For Tommy Catalano, watching his brother Trevor earn his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory at Monadnock Speedway last year was emotional for several reasons.<\/p>\n
Trevor\u2019s triumph came in only his eighth NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour appearance. Entering Saturday\u2019s Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock Speedway, Tommy had 96 career starts on his resume, none of which had resulted in a win despite several close calls.<\/p>\n
Years of patience and hard work brought a second Catalano to Monandock\u2019s Victory Lane in thrilling fashion.<\/p>\n
Tommy was tasked with fending off Patrick Emerling during an overtime restart while on older tires. Emerling briefly took the lead from Tommy, but a nudge to Emerling\u2019s back bumper knocked him out of the groove just enough for Tommy to earn an emotional breakthrough victory by the slimmest of margins \u2013 .007 seconds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t really want to get [Emerling] like that into [turn three],\u201d Tommy said. \u201cI was hoping to kind of move him up the hill a little bit. Everyone was kind of tight right there. Justin [Bonsignore] was right on my bumper. It\u2019s unbelievable.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully this isn\u2019t the last one.\u201d<\/p>\n
After starting 12th, Tommy cycled to the second position after electing to stay on track during a caution with 42 laps remaining that, ironically, involved his brother Trevor.<\/p>\n
Tommy lined up second behind Luke Baldwin for the ensuing restart, with Tyler Rypkema providing the two a buffer between Emerling, who led the remaining lead lap cars off pit road. Knowing he needed to move quickly, Tommy dove underneath Baldwin in Turn 1 to take the lead, which also pinned Emerling on the top line.<\/p>\n
By the time Emerling worked his way back to second behind Tommy, another caution would trigger an overtime restart. The fastest car at Monadnock all evening would now be lined up to Tommy\u2019s outside for the final two-lap sprint, but even with the odds against him, the seasoned veteran was not ready to surrender the win just yet.<\/p>\n
Emerling led at the white flag. Through determination and sheer will, Tommy led at the checkered flag, albeit just barely.<\/p>\n
The scene in Victory Lane was nearly identical to last year\u2019s Duel at the Dog 250, with the only difference being the role reversal of the brothers.<\/p>\n
As the Catalanos celebrated, Emerling felt a mix of frustration and disappointment with his second-place effort. He was critical of the maneuver Tommy pulled on him to take the victory but does not plan to linger on Saturday\u2019s defeat for long.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had the best car today,\u201d Emerling said. \u201cWe led basically the whole race and the whole team executed really good. We were doing exactly what we had to do and had the race won in the last corner but got smashed out of the way. That\u2019s not the type of racing that I do, but I guess that\u2019s how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Emerling had edged Tommy at the line, he would have snapped a streak of different winners to open 2025, having previously won at New Smyrna Speedway. Austin Beers\u2019 victory at Lancaster Motorplex last weekend tied the record for seven different winners in seven events that was set in 1999.<\/p>\n
Instead, Tommy\u2019s valiant effort during the final laps set a new NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour record; eight winners in the first eight races.<\/p>\n
Building up Catalano Motorsports has been a prolonged, methodical effort not only by Tommy, but his mother Amy, his father Dave, his brothers and every member of his team. That elusive first victory finally arrived on Saturday, a day Tommy wasn\u2019t sure would ever materialize.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just nuts,\u201d Tommy said. \u201cYou see all the people that have won so far this year and if you said any of them were going to win their second race [this year], that wouldn\u2019t have surprised me at all. To come here and do what we did is phenomenal.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou start getting down thinking it\u2019s not meant to be, but you keep plugging away and keep at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kyle Bonsignore finished third in his 100th NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour start, followed by his cousin Justin Bonsignore and Beers. The rest of the top 10 included Rypkema, Baldwin, Stephen Kopcik, Craig Lutz and Anthony Nocella.<\/p>\n
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour competitors will have less than 24 hours to prepare for their next race, as the Cheshire County Clash 200 at Monadnock Speedway takes place at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday. FloRacing will carry live coverage of the second part of Monadnock\u2019s doubleheader.<\/p>\n