Patrick Emerling makes first NASCAR win memorable at Bristol
New York driver holds off Doug Coby to capture first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win in his 78th career start.
Race winner Patrick Emerling
NASCAR Media
Any driver’s first win is something they’ll always remember and Patrick Emerling had a career day at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Bush’s Beans 150 Wednesday that he won’t soon forget.
The Orchard Park, N.Y. native won the day as he was fastest in practice and also won his third career pole award and first of the season during qualifying for the 9th annual race at the .533-mile track.
“This (win) is just incredible for us and our team,” Emerling said. “We unloaded the car today and was fast from the get-go and we also had a fast car last year. We kept everything the same and showed up with the identical set-up as last year.”
Emerling jumped out to the early lead and remained out front throughout the race which was slowed five times by caution and two red flags for track cleanup after multi-car incidents.
Defending NWMT champion Doug Coby challenged several times for the lead before having to settle for his third consecutive runner-up finish in the series.
“I had one chance when I got up alongside him to go for the lead, but I’ve caused accidents here before and I didn’t want to cause one here tonight,” he said. “We had one of the best cars I’ve ever had here.”
Justin Bonsignore finished third with Chase Dowling and Ryan Preece rounding out the top five. Andy Seuss, Rowan Pennink, Robbie Williams, Bobby Santos and Matt Swanson completed the top 10.
It was a rough night for points leader Timmy Solomito as he was collected in a spin by Santos just before the midway break of the race and was forced to the pits for repairs.
He entered the race with a 10-point lead over Pennick and was able to return to the race and salvage a 15th-place finish, which left him with a two-point advantage over Pennink.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to action at Seekonk Speedway on Aug. 26.
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