SEEKONK, Mass. — Matt Hirschman won a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race at Seekonk Speedway for the third time in the last three races at the historic race track.
Hirschman, who now has 10 victories on the Tour, won the series’ visits in 2023 and 2024, as well. He had not won a Tour race since last year’s Seekonk event; this despite the fact that he entered Sunday with the most laps led on Tour this season. He now has at least one series victory in five consecutive seasons.
“This car was torn up after North Wilkesboro,” Hirschman said. “We worked countless hours on this. … Just want to thank all the people who help us here.
“This has always been a tough race track, but it’s a race track I really like. I enjoy coming here and look forward to coming here. It’s not an easy place to duplicate things or do it three times. You have to race the track as much as you do the competitors here. I’ve lost some tough ones over the years here, too. So to put a whole day together today … just can’t ask for a better day. And we really needed it after what our last day was at North Wilkesboro.”
Hirschman restarted outside of redraw polesitter Justin Bonsignore and held his ground in the upper groove for several laps. With 121 of 150 circuits still to run, Hirschman powered by Bonsignore for the lead.
Hirschman experienced little resistance from that point. He managed his tires knowing he likely would not pit from the lead, a strategy that paid off when a caution with 54 to go sent more than a dozen contenders to the pits for a tire change.
Hirschman and Bonsignore stayed out, but the latter was no match for the former as Hirschman drove away from the field.
Not even a late caution for debris could spoil Hirschman’s day at Seekonk. The race’s final restart arrived with just two laps to go, and Hirschman utilized a smooth entry into Turns 1-2 to reclaim the lead for good.
On the final lap, Bonsignore, still fighting to get back to Hirschman, got loose coming off Turn 2. He spun and collected multiple cars on the backstretch, resulting in the event’s only pile-up. The yellow flag marked the end of the race.
“Obviously we didn’t want to see a caution at all,” Hirschman said. “We survived it. It’s going to take laps to get back hooked up. Of course you want to protect the bottom from first, but that also hurts your center corner speed. (Bonsignore) was able to cross over and get a run. … I gave him the space he earned. … I think he got loose; I don’t know what happened from there.”
Stephen Kopcik was credited with a second-place finish. Austin Beers, who came agonizingly close to winning last year’s Seekonk race before Hirschman stole the show, finished third.
The finish:
Matt Hirschman, Stephen Kopcik, Austin Beers, Jake Johnson, Trevor Catalano, Kyle Bonsignore, Tyler Barry, Chase Dowling, Kyle Ebersole, Eric Goodale, Justin Bonsignore, Luke Baldwin, Craig Lutz, Patrick Emerling, Jon McKennedy, Max Zachem, Dave Sapienza, Brian Robie, Joey Cipriano III, Ken Heagy, Tyler Rypkema, John-Michael Shenette, Tommy Catalano.
