Justin Bonsignore's Xfinity Series debut was earned in the Modified Tour at New Hampshire and the ARCA Menards Series at Daytona
Three-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Justin Bonsignore will join Joe Gibbs Racing to make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on June 22.
The opportunity is a direct result of the unexpected experience the 36-year-old from Holtsville, New York gained in Florida earlier this year.
“It all stems back to the opportunity we had with the ARCA race at Daytona and the Road to Daytona program,” said Bonsignore, who will pilot the No. 19 Toyota GR Supra at the Magic Mile, where he has a pair of Modified Tour wins. “That kind of sparked some interest. I really enjoyed the experience I had at Daytona and everything that went into that.
“I had some opportunities come up with partners after that race, and we started making some phone calls and really just thought the next best step for me and what my goals are as I get older was to try and make an Xfinity race.”
PHOTOS: All of Bonsignore’s Modified Tour wins
Bonsignore‘s Modified Tour resume speaks for itself. In addition to being a three-time champion, he ranks fourth on the all-time win list with 41 victories. He also ranks fourth on the all-time pole list with 31.
Among those 41 victories are two triumphs at New Hampshire, the obvious location for him to make his Xfinity Series debut.
“Steve deSouza at Joe Gibbs was really helpful in this whole process and was pushing for us to try and run New Hampshire if we can, just because of my experience there,” Bonsignore said. “He thought it would be a great fit and a cool storyline for me running both races (Xfinity and Modified Tour) that day.”
This is not the first time Joe Gibbs Racing has welcomed a Modified Tour champion to compete in an Xfinity Series race at New Hampshire. In 2017, Ryan Preece joined the team at the one-mile oval and finished second.
Bonsignore said that if he was going to compete in the Xfinity Series, he was only going to do it with a competitive team. JGR, which has more than 200 victories in the series and five already this year, stood out as his best option.
“Joe Gibbs Racing is definitely a top-notch team and one of the best in the series,” Bonsignore said. “They‘re going to give us everything we need to go out and try to win the race.”
Make no mistake: Bonsignore doesn‘t plan nor expects to make the full-time jump to the Xfinity Series. He‘s a self-described Modified Tour lifer who plans to spend the rest of his career racing with the series.
For him, this opportunity is more about crossing an item off his personal bucket list while also reminding the NASCAR world of the talent possessed by drivers on the Modified Tour.
“I‘ve always wanted to do it; I‘ve just never really had the opportunities or the partners to help us out,” he said. “Things have come together this year and are working out well. I hope I can run well and make the community proud and shed some more light that there are some very, very good race-car drivers in this part of the country.”
