One for the family: Trevor Catalano hangs on for emotional Whelen Modified Tour win at Monadnock Speedway

WINCHESTER, N.H. — The Catalano family has been trying to win a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race since 2018.

On Saturday night at Monadnock Speedway, 17-year-old Trevor Catalano delivered the victory that his entire family so desperately wanted.

Trevor, the youngest of three brothers currently racing on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, held off reigning series champion Ron Silk to win the Duel at the Dog 250.

“This is awesome,” Trevor said. “My mom and dad, they give us everything they can to come out here and be competitive. They gave me everything and anything that I know. I just can‘t thank my parents enough.

“It‘s a whole family operation. We all pick off of each other and try to give the best type of car we can give and come out every week and be competitive. Man, this thing was on rails.”

RELATED: Complete results from the Duel at the Dog 250 at Monadnock

Prior to Saturday, the best NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour performance for the Catalano family belonged to 26-year-old Tommy Catalano, a runner-up result at Richmond Raceway during the 2022 season.

To improve upon that performance, Trevor and the Catalano Motorsports team had to gamble.

When the caution flag waved for the stalled car of Tim Connolly with 71 laps left, most of the leaders opted to head to pit road for a fresh Hoosier Tire.

Three drivers — Kyle Bonsignore, Woody Pitkat and Trevor — instead chose to stay out and inherited the top three positions. Patrick Emerling and Ron Silk, who had been the leaders prior to the caution, would line up fourth and fifth for the restart.

Once racing resumed, Trevor went to work. He dispatched Pitkat with ease and took the lead from Bonsignore on lap 195. Trevor promptly built a half second lead on the field, but it didn‘t last.

Behind him, Silk was on the move. After moving past Bonsignore with 53 laps remaining, Silk quickly set off in pursuit of Trevor.

The next 50 laps saw Silk hound the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour rookie. He tried to coax him into a mistake and nearly got an opportunity with 23 laps left when Trevor bobbled in Turn 3.

Silk got to his inside, but wise beyond his years, Trevor used the lap car of Melissa Fifield as a pick and forced Silk to fall back in behind him in turns one and two.

“I messed up a couple times. I thought Ronnie (Silk) was going to get me. He raced me clean,” Trevor said. “I was just trying to drive as hard as I could without messing up.”

That was as close as Silk would get to completing the pass. Trevor crossed the finish line .254 seconds ahead of Silk to earn his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win in just his ninth start.

Silk, to his credit, said he didn‘t want to shoehorn Trevor out of the way. He wanted to beat him clean, but just didn‘t have the car to do it.

“I probably just needed to turn the center a little bit better,” Silk said. “I would say we were basically even. I didn‘t want to knock him out of the way. He did a great job. He didn‘t make any mistakes. I was hoping he would make one and I could get my nose under him.

“Congratulations to Trevor. He did a phenomenal job.”

Four other members of the Catalano had tried to win NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races prior to Trevor’s win Saturday night. They included his mom, Amy, and his three brothers Timmy, Tommy and Tyler.

However, it was Trevor, the youngest of the group currently competing with the series, who got the job done.

“This is going to be one I probably remember forever,” Trevor said.

After fading through the field during the final restart, Emerling drove back to finish third. Matt Hirschman and Kyle Bonsignore completed the top five.

Pitkat, Justin Bonsignore, Matt Kimball, Tommy Catalano and Austin Beers finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season continues Saturday, Aug. 3 with the running of the Nu-Way Auto Parts 150 at New York‘s Lancaster Motorplex. FloRacing will provide live coverage of the event starting at 8 p.m. ET.