second victory of 2025.
Being able to climb from dead last on the starting grid to Victory Lane carried plenty of catharsis for Emerling, especially since he got to celebrate the moment with Bodine himself.
“We battled some adversity there,” Emerling said. “We weren’t running right all day and were tinkering around in qualifying. We qualified really good but were lacking a little horsepower and had a little bit of a stumble. We made some adjustments, started last, came back through and got it done.”
Starting 27th out of 27 cars was not an auspicious scenario for Emerling.
Emerling stayed patient and waited for the right moment to bring his car down pit lane. Staying on sequence with leaders Ron Silk and Justin Bonsignore, the two stops from Emerling’s crew were quick enough for him to come out third within his group, though he would still need to negotiate his way around cars on older tires.
With the second half going caution-free, Emerling had all the time he needed to muscle his way around Bonsignore and Matt Hirschman, who were both on the same strategy, and power his way to the front.
Even though he only ended up leading a fraction of the laps he led last year, Emerling’s car on Wednesday proved to be just as efficient.
Hirschman could only watch as Emerling’s Big Red Modified carved through lapped traffic with ease.
“Only a win is a win, but for this team and our past history at Thompson, this was by far our best performance,” Hirschman said. “We had good long run speed once last October here, but that was the only time. I was going forward, and that got us all the way here to second.
“We’re a work-in progress, but we took a big jump.”
Bringing Bodine’s iconic colors to Thompson’s Victory Lane in the Modified Tour’s 750th race proved to be a more fitting outcome for Emerling.
After Emerling climbed out of his car, Bodine climbed on top of it like he had done so many times during his own Modified career. Bodine extended his praise toward Emerling for the poise he displayed with turning a poor start into a victory celebration.
“It looked like the old days with the Big Red No. 1 going from the back to the front,” an exuberant Bodine said in Victory Lane. “I don’t know what they did on the pit stop, but they tuned [Emerling] up, and [he] was gone.
“That was awesome. I’ve got to come to more of these.”
Following Emerling and Hirschman in third was Kyle Bonsignore, with Johson and Eric Goodale completing the top five.
The rest of the top 10 finishers were Matt Swanson, Austin Beers, Justin Bonsignore, Silk and Jacob Lutz.
