NOTEBOOK: Previous New Hampshire winners headline stacked field for Mohegan Sun 100

When the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a strong field of cars always follows.

That’s no different this year as 30 drivers will look to add their names to list of winners of Whelen Modified Tour events at the 1.058-mile asphalt oval located in Loudon, New Hampshire.

Included in the field are several previous New Hampshire winners as well as Whelen Modified Tour champions, all of whom want to further pad their respective resumes with a Victory Lane celebration on Saturday after the Mohegan Sun 100.

RELATED: Entry list for Saturday’s Mohegan Sun 100

They’re headlined by defending New Hampshire winner Anthony Nocella, who went from sixth to first in the final three laps last year and avoided a last-lap crash to earn his lone Whelen Modified Tour victory to date. He’ll be looking for his second triumph this year aboard the Goodie Racing No. 46.

Joining him on the entry list for Saturday’s race are seven other previous New Hampshire winners as well as a champion of the defunct NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour.

Among them are Bobby Santos III, a winner of a six Whelen Modified Tour events at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He scored his first win at New Hampshire in 2014, which he followed with three-straight wins from 2017 to 2018 and a further two victories in 2019 and 2020.

Next is six-time Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby, who owns four New Hampshire victories. He scored his first New Hampshire win in 2012, which he followed with his second in 2013. He then added two more victories in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

The most recent winner with the Whelen Modified Tour is also a three-time New Hampshire winner. Ron Silk scored his first New Hampshire triumph in 2009 and collected his second in 2011. He had to wait eight years before scoring his third victory, which came in 2019.

Justin Bonsignore has made 24 starts at New Hampshire with the Whelen Modified Tour, but only has one victory to show for it. That came in 2016 when he held off Silk to bag one of the biggest victories of his racing career. He’s also sat on the pole of the last two Whelen Modified Tour events at New Hampshire.

RELATED: Get tickets to Saturday’s Mohegan Sun 100

Chase Dowling, who is making his return to the Whelen Modified Tour this weekend for the first time since 2021, captured his only Whelen Modified Tour triumph in a thrilling finish in 2018 that saw Justin Bonsignore and Ryan Preece crash entering the third turn on the final lap while racing for the lead.

Veteran Tim Connolly scored the first victory for Bob Garbarino’s Mystic Missile at New Hampshire in 1997. Connolly is set to make his first New Hampshire start since 2000 on Saturday evening.

After missing the 2022 event at New Hampshire, Woody Pitkat is returning in search of his second victory at the track. His first came in 2014 when he led a race-high 79 laps en route to Victory Lane.

Also joining the already stacked field will be Andy Seuss, a two-time Whelen Southern Modified Tour champion from nearby Hampstead, New Hampshire. Seuss has made 25 starts with the Whelen Modified Tour at New Hampshire, earning a best finish of fourth on two occasions. He also earned his only Whelen Modified Tour pole at New Hampshire in 2020, where he led 30 laps and ultimately finished sixth.

Martinsville winner Corey LaJoie looking to stack more pennies

The last time Corey LaJoie climbed into a Modified, he ended up in Victory Lane at Martinsville Speedway last October.

The driver of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet in the NASCAR Cup Series will be back in a Modified this Saturday when he teams up with Rob Fuller to pilot the No. 1 entry during the Mohegan Sun 100.

The race marks LaJoie’s second attempt at competing with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He made his first Whelen Modified Tour start at New Hampshire last year, starting eighth and finishing ninth.

“Those things, too, are the only race cars I’ve driven that get aero loose because they are 85, 90 percent rear downforce. They make no front downforce, so when you’re in traffic you lose all the rear downforce and you get super loose,” LaJoie said. “The Modified race, no matter what, is generally the best race of the weekend.”

LaJoie has a history of racing Modifieds early in his career and only recently returned to the discipline. He captured a NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour victory on the quarter-mile oval located on the frontstretch at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2010 when he was 18 years old.

After spending time on dirt, Max McLaughlin is back

Max McLaughlin has been keeping himself busy since his last NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour start at Richmond Raceway on March 31.

The son of veteran Modified and Xfinity Series competitor Mike McLaughlin has been racing Dirt Modifieds throughout the Northeast this year and recently scored a victory at Fonda Speedway, a NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series track located in Fonda, New York.

Most of McLaughlin’s time is spent racing on dirt these days, though he still dabbles on asphalt periodically. In addition to racing occasionally with the Whelen Modified Tour, McLaughlin is scheduled to make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Watkins Glen International for FRS Racing. His lone ARCA Menards Series East victory came at Watkins Glen in 2019.

McLaughlin has 11 previous Whelen Modified Tour starts, including one at New Hampshire in 2021, though he was taken out in a crash on the first lap of that event and finished 30th.