The Mohegan Sun 100 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race is a fan- and driver-favorite at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion and NASCAR Cup Series regular Ryan Preece, a Berlin, Conn. native, will compete in the Mohegan Sun 100 this Saturday to try to earn his second home track victory in the series before strapping in for Sunday's Dollar Tree 301 NASCAR Cup Series race.
LOUDON, N.H. – Ask the drivers who know New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) best what fans can expect from the Mohegan Sun 100, and their answers sound remarkably similar.
Justin Bonsignore calls it the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s (NWMT) version of the DAYTONA 500. Defending race winner Tyler Rypkema says it will be the best race fans see all weekend.
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) driver and former Modified champion Ryan Preece has an even simpler message for anyone planning to wait until Sunday to visit “The Magic Mile.”
“If you aren’t there on Saturday and you’re just going Sunday, you’re gonna wish you were there on Saturday,” Preece said.
Preece’s confidence comes from years of watching the NWMT produce some of the most competitive racing seen anywhere at NHMS. “The Magic Mile’s” long straightaways, flat corners and the Modifieds’ unique aerodynamic setup creates a drafting race unlike anything else on the Tour schedule, where drivers can exchange the lead multiple times in a lap and spend 100 laps positioning themselves for a move that may not come until the final few hundred yards.
“Just excitement the whole time,” Bonsignore said. “There’s not too often that you have multiple lead changes in a lap, and most of the times they don’t even get registered because we might swap the lead two or three times in a certain lap before we get back to the start/finish line. It’s super-fast. We’re in a big pack, and there are just a lot of moving targets as a driver to think about and for fans to watch.”
Few drivers understand that better than Bonsignore, whose success at New Hampshire has made him a factor virtually every time the NWMT visits Loudon. He has been part of several dramatic finishes at the track, including last year’s Mohegan Sun 100, when he and Rypkema battled all the way to the checkered flag in one of the most memorable finishes in recent series history.
Bonsignore entered the closing laps looking for a third consecutive victory in the event and believed his team had put themselves in position to control the race before a late caution brought the field back together. From there, the strategy became the same one that has defined so many Modified races at New Hampshire: stay near the front, defend your position and just survive.
“You just work all day to get yourself in a position to have a shot off turn two coming back to the checker, and that’s all you really can ask,” Bonsignore said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved in a lot of these last-lap passes for the win or for the loss. Really, that’s all you can do is just ask to have a shot off turn two, and then it’s never the same move twice to win the race there either. It’s very challenging. It’s frustrating at times because you don’t know what the best move is, but I think that’s what makes every driver love going to New Hampshire and love competing there.”
Last year, the move belonged to Rypkema. After spending much of the race running with Bonsignore at the front of the field, Rypkema made his charge on the final lap and the two drivers came together racing toward the checkered flag. Both cars sustained significant damage, but Rypkema crossed the line first for the victory and finally earned a New Hampshire win after several strong performances at the track had previously come up short.
What stands out to Rypkema now is not simply the final-lap contact or the trophy that followed. It is how methodically his team put themselves in position to capitalize when the opportunity arrived.
“We had been fast all day,” Rypkema said. “We had pushed Justin a lot of that race, and it wasn’t a fluke that we were there at the end. We had been up there most of the day with Justin. I didn’t care to lead a bunch of laps. I was like, ‘You know what? I’m content running second to Justin and pushing him.’ That was a safe spot for me at the time. I would say that’s probably our biggest takeaway. We were fast, we were second to him all day and I was pretty confident that we were going to be there at the end to contend.”
Being the defending winner has not added pressure for Rypkema as he prepares to return to New Hampshire. If anything, finally converting one of those strong runs into a victory has allowed him to approach the race with more confidence. His team also participated in a test at New Hampshire earlier this year, giving Rypkema additional track time as he prepares to defend one of the biggest victories of his career.
“I almost felt more pressured that we had been good there in the past and been a car that could contend and didn’t have anything to show for it,” Rypkema said. “That to me was harder than winning it. Coming up short or messing up or having a flat tire or something like that, that was more of a struggle and gave me more stress than anything. I think now it’s almost a little bit of stress off. Just do what you know you can do.”
There is one change he would gladly make if he finds himself racing for another Mohegan Sun 100 victory in the final feet this year.
“I’d say the only thing I’d rather do this year is not tear up the car coming across the checkered flag,” Rypkema said.
Getting to that point again will require much more than simply having a fast race car. New Hampshire places a premium on preparation, drafting and patience. Bonsignore said his team spends significant time thinking about how their Modified moves through the air, knowing aerodynamic efficiency can be just as important at New Hampshire as it is for NASCAR’s national series teams at drafting tracks.
Once the race begins, however, many of the decisions belong to the driver. Bonsignore has learned when to defend the lead, when to immediately answer a pass and, most importantly, how to stay in the group of cars that will have a realistic opportunity in the closing laps.
"You have to have a great car with a lot of speed," Bonsignore said. "You have to, as a driver, make good decisions throughout the race to keep yourself in the top four at most times. There are a couple pit stops involved where you’re going to lose track position, so your pit crew is heavily involved with getting you track position there, and then just the mental game of making the right moves the last 15 or 20 laps to put yourself in position. There’s just so much that goes into these races that I don’t think people sometimes understand."
The challenge is also what gives the Mohegan Sun 100 its significance to the drivers who compete in it. For Bonsignore, there is no minimizing what a victory at New Hampshire means.
"It’s our DAYTONA 500 for the Modified series," Bonsignore said. "You want to win that race every year. No matter if you’ve won it once or 50 times, it’s still cool to win and pull into victory lane there. Every time we go there, we’re loaded for bear, and the only thing acceptable is the win when we get there."
Preece knows that feeling as well. Before becoming a NCS driver, the Berlin, Conn. native built much of his racing career behind the wheel of a Modified and won the NWMT championship in 2013. He also knows firsthand how difficult it can be to beat the drivers who compete on the Tour every week.
When asked who he expects to be his biggest competition in the Mohegan Sun 100, Preece could not narrow the list to one name.
"All of them," Preece said. "The Modified Tour, really Modifieds in general, are tough. When you’re racing against guys that are competing full time, it’s no easy task. I can’t just pick one."
What Preece can predict is the type of show those drivers are capable of producing once the green flag drops.
"The Modified race, everybody, no matter where they’re from, if they’re fans of the Cup Series, they always say the Modifieds are the best race of the weekend,” Preece said. “That’s because of the slingshot, the hard-nosed, blue-collar racer that all the Modified guys are. Hopefully we see a lot of slingshot passes, a lot of nerf bars thrown and a lot of fun and action.”
Rypkema shares that confidence. The defending winner believes the characteristics of the Modifieds are a near-perfect match for NHMS, allowing drivers to draft down the straightaways and then use the car’s wide tires and horsepower to make aggressive moves under braking.
"It’s the only place we go where we’re drafting," Rypkema said. "We’ve got such big tires that we can really lean on them and do that bottom shot that you see a lot of. You can just really go for it. For some reason, the combination between drafting at New Hampshire and cars that are not aero dependent and don’t have a ton of downforce to them, they just punch a big hole with those wheels. It creates a heck of a show that would be hard to rival."
It is a show that does not stop with the battle for the lead. Bonsignore said racing can be just as intense throughout the field, with drivers using the draft to race for nearly every position during the course of the afternoon.
"There’s excitement typically throughout the field," Bonsignore said. "It’s usually not just the lead. There’s usually a good pass for eighth or 10th every lap as well. It’s just 100 laps of excitement. It keeps you on your feet and, most importantly, you usually don’t know who’s going to win the race until we come off turn four nine out of 10 times."
For fans who have never experienced a NWMT race at “The Magic Mile,” Rypkema believes this year’s Mohegan Sun 100 is the perfect introduction.
"It’s gonna be electric," Rypkema said. "You’re going to see the best race all weekend long. You’re going to see tons of passes for the lead. You’re gonna see slide jobs on asphalt, essentially, and you’re gonna see some of the most competitive NASCAR regional Modified racing in the country that you’ll ever see right there."
The Mohegan Sun 100 is part of Doubleheader Saturday, which also features the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) Team EJP 175. For the drivers who know what Modified racing at New Hampshire is capable of producing, Saturday is not simply an opening act for Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301 NCS race. It is a race fans need to see for themselves.
"The best race they’re going to see there all weekend," Rypkema said.
Preece put it another way.
"You’re not gonna want to miss it," he said.
On-track action kicks off Friday with practice and qualifying for the NWMT and NCTS plus SIG SAUER Academy Dirt Duels at The Flat Track. The action continues on Doubleheader Saturday with the Team EJP 175 NCTS race and the Mohegan Sun 100 NWMT race following NCS practice and qualifying. The on-track action culminates Sunday with the Dollar Tree 301 NCS race. Don’t miss all of the exciting off-track entertainment including the “The Magic Mile” Happy Hour Show, Trackside Live, The Groove fan hangout, concerts from Everybody Wants Some and Tim Dugger, Family Movie Night featuring “Zootopia 2,” driver appearances, fireworks and much more.
