LOUDON – Anyone who had never heard the name Justin Bonsignore before this weekend certainly has now. While Bonsignore wound up 22nd in his Xfinity Series debut, the result was a far cry from what looked to be a top-five effort down the stretch.
Bonsignore pulled double duty on Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, making his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 after driving his No. 51 in the Whelen Modified Tour.
The weekend started off on the wrong foot with rain throughout the afternoon on Friday, meaning practice and qualifying for both series were canceled. Based on the metric system, Bonsignore scored a 25th-place starting position in Xfinity and outside front row for the Modifieds.
With rain once again in the forecast for Saturday, the Modified’s Mohegan Sun 100 was moved up to 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning, before the Xfinity race.
Bonsignore made the most of his acting warmup for the Xfinity race later in the day, dominating the Modified event. Bonsignore led the most laps on the morning, holding off cousin Kyle Bonsignore for his 42nd career Whelen win, enough to tie for third all-time.
After another rain shower in between, Bonsignore began his march to the front of the Xfinity field, working his way up from a 25th starting spot to 10th at the end of stage one.
Through some pit strategy, Bonsignore found himself restarting stage two in the second spot. It was at this point that Bonsignore began to flex his muscle to the NASCAR world.
Throughout the entirety of stage two, Bonsignore held the second spot, following behind teammate Christopher Bell as the two pulled away from the field. Finishing second at the end of stage two, Bonsignore looked to be in prime position to contend for the win at race’s end.
After some trouble on pit road and a few spots lost, Bonsignore once again worked his way through the top five, driving up to third before the final set of green flag pit stops. Another small slip-up on pit road cost the No. 19 some ground as the yellow flew just after the end of the green flag pit cycle.
From there, it all went south for Bonsignore. After being bounced around a bit on restarts prior, Bonsignore spun off the nose of Sammy Smith‘s No. 8 with 19 laps to go.
Bonsignore spent the remainder of the race just trying to keep the car in one piece, ultimately coming home 22nd.
Following the incident with Smith that ultimately ruined his day, Bonsignore expressed a bit of frustration post-race.
“We were in good shape even coming from 10th we got back to sixth,” Bonsignore said. “I understand you’ve got to be aggressive on the starts and I was trying to block the bottom, because they were all timing the starts on me.
“I don’t know what happened, I haven’t seen a replay yet. The rear tires weren’t on the racetrack, I know that much. It’s hard to do anything when the rear tires are off the ground.”
Despite the disappointment in the end, Bonsignore reiterated that he’d love to come back to the Xfinity Series and praised the attention to detail in the series.
“I don’t know if we had the driver to win today,” Bonsignore said. “I felt we could have run top five if it all plays out well there … I’d love to do this again. I learned so much today.”
It was certainly a career day for Bonsignore, despite the sour result at the end. Any time a Modified regular can go to victory lane at New Hampshire it’s a big deal. But to follow that up with a stellar performance in the Xfinity Series?
That’s unheard of with today’s landscape of sponsorship, especially in a NASCAR National series. To earn the opportunity primarily based off race-craft is certainly something to be proud of.
“Without practice and qualifying, it was really hard,” he said. “Just pit road, everything involved in this is just so more detailed than what we (Modified drivers) do every week. I’m really proud of the effort and I think I would do it again if we could put some opportunities together.”
Sure, the result may sting for quite some time, but Bonsignore ultimately accomplished a goal that is hard to come by in this modern era of NASCAR. He showed up as a grassroots regular, and with the help of a good racecar, showed the world that he can race with the best of them.
In fact, he echoed that by saying not just he, but anyone from the Modifieds, could come and do the same thing.
“[The] Modified Tour is no slouch,” Bonsignore said. “Anything you can accomplish there, you’re beating the best guys in our area. You could put any of these guys in these cars. Ron Silk would have come out and done the same thing today. We’ve got really good racecar drivers where we are.”
That final quote is one that speaks volumes. Bonsignore simply took the opportunity he had and made not only the entire Modified community, but the entire New England racing community, proud.
Chase began working with Frontstretch in the spring of 2023 as a news writer, while also helping fill in for other columns as needed. Chase is now the main writer and reporter for Frontstretch.com's CARS Tour coverage, a role which began late in 2023. Aside from racing, some of Chase's other hobbies include time in the outdoors hunting and fishing, and keeping up with all things Philadelphia sports related.
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