Sometimes it takes time to do something right.
That was the case for Jon McKennedy, who has spent the last two years working toward a full-time return to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
McKennedy won the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship in his most recent full season with the series while driving for team owner Tim Lepine. The plan was for McKennedy to try and defend his championship in 2023, but things fell apart, and McKennedy parted ways with Lepine‘s team after just six races.
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Since then, the driver from Chelmsford, Massachusetts has worked tirelessly to build his own program for a return to the Modified Tour. This year, all the pieces came together to make that a reality.
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“I had to start obviously from the beginning,” McKennedy said. “It took having the right people behind me as far as crew guys to do the Tour and do it right. I needed some good guys for pit stops, and I needed some good sponsorship partners to make this happen.
“I was very fortunate the last year or two to get a bunch of people on board to help me with this. I‘ve got a good group of guys. It was all kind able to come together, and I thought this year was the right time to do it.”
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Entering Saturday‘s Thunder in the Mountains 200 at White Mountain Motorsports Park (8 p.m. ET on FloRacing), McKennedy‘s return to full-time Modified Tour competition has gotten off to a solid start.
Jonathan McKennedy driver of the #79 Stuart‘s Automotive FURY Race Cars Modified drives during practice for the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia on March 27, 2026. (Andrew Stein/NASCAR)
Through the first six races of the season, McKennedy has earned wins at Seekonk Speedway and Oxford Plains Speedway. He’s finished outside the top 10 just once. Those results have helped McKennedy climb to third in the series standings, nine points behind championship leader Stephen Kopcik.
McKennedy credits his early success to a few different factors. Chief among them is experience at several of the tracks on the Modified Tour schedule with different regional touring divisions.
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That experience was particularly evident at Seekonk and Oxford Plains, where he had not only raced before, but won.
“This is now my second year with the FURY chassis. My guys have established a pretty good notebook now and we have a pretty good understanding of the car,” McKennedy said. “A lot of these tracks that we‘ve been racing at like Thompson, Oxford and Seekonk, these are all tracks that I have raced at on and off for the last 10 to 15 years with other open wheel series.
“I‘ve just got a lot of laps at those tracks, a lot of experience. I‘ve won a bunch at all of them in other divisions. Things are just clicking.”
RELATED: Watch the Thunder in the Mountains 200 live on FloRacing
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With two wins through the first six events, McKennedy has already accomplished a new feat by winning multiple Modified Tour events in a single season.
He‘s also led more laps than any other driver through the first six races. His five top-10 finishes are tied with Austin Beers and Patrick Emerling for the most through the first six races. He‘s also one of four drivers with three top-five finishes through the first six races of the year.
McKennedy will need that kind of consistency if he hopes to stay in the championship fight through the summer months. A win this weekend at White Mountain Motorsports Park would go a long way toward that goal.
“At the end of the day I feel like we legitimately have a chance to run up front and race for the win,” McKennedy said. “It‘s previously been a pretty good track for us. I know last year with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour we had a few issues that kind of hindered our race and made it a handful.
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“It‘s a cool track. Unique, high banks. It‘s a track I feel pretty comfortable at, and I feel like I have a pretty good package going into it. I think we have a pretty good chance to run up front and hopefully contend for the win.”
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