Justin Bonsignore slips by to win Icebreaker 150

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, however Sunday afternoon Justin Bonsignore was a little of both in the Icebreaker 150 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Thompson Speedway Motorsport Park.

Bonsignore was racing McKennedy side by side for the lead on Lap 142 when Ron Silk brought out the final caution of the race making contact with the wall.

It appeared the duo would line up and battle for the lead once again until McKennedy slowed on the track on Lap 146 under cation. It was later confirmed he ran out of fuel under caution.

Bonsignore was able to take over the top spot and held off Ronnie Williams before Williams ended up crashing in turn one following some contact on the final lap of the race.

The Holtsville, N.Y. native went on to hold off Craig Lutz and last year’s Icebreaker 150 winner Rowan Pennink to score his sixth NWMT win at the .625-mile track and 13th of his career,

“It was tough,” Bonsignore said of his struggles throughout last year. “The 2017 season humbled me a lot as a person, as a race car driver, it was just a really tough season. To come back and have a really good car at Myrtle Beach, and come here and have luck go our way today and get a win, it’s a really good feeling.”

Although some things went his way late in the race, Bonsignore was happy with his car.

“We had a really good car,” Bonsignore said. “I’ll take the luck any day of the week. I knew Ronnie was going to be anxious. We have all been there, looking for our first win. I got a good launch on the restart. I really just love winning at Thompson.”

Following Pennink, who was competing in his first race back since offseason back surgery, was Ryan Preece finished fourth after arriving at the track on Sunday morning.

Preece was not able to practice the car on Saturday as he was competing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race in Texas on Saturday finishing fifth driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. Matt Swanson completed the top five.

Defending NWMT champion Doug Coby rebounded from two wrecks and came home sixth, followed by Rob Summers, Chase Dowling, Bobby Santos and Timmy Solomito.