BRISTOL, Tenn. – Coming into Thursday evening’s Bush’s Beans 150, Justin Bonsignore had done pretty much everything on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour except win a championship and win at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Bonsignore checked the latter off his to-do list and took one more step towards sealing up the former with a dominating performance at ‘The Last Great Coliseum’, leading 69 of 150 laps en route to his sixth win in 11 starts this season.
Though he dominated the box score, Bonsignore had to fend off a determined Chase Dowling before he could celebrate in victory lane, with the 20-year-old taking several peeks to Bonsignore’s inside over the final 25 laps of the race.
However, Bonsignore stayed true to form and never faltered, ultimately grabbing his first-career Bristol win after several near-misses.
“I was shocked that the outside came in like it did, but I thought that was a really good race,” said Bonsignore. “It was more like a few years ago for the modifieds, where after 20 or 30 laps the outside really came in and you could race in either groove.
“I was content to ride behind Patrick (Emerling) when we got to that heavy lap traffic early on, and they didn’t want to move,” Bonsignore recalled. “Timmy (Solomito) got by us, and a few others did as well, but from there I was able to get back to the top and race back to the lead really quickly. I struggled on restarts, but after a couple laps our car was really, really good and I think that showed tonight.”
The race kicked off looking like it would be a repeat of last year’s event, with Patrick Emerling jumping to the point from the outside pole and leading the first 52 laps without much contest.
However, as the PJ1 traction compound began to wear off, the high groove came to life and allowed Bonsignore’s No. 51 Phoenix Communications Chevrolet to roar to life. He surged forward on the outside and ripped past Emerling to lead for the first time on the 53rd circuit.
Four laps later, Emerling looped his machine in the middle of turns one and two, leading to the first caution period of the event and setting up a restart with Bonsignore and Timmy Solomito on the front row.
The green flag waved on lap 62 and Bonsignore stumbled, allowing Solomito to jet out to a sizable lead as Bonsignore settled into fifth and slowly began to work his way back forward. He had picked his way back up to third when the second caution waved on lap 67 for a spinning Austin Pickens in turn two.
The final restart of the first half came on lap 72, with Solomito choosing the outside lane and holding serve over the next nine laps, leading the field when the competition break hit on the 81st round.
When racing resumed for the second half, it was all Bonsignore’s show. He rolled the outside lane again and powered to the front, using a textbook crossover move to take the lead from Solomito for good down the backstretch on lap 90.
