Justin Bonsignore

Justin Bonsignore (born February 3, 1988) is an American racing driver who competes in NASCAR's Whelen Modified Tour and various other local racing circuits. He currently drives for Kenneth Massa Motorsports.[1]

Justin Bonsignore
NationalityUnited States
Born (1988-02-03) February 3, 1988
Holtsville, New York
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour career
Debut season2007
Current teamKenneth Massa Motorsports
Years active2007–present
Car number51
Crew chiefRyan Stone
Starts155
Championships1
Wins28
Poles13
Best finish1st in 2018
Finished last season2nd (2019)
Championship titles
2018NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Last updated on: July 4, 2020.

Early career and go-karts

Bonsignore began his racing career with go-karts at the age of 8. His family has long owned and operated a Kart Racing Shop, and this early exposure to the racing circuit paved the way for a career in racing.

In 1997, Bonsignore competed for his first national event at the Rockingham Speedway, in North Carolina, where he finished 13th. During his Go Kart career Bonsignore has secured 18 national event wins, 13 poles, and 45 top-5 finishes in 81 national starts. Highlights include wins at Len Sammon's Indoor Kart Race at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island and the East End Shootout at Riverhead Raceway.

Chargers and modified

In 2005, Bonsignore began racing stock cars. Competing in Riverhead Raceway's Charger Division, and NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series, Bonsignore finished third in the series standings, was awarded Rookie of the Year, and secured the best rookie finish on record.

In 2006, Bonsignore joined the NASCAR Modified Division, where he scored three top-5 and nine top-10 finishes. For the second year in a row, Bonsignore received honors from NASCAR, taking home the Rookie of the Year title for the Modified Division and claiming a seventh-place finish overall, a new best for a rookie driver.

Hopes for a higher finish in 2007 were cut short due to a wrist injury.

2008 saw Bonsignore's first stock car win in 2008 and the division's most top-5 and top-10 finishes en route to an 8th-place points finish.

2009 proved a very successful season performance wise, but bad luck kept overall results below expectations. During the season, Bonsignore broke a long winless streak and won the Cromarty Cup 50 Lap race, qualifying on the pole and leading every lap.

In the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race Bonsignore was able to match a career-best 4th-place finish.

M3 Technology Racing

2009 also marked the first collaboration between Bonsignore and local business owner Ken Massa. During the summer, the two discussed and formed a team with the intention of competing full-time on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. In the team's first race together, they scored a 2nd-place finish at the Sundance Vacations Speedway in St. John's, PA (the former and later Mountain Speedway; to be called Evergreen Raceway Park starting in 2014) in the King of the Mountain 150.

The 2010 Season showed the promise of the new team, as Bonsignore was named the 2010 Sunoco Rookie of the Year.[2] Finishing a strong 13th in the standings, a series of mechanical accidents and bad luck ruined a potential top-10 run. Bonsignore became the first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver to earn a Coors Light Pole Award at Bristol Motor Speedway and Stafford Motor Speedway. 2010 saw the M3 Racing team take home two top 5 finishes, and four top 10 finishes.[3]

M3 Technology and Bonsignore returned to the Tour for the 2011 season, and once again competed throughout the year at Riverhead Raceway. On July 30, 2011, Bonsignore won his first Whelen Modified Tour race at his local track, Riverhead Raceway. He started on the outside pole and led the final 158 laps in dominating fashion. Bonsignore also won the NASCAR Weekly Series Modified championship at Riverhead Raceway, clinching that on September 10, 2011.

In 2012 and 2013 Bonsignore finished 7th and 8th in the points respectively, picking up two more wins at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park and Monadnock Speedway.

2014 saw a change for Bonsignore and the M3 Technology team as they would switch from Troyer to Spafco Chassis and Robert Yates Racing Spec engines. Performance improved as Bonsignore won 3 races on the way to a 3rd-place finish in points. Winning speed returned in 2015, with two more race wins, however, the team lacked consistency on the way to a 10th-place finish in points.

The 2016 season proved to be a career year at the time for Bonsignore, scoring 4 wins and 13 top 5's on the way to a runner-up points finish to Doug Coby. 2017 was not as kind, with Bonsignore going winless for the first time since 2010, only leading 4 laps all season.

2018 was another year of change for the No. 51 team. The team switched chassis manufacturers again to the potent LFR Chassis, bringing in Ryan Stone as crew chief. These changes paid off as Bonsignore won the 2018 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship on the strength of 8 wins, 5 poles, 12 Top 5's, 15 top 10's, and 695 laps lead, leading every category.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Whelen Modified Tour

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour results
Year Car owner No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 NWMTC Pts Ref
2007 Info not available 23 Chevy TMP STA WTO STA TMP NHA TSA RIV
4
STA TMP MAN MAR NHA TMP STA TMP 53rd 160 [4]
2008 TMP STA STA TMP NHA SPE RIV
DNQ
STA TMP MAN TMP NHA MAR CHE STA TMP N/A 0 [5]
2009 Thomas Bonsignore 51 Chevy TMP STA STA NHA SPE RIV
4
STA BRI TMP NHA MAR STA TMP 49th 160 [6]
2010 Kenneth Massa Chevy TMP
27
STA
10
STA
11
MAR
2
NHA
12
LIM
21
MND
9
RIV
17
STA
25
TMP
24
BRI
5
NHA
27
STA
29
TMP
22
13th 1587 [7]
2011 TMP
5
STA
28
STA
17
MND
2
TMP
24
NHA
31
RIV
1*
STA
11
NHA
4
BRI
2
DEL
7
TMP
10
LRP
3
NHA
3
STA
10*
TMP
21
7th 2141 [8]
2012 TMP
13
MND
4
STA
10
WFD
2
NHA
28
STA
10
TMP
25
BRI
4
TMP
1
RIV
2
NHA
25
STA
11
TMP
19
7th 460 [9]
Ford STA
6
2013 Chevy TMP
8
STA
2
STA
7
WFD
4
RIV
24
NHA
32
MND
1*
STA
15
TMP
20
BRI
8
RIV
2
NHA
14
STA
5
TMP
10
8th 464 [10]
2014 TMP
1
STA
5
STA
2
WFD
4
RIV
16
NHA
6
MND
1
STA
8
TMP
1
BRI
6
NHA
25
STA
21
TMP
5
3rd 484 [11]
2015 TMP
27
STA
20
WFD
25
STA
28
TMP
2
RIV
1*
NHA
22
MND
3
STA
5
TMP
8
BRI
24
RIV
1*
NHA
5
STA
21
TMP
2
10th 478 [12]
2016 TMP
3
STA
5
WFD
17
STA
5
TMP
20
RIV
2
NHA
8
MND
5
STA
2
TMP
1*
BRI
22
RIV
1*
OSW
3
SEE
2
NHA
1*
STA
2
TMP
1
2nd 672 [13]
2017 MYR
6
TMP
9
STA
9
LGY
5
TMP
14
RIV
5
NHA
17
STA
3
TMP
11
BRI
3
SEE
6
OSW
6
RIV
5
NHA
5
STA
6
TMP
10
3rd 588 [14]
2018 MYR
5
TMP
1
STA
8
SEE
1*
TMP
1
LGY
2
RIV
1
NHA
4*
STA
7
TMP
1*
BRI
1*
OSW
2
RIV
1
NHA
6*
STA
12
TMP
1
1st 693 [15]
2019 MYR
12
SBO
25
TMP
1
STA
6*
WAL
13
SEE
2
TMP
1
RIV
1
NHA
7
STA
6
TMP
2
OSW
1*
RIV
1
NHA
5
STA
2*
TMP
1
2nd 653 [16]
2020 JEN
1*
WMM
1
STA TMP JEN OSW NHA RIV STA TMP -* -* [17]

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

References

  1. "Bonsignore Re-Signs With Kenneth Massa Motorsports". Speed Sport. January 10, 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  2. Whelen Modified Tour: Sunoco Rookie of the Year
  3. 2010 Whelen Modified Tour Standings
  4. "Justin Bonsignore – 2007 NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  5. "Justin Bonsignore – 2008 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  6. "Justin Bonsignore – 2009 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  7. "Justin Bonsignore – 2010 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  8. "Justin Bonsignore – 2011 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  9. "Justin Bonsignore – 2012 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  10. "Justin Bonsignore – 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  11. "Justin Bonsignore – 2014 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  12. "Justin Bonsignore – 2015 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  13. "Justin Bonsignore – 2016 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  14. "Justin Bonsignore – 2017 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  15. "Justin Bonsignore – 2018 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  16. "Justin Bonsignore – 2019 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  17. "Justin Bonsignore – 2020 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Doug Coby
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Champion
2018
Succeeded by
Doug Coby
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