There‘s no debating that Justin Bonsignore is among the best race car drivers to ever compete on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. His 46 checkered flags rank second, trailing only NASCAR Hall of Famer Mike Stefanik‘s 74 victories.
Bonsignore was honored by NASCAR in June, being named one of the series’ 40 best drivers list, as he vies for his fifth Whelen Modified Tour championship in 2025.
RELATED: All of Bonsignore’s wins | All-time Whelen Modified Tour winners
“Until they actually put your name on those things, you don‘t know if you‘ll ever make it,” Bonsignore told NASCAR.com. “We‘ve had good stats and success over the last decade and hope you‘ll be on there, but it‘s cool to be honored like that. It‘s humbling.”
Bonsignore wanted to challenge himself even further and compete in more Xfinity Series races throughout the 2025 season, tabbing a nine-race schedule. After a successful debut in 2024 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which was scheduled to be a one-off start with Joe Gibbs Racing, he contemplated how much success he could find in the series. The record book will show a 22nd-place finish at New Hampshire, but the three—time modified winner in the Granite State earned stage points in both stages, placing second in Stage 2.
“It opened up an itch of wanting to try some fendered stuff,” Bonsignore added. “It was a tough situation because we ran so good (at New Hampshire) and I‘m like, ‘we can do this‘ and maybe thought it was easier than it is. This stuff is not easy by any means; these guys are really good over here. It‘s hard to jump in and out every couple of weeks and be successful.
“Running well there led me to more interest and trying to scratch an itch and check some things off as I get a little bit older and later in my career.”
At a wise age of 37, Bonsignore isn‘t looking to transition to the national touring levels full-time. He believes that ship has sailed, no matter the amount of success he has with JGR. He works in Xfinity races around his modified schedule, which has a 16-race slate in 2025.
The schedule Bonsignore and JGR settled on was diverse. It began with the season opener at Daytona before returning to Homestead five weeks later. He made consecutive starts in April at Bristol and Rockingham, and most recently blew an engine in the opening laps at Pocono last month.
“I just wanted to challenge myself,” Bonsignore said of his slate of races. “Homestead was probably not my best decision, but you don‘t know how many opportunities you will get to try and do this. I wanted to put myself in places that were out of my comfort zone and places that maybe I‘ll never get the opportunity to go back to.”
Among JGR leadership, Bonsignore is leaning heavily on veteran Aric Almirola. He‘s friendly with modified graduate Ryan Preece, who took a similar path of getting a legitimate opportunity at JGR in 2017. Two partial years of success led to a full-time chance with JTG-Daugherty Racing (now Hyak Motorsports) beginning in 2019.
“You are put on the spot to figure something out as quickly as possible and then be able to give accurate feedback about what you can have to get the car better,” Preece said of advice he‘s given Bonsignore. “For somebody in his position, it‘s extremely difficult to go out and win or succeed because you‘ve got so many factors involved.”
In a deep Xfinity field, success has been limited for Bonsignore. In his first five starts this year, he has a pair of top-20 finishes. His last two attempts both ended up in DNFs.
Getting up to speed hasn‘t been a problem, No. 19 team crew chief Seth Chavka explained. It‘s the fundamentals throughout the race that need to be improved upon.
“It‘s important that we convert our race pace into results,” Chavka stated. “If we‘re running 10th throughout the day, we need to execute well enough to finish there through solid strategy, clean pit stops and strong restarts.”
Bonsignore will return to the No. 19 Toyota this weekend at Iowa. His final three races will come in the postseason, beginning at Kansas and ending with the final two races at Martinsville and Phoenix.
No matter the outcomes in Bonsignore‘s upcoming starts, he can sum up his transition to Xfinity in one word: tough.
“I just want to have good, smooth days and put together solid runs and build some momentum,” Bonsignore added.
MORE: Xfinity Series standings | Xfinity Series schedule
Regardless, getting another prominent modified driver on the national level is important. Preece brought the Modified Tour back to the national stage in recent years, with Bonsignore and Patrick Emerling giving it their best shot, as well. Luke Baldwin — son of Cup Series-winning crew chief and Modified legend Tommy Baldwin — is next in line, making his first four Craftsman Truck Series starts with ThorSport Racing in 2025.
“I think it‘s important for the state of our sport to have drivers like Justin or others having opportunities with successful teams and show their worth,” Preece noted, “and show the value that they can bring. Because to go into other opportunities where they might not necessarily be the one that will get you the victory because our sport is based on statistics and wins. If you jump in a 20th-place or 25th-place car and get 15th, the sport doesn‘t value that. I think it‘s important to go out and have guys like that getting great opportunities and trying to win.”
Knowing Iowa is under a mile in length, Bonsignore is excited for the weekend as he is familiar with the tendencies of short tracks.
