Jennerstown win makes it worth wait for Bonsignore

Justin Bonsignore celebrates victory in the opening race of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season. (Nate Smallwood/NASCAR)

STORY BY NASCAR.COM

JENNERSTOWN, Pa. — It was 253 days between NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races, but Justin Bonsignore still ended up in the same place. After closing out the 2019 season with a win, and then waiting through the delay brought upon by the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Holtsville, New York, driver put forth a dominating performance in the 2020 season opener at Jennerstown Speedway.

Bonsignore won the Mayhew Tools Pole Award and then marched virtually unchallenged to the win in the Morocco Welding/Wade Cole Memorial 133 presented by Dunleavy’s Truck & Trailer Repair. 

Bonsignore’s No. 51 Phoenix Communications Inc. Chevrolet finished 1.76 seconds ahead of runner-up Craig Lutz. Only the top four finished within 10 seconds of Bonsignore on the .522-mile oval as he claimed his 27th career win. The victory moved him to within one of Mike Ewanitsko and defending tour champion Doug Coby for sixth all-time in tour history.

RELATED: Jennerstown Results | Justin Bonsignore Career Wins

More importantly, it have Bonsignore the early leg up in the championship chase after he finished just eight points shy of Coby last year. Jon McKennedy overcame a mid-race flat tire to charge up to third, followed by Matt Hirschman and Calvin Carroll. Ron Silk finished sixth and Coby, who qualified second, was seventh. Kyle Bonsignore, Matt Swanson and Rob Summers rounded out the top 10.

The Morocco Welding/Wade Cole Memorial 133 presented by Dunleavy’s Truck & Trailer Repair aired live on Trackpass on NBC Gold, and will re-air on Saturday, June 27 at 12am ET on NBCSN. The Whelen Modified Tour will return to action on Saturday, July 4, with its inaugural visit to White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, New Hampshire.