WINCHESTER, N.H. — There’s hot, and then there’s whatever Patrick Emerling is right now on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
The 33-year-old driver from Orchard Park, New York captured his third consecutive NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory Saturday night at Monadnock Speedway in the Duel at the Dog 200 Energized by USNE Power to further solidify his place at the top of the series standings.
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If that weren‘t good enough, he also earned a $5,000 bonus as champion of the Whelen Midsummer Championship miniseries following his victory Saturday night.
“Absolutely incredible,” Emerling said. “Never would I have ever thought a while back that we would be in this position winning three in a row like that. We kind of struggled at the beginning of the season and just had to find our footing and get dialed in on the American Racer tire.”
RELATED: Complete results from Monadnock
Emerling started Saturday‘s 200-lap event from the fourth position following the redraw and raced inside the top five during the first portion of the event.
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Following a caution and subsequent round of pit stops just before the halfway mark, Emerling was able to muscle his way past defending series champion Austin Beers to take the lead for the first time.
After that, the only time Emerling was challenged was during restarts. His stiffest challenge came from Tyler Rypkema, who stayed glued to Emerling‘s outside for several laps following the final restart before Emerling was finally able to clear.
during the Duel at the Dog 200 Energized by USNE Power for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, New Hampshire on July 25, 2026. (Jaiden Tripi/NASCAR)
Once he disposed of Rypkema, Emerling pulled away to a comfortable, 2.326-second victory. The win, the 13th of his career, was his second at Monadnock Speedway.
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Emerling‘s three consecutive victories marks just the 18th time in the history of the modern NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour that a driver has won at least three races in a row. Justin Bonsignore was the last driver to do it at the conclusion of the 2024 season.
“Dale Hedquist just prepared another masterpiece of a race car,” Emerling said. “We had to work for it. We were really elbows up tonight and raced really, really hard each and every lap of the race. The team did an incredible job, and we were able to edge it out there.
“Just happy to be out here racing. I feel really lucky to do it. We had a lot of fun.”
Rypkema settled for second, his third runner-up finish of the season in Boehler Racing Enterprises‘ Ole Blue No. 3. Beers was third, followed by rookie Paulie Hartwig III and Tommy Catalano.
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Teddy Hodgdon, Eric Goodale, Jon McKennedy, Doug Coby and Stephen Kopcik were sixth through 10th, respectively.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour takes next week off before returning to action for a midweek show at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on Wednesday, Aug. 5. The Thompson 150 presented by FloSports.com takes the green flag at 8 p.m. ET live on FloRacing.
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