HIRSCHMAN WINS J&R PRECAST 150, SCORING THIRD STRAIGHT NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR SEEKONK WIN

Not a single person doubted the prospect of Matt Hirschman delivering yet another dominant performance at Seekonk Speedway on Sunday, this time in the J&R Precast 150.

Sure enough, after sweeping the afternoon’s pair of practice sessions and qualifying on the Hoosier Tire Pole, the 42-year-old scored his third consecutive Modified Tour victory at Seekonk.

Hirschman, who now has 10 victories on the Tour, won the series’ visits in 2023 and 2024, as well. He had not won a Tour race since last year’s Seekonk event; this despite the fact that he entered Sunday with the most laps led on Tour this season. He now has at least one series victory in five consecutive seasons.

“This car was torn up after North Wilkesboro,” Hirschman said of his increasingly iconic No. 60 Pee Dee Motorsports Modified. “We worked countless hours on this. … Just want to thank all the people who help us here.

“This has always been a tough race track, but it’s a race track I really like. I enjoy coming here and look forward to coming here. It’s not an easy place to duplicate things or do it three times. You have to race the track as much as you do the competitors here. I’ve lost some tough ones over the years here, too. So to put a whole day together today … just can’t ask for a better day. And we really needed it after what our last day was at North Wilkesboro.”

Thanks in part to a redraw that moved the pole winner to the third starting position, the big move for “Big Money” on Sunday occurred during the second restart of the race. Hirschman restarted outside of redraw pole-sitter Justin Bonsignore and held his ground in the upper groove for several laps. With 121 of 150 circuits still to run, Hirschman powered by Bonsignore for the lead.

Hirschman experienced little resistance from that point. He managed his tires knowing he likely would not pit from the lead, a strategy that paid off when a caution with 54 to go sent more than a dozen contenders to the pits for a tire change.

Hirschman and Bonsignore stayed out, but the latter was no match for the former as Hirschman drove away from the field.

Not even a late caution for debris could spoil Hirschman’s day at Seekonk. The race’s final restart arrived with just two laps to go, and Hirschman utilized a smooth entry into Turns 1-2 to reclaim the lead for good.

On the final lap, Bonsignore, still fighting to get back to Hirschman, got loose coming off Turn 2. He spun and collected multiple cars on the backstretch, resulting in the event’s only pile-up. The yellow flag marked the end of the race.

“Obviously we didn’t want to see a caution at all,” Hirschman said. “We survived it. It’s going to take laps to get back hooked up. Of course you want to protect the bottom from first, but that also hurts your center corner speed. (Bonsignore) was able to cross over and get a run. … I gave him the space he earned. … I think he got loose; I don’t know what happened from there.”

After the last-lap chaos, Stephen Kopcik was credited with a second-place finish. Austin Beers, who came agonizingly close to winning last year’s Seekonk race before Hirschman stole the show, finished third. Jake Johnson finished fourth in his second race of the season for JMA Motorsports, which considered Seekonk a home event. Trevor Catalano ran fifth. Kyle Bonsignore, rookie Tyler Barry, Chase Dowling, Kyle Ebersole and Eric Goodale finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Justin Bonsignore, the defending Modified Tour champion, was relegated to an 11th-place finish as a result of his last-lap crash. He led his first laps of the young season early in Sunday’s race.