LEE, N.H. — A schedule conflict around last week’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race at Riverhead Raceway forced Matt Hirschman to miss his first tour race of the 2023 season.
But on Saturday at New Hampshire’s Lee USA Speedway, Hirschman quickly established himself as the lead horse in his return to the series. After passing pole-sitter Doug Coby on lap 3, Hirschman easily pulled away from the field to score his sixth tour win.
One of the most accomplished Modified competitors of the past decade, Hirschman has endured struggles trying to find victory lane on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, which is why he was elated to have such an efficient performance at Lee USA.
“We finally closed one,” Hirschman said. “These races are tough to win, and I feel like we should have had five or six of them in recent years. When the car was good enough to win, we either didn’t have a good pit stop, or maybe the driver wasn’t good enough to win.
“We finally put it all together, and it was a complete performance right from the drop of the green.”
Prior to Saturday evening, the 2023 tour season had been inconsistent by Hirschman’s standards.
After finishing inside the top five in all seven of his starts last year while also leading 384 total laps, the only lap Hirschman had led entering Saturday came at New Smyrna Speedway, which was also the site of his lone top-five finish in the first three races.
Hirschman assembled a vintage performance Saturday by methodically conserving his equipment while simultaneously minding a healthy gap between him and second place. Yet he nearly received a late challenge in the form of defending NWMT champion Jon McKennedy.
Lapped traffic briefly stalled Hirschman’s momentum and allowed McKennedy to erase the sizable gap he had accumulated over the field. Once Hirschman found clean air, there was nothing McKennedy could do to mount a successful charge toward the lead.
Despite feeling disappointment over coming up one spot short to Hirschman, it was McKennedy’s third straight finish inside the top 3. He believes his first win of 2023 is upon him and hopes the speed he has shown in recent weeks carries over into the summer.
“A yellow would have been nice,” McKennedy said. “(Hirschman) was kind of maintaining that three or four car-length lead during those last 10 laps. Congratulations to Matt and his team. They’ve been doing this a long time. It was a long day (for us), but we were pretty much a top-five car and ended up second.”
Hirschman admitted he was initially unsure over whether he would be able to fend off a potential late-race challenge from someone like McKennedy.
As soon as he settled into a rhythm, Hirschman was comfortable with the car he had at his disposal, but he was also mentally preparing himself for what adjustments would have to be made if a caution broke up the second and last long green flag run of the evening.
No such scenario played out for Hirschman, who was able to enjoy a mostly calm evening at Lee USA. He’ll look to duplicate that performance over the rest of his planned NWMT starts.
“(The car) seemed really good to start, but I was hoping it wasn’t too good too soon,” Hirschman said. “It really stayed with me, and I opened up the gap on that first run. I had an idea to get better for the finish because some guys improved during the pit stops and some didn’t.
“We were ready for another stop, but I’m glad it worked out.”
Placing third behind Hirshcman and McKennedy was Austin Beers, who tallied his third top five of the year in his sophomore campaign. Sam Rameau and Ron Silk finished fourth and fifth, respectively, with Coby, Jake Johnson, Kyle Bonsignore, Justin Bonsignore and Tommy Catalano completing the top 10.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour gets a couple weeks off before heading to Massachusetts’ Seekonk Speedway on Saturday, June 10.
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Lee USA Speedway – Lee, NH
Granite State Derby – May 27, 2023
1. Matt Hirschman
2. Jon McKennedy
3. Austin Beers
4. Sam Rameau
5. Ron Silk
6. Doug Coby
7. Jake Johnson
8. Kyle Bonsignore
9. Justin Bonsignore
10. Tommy Catalano
11. Brian Robie
12. Craig Lutz
13. Justin Brown
14. J.B. Fortin
15. Tyler Rypkema
16. Matt Kimball
17. Woody Pitkat
18. Ken Heagy
19. Max Zachem
20. Melissa Fifield
21. Anthony Nocella
