NORTH WOODSTOCK, N.H. — Prior to Sunday afternoon, luck had never been on the side of Patrick Emerling at White Mountain Motorsports Park.
The current points leader‘s best finish across those three events was 15th, which he accomplished twice during the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s visits to White Mountain in 2020. Emerling‘s attempt to improve upon his White Mountain average last year ended 17 laps from the finish due to a mechanical failure.
Advertisement
RELATED: Complete results from the Thunder in the Mountains 200
On Sunday afternoon, Emerling finally shook off the White Mountain misfortune and kept his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour points lead intact with his second straight victory of the 2026 campaign. After securing the pole via the redraw, Emerling trusted the raw speed of his No.1 USNE Motorsports Modified to guide him to Victory Lane
“We‘re super lucky for some reason drawing those 1‘s,” said Emerling, who has redrawn the pole in each of the last two races. “Some other guys were really good right at the beginning, but I knew we were going to have the best long run car. We unloaded similar to what we did last year. We were really fast, but we had a parts failure that ended our day, so we were pretty hungry for this one.”
Even though Emerling ended Sunday on top, it initially appeared bad luck would once again spoil another White Mountain outing for him.
Advertisement
On Lap 46, the air cleaner fell off Emerling‘s car after a stud broke on the carburetor. Rather than let the adversity deter them, Emerling and his team used the opportunity to put on a fresh set of tires while repairing the air cleaner.
The decision came at the expense of Emerling‘s track position, but he held out hope another caution would bring most of his competitors into the pits for tires themselves. Emerling got his wish when Trevor Catalano suffered a mechanical failure with 83 laps remaining, cycling him to the front row for the restart after nearly everyone ahead of him pitted.
Once Emerling took the lead from rookie Paulie Hartwig III, he faced no significant opposition from either the field or White Mountain itself. By overcoming the early obstacle, Emerling earned his 11th career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory and further established himself as a title favorite.
Following Emerling across the finish line in second was Austin Beers, who controlled the Thunder in the Mountains 200 during the middle portion until the Catalano caution brought most of the field to pit road. White Mountain was a much-needed jolt for Beers, as he had not led a race since the season-opener at New Smyrna Speedway.
Advertisement
Yet the reigning NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion came away from White Mountain feeling he left a win on the table.
“I feel like with a late caution, we would have won,” Beers said. “We‘re getting better and better every race. This is one that got away from us. We lost too much time with [Kopcik] when we had that little scuffle in [turns] three and four. It took 20 laps to get back going and get those guys back. What are you going to do?
“It was our best finish of the year, but we‘re still disappointed for sure.”
With the top four in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standings only separated by 10 points entering White Mountain, every position matters going forward. Emerling knew he needed to find his way back to the front following the broken air cleaner or risk finding himself in a deficit that was simultaneously big and small.
Patrick Emerling
From a statistical perspective, White Mountain could have very easily tripped up Emerling again. The last thing Emerling wanted was a misstep after a slow start by his standards, but he controlled his own destiny at White Mountain to overcome his past misfortune.
Advertisement
“At the beginning of the season, we kind of had a little bit of a tough stretch where we weren‘t running that bad but weren‘t running how we wanted to,” Emerling said. “We just knew we needed to get into our groove and do our thing.
“This year is so competitive, you need to get into your groove and get confident to pull these things off.”
Hartwig followed up a strong top five outing at Claremont Motorsports Park with a career-best NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour finish in third. Tyler Rypkema placed fourth in Ole Blue, with Matt Hirschman rounding out the top five.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will be back on the track next weekend for the Duel at the Dog 200 powered by USNE at Monadnock Speedway; the third and final leg of the Whelen Midsummer Championship. The green flag is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday evening and the race will air live on FloRacing.
Read the full article here