The quotes in this story are from an interview Frontstretch conducted with Justin Bonsignore on April 19, one day before his most recent NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Rockingham Speedway. His next Xfinity start will come at Pocono Raceway this Saturday (June 21).
With four NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championships and 46 career wins, Justin Bonsignore has established himself as one of the series’ all-time greats.
Racing is a team sport through and through, and it was one hire in 2018 that elevated Bonsignore and the No. 51 Ken Massa team from perennial winners to perennial champions: crew chief Ryan Stone.
“You never would have expected it,” Bonsignore told Frontstretch. “We were just hoping to get one championship and be a consistent contender and immediately out of the gate we became that and won half the races that year and a championship. We’ve followed it up with three more since and we’ve been in contention every year for a championship since Ryan’s been on board.
“Won 30 something races with them and we’ve had such a great relationship with our team, top to bottom.”
Winning is the grand prize, but nothing compares to winning with the people closest to you.
“Ken Massa, my car owner, and his wife Janine are just great people, and it’s like a big family,” Bonsignore said. “The whole team and I love being a part of it, and that’s why I never want to leave modified racing. I just love the team I have, and I don’t want to go racing with anybody else.
“I probably won’t race anymore if it’s not with those guys.”
From his team to his family, from childhood to adulthood, racing has always played a role his life.
“I grew up coming (to Rockingham) as a kid with my family,” Bonsignore recalled. “My wife and I met through racing and now we have two young boys. We were talking this morning and she’s not here, obviously, but just on the way in this morning, I was kind of reminiscent of how coming here as a kid that I hope my kids want to do this one day. … It kind of makes you think back and appreciate what you have as a child.
“My wife and I met in this sport, and hopefully (my kids) want to follow in our footpaths if possible and make friends and family through racing like we did. It’s a great sport to be a part of, and some of my best friends are from racing. I love it and hopefully they want to do it, but we’ll do whatever they want to do.”
This year has been an important one for Bonsignore and his family, as he and his wife welcomed their second child in February.
This season also marks his biggest foray into stock cars, as he is competing in nine NASCAR Xfinity Series races with Joe Gibbs Racing. The opportunity first came about in 2024, when Bonsignore competed in the ARCA Menards Series’ season opener at Daytona.
“Last year we had run that ARCA race, and it kind of perked a little bit of interest after that,” Bonsignore explained. “And I was thinking the best thing for us and our partners was going to be to try and make a Xfinity start.
One thing led to another, and Bonsignore got the call from Joe Gibbs Racing to make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut that July.
“I got a hold of Steve deSouza (Executive Vice President of the Xfinity Series/Development), took a couple of phone calls,” Bonsignore said. “And once we got in touch with him, they ended up having New Hampshire available, which was really cool.”
Bonsignore is no stranger to New Hampshire Speedway, with three Modified wins at the 1.058-mile oval. That experience showed in the Xfinity race, as he led laps and was running in the top five for much of the day before finishing 22nd.
“Didn’t get the finish I felt we deserved, but it just showed that we could do it, and it just perked a little bit more interest to try and put together some funding for this year,” Bonsignore said. “Steve and I have been in touch basically since that New Hampshire race about doing 2025 stuff, and it was a little bit back and forth just trying to figure out the races, but the was sponsorship there, and they were willing to have me drive the car, and that’s really cool.”
With New Hampshire off the 2025 Xfinity schedule, Bonsignore has raced and is scheduled to race the No. 19 Xfinity car at Daytona, Homestead, Rockingham, Pocono, Iowa, Kansas, both Bristol races and the season finale at Phoenix.
Bonsignore posted a career-best Xfinity finish of 16th at Homestead in March — a solid showing for a driver that is learning superspeedways and intermediate tracks for the first time in his career.
“[ARCA] was the first time I ran Daytona,” Bonsignore said. “That’s the only time I’ve run a fendered car, and that’s the first time on anything bigger than a mile. (New Hampshire’s) the biggest track I’d run up until that point. And then obviously I’ve run a couple of bigger tracks now with Homestead and now Rockingham.
“It’s just totally different than what I’m used to, but (I’m) just leaning on these guys as much as I can and trying to be a sponge — just reading as much data and understanding it as much as I can.”
It’s a constant, never-ending process of learning and seat time, and Bonsignore feels himself making progress with every race he runs.
“Each time I get out at the end of the race, I feel like … I would love to just do it over again and start the weekend over again.” Bonsignore said. “It’s all about seat time in any division that you race, no matter if it’s a modified that I’ve done for 15 years or this (Xfinity car) that I’ve only done five times. You could always learn from seat time, and (at Rockingam), just to be able to get a 50-minute practice was really helpful.
“I just think I’m going to be learning until the day I stop doing this.”
The Modified tour remains Bonsignore’s No. 1 priority, and JGR has worked to accommodate his schedule in order to give him the best opportunity to succeed in both.
“Fortunately for me, I’m not in the shop every day working on [the modified],” Bonsignore explained. “I got a great crew down here that brings the car back and forth for the modified team.
“Then obviously the Xfinity stuff, there’s a lot more prep work that goes into that compared to the modified racing, but (crew chief) Seth (Chavka) and all the guys here do a great job of helping me with everything I need, and they’re really, really good about working around all my schedules and just accommodating everything I need to do. So I got it pretty easy. [I have] good teams on both sides, and everybody’s willing to help me out.”
Bonsignore’s “Drive For Five” is off to a great start, as he leads the 2025 Modified Tour point standings through five races after his first win of the season at Riverhead Raceway on June 15.
He’ll be back in the Xfinity car this weekend to tackle The Tricky Triangle of Pocono for the first time in his racing career.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf