The year has just about reached its end for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. The conclusion to this wildly exciting season will come at the end of 200 laps around Virginia’s Martinsville Speedway on Thursday night, and nearly 40 teams and drivers have decided to make the trip to the historic half-mile.

Headlining the entry list is, of course, the two championship combatants of Ron Silk and Justin Bonsignore. Silk, who is looking for his second NWMT championship, leads Bonsignore, who is fighting for his fourth title, by 13 points. Last year Silk finished 11th in the season finale at Martinsville, while Bonsignore fell out of the race early with a mechanical issue and finished 29th.

While all eyes will be on Silk and Bonsignore, there will be plenty to watch throughout the field with so many heavy-hitters entered.

We’ll start with NASCAR Cup Series driver, Ryan Preece. The 2013 NWMT champion has not made a start with the Modified Tour since this race one year ago. Even though Martinsville is the site of Preece’s very first NWMT victory, Martinsville was not kind to him one year ago. Preece battled handling issues all day long before falling out of the race just past the halfway mark.

Next, we’ll spotlight a man who needs no introduction, but we’ll give him one anyway. That man is “Big Money” Matt Hirschman from Northampton, Pennsylvania. Hirschman led 31 of 200 laps in last year’s race here before finishing second to Corey LaJoie. Hirschman has been on fire since coming back from the injury to his arm that he suffered in August, scoring multiple wins and multiple podiums across various series, including a historic win at North Wilkesboro Speedway last month.

Tonawanda, New York’s Andy Jankowiak is making a rare appearance with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour this week. Jankowiak has only made seven previous NWMT starts, with the most recent coming at Oswego Speedway in September where he finished 13th. The ARCA Menards Series regular comes to Martinsville fresh off a win in SMART Modified Tour competition at South Boston Speedway last week.

Speaking of the SMART Modified Tour, seven full-time SMART drivers will be pulling double-duty this weekend at Martinsville Speedway on Thursday and at Orange County Speedway on Saturday. Those drivers include Burt Myers, Carson Loftin, Brandon Ward, Joey Coulter, Bobby Labonte, Ryan Newman, and Jamie Tomaino. 

FloRacing will have more coverage to come for both the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour finale at Martinsville Speedway on Thursday night, and the SMART Modified Tour finale at Orange County Speedway on Saturday night. Fans can subscribe to FloRacing, the new home for Modified racing, by clicking here.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Martinsville Speedway Entry List