By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer
MARTINSVILLE, VA – When the green flag waves for the NASCAR Hall of Fame 200 at Martinsville Speedway, Danny Bohn will play it smart as he follows in the footsteps of NASCAR greats.
Bohn will drive the No. 30 Big Machine Label Group / Brantley Gilbert Toyota Tundra in the NASCAR Grander Outdoors Truck Series race for On Point Motorsports.
The expectations for Bohn and his On Point Motorsports team are simply to finish the race in one piece.
“I haven’t really picked a position,” Bohn admitted. “You just have to be smooth, play it smart, not do anything dumb, and get in and off pit road the way I need to. You have to stay out of trouble. And I think if we can do all that, we should have a pretty good day.”
A native of Freehold, N.J., Bohn joins fellow Wall Stadium alumni Ray Evernham, Martin Truex, Jr., and Ryan Truex in the move to NASCAR’s National Touring Series. He is also following Modified Tour legends Ted Christopher and Mike Stefanik who once competed on the national level.
While Bohn enjoys the company, he considers it an honor to represent both New Jersey and short track racers.
“It is kind of cool, Ray Evernham started his career at a Wall Stadium, both Ryan and Martin Truex started at Wall Stadium. So, it’s pretty cool to represent New Jersey and we have this opportunity today and hopefully we can continue to do something later on.
“There’s not many people get this opportunity and when you modified race, and that’s not typically the way to progress up the ladder. Most people get in fender cars and late models and stuff like that. The modified is kind of a different animal.
“Not many people jump from a modified into one of the top three series. To be able to do that it’s just a really an honor to be here today and hopefully I can represent the short track world in a positive way today.”
After cutting his teeth at the local level, Bohn moved to the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour in 2012 and turned heads with a runner-up finish in points. At the same time, he competed at Bowman Gray Stadium.
In 2014, Bohn won the BGS track championship in the Modified division. In six years of competition at the legendary 0.250-mile oval he earned 11 victories, 48 top-fives, and 69 top-10s. It was Bohn’s BGS connection that brought the On Point Motorsports deal together.
Crew chief and On Point team owner Steven Lane goes to Bowman Gray. As Bohn explained, the pair talked one day and after a trip to the race shop, he now has a chance to compete.
“’Bones,’ the crew chief, goes to the Bowman Gray, and we got talking over there and then came out to the shop and, I explored the opportunities. I said, ‘Man, how do I get one of those things?’
“We were able to put a deal together and it’s just something that I always wanted to do, but never really thought I’d get the opportunity. We’re going to try to make the best of it today.”
Although both Wall Stadium and BGS are smaller in size, the two short tracks share some characteristics with Martinsville. The narrow, confined straightaways and turns lend to beating and banging.
Keeping the Truck relatively clean and undamaged will also be a key factor in Saturday’s race. Having raced in similar conditions on the Modified level, the narrow track, fender rubbing, and close racing is a natural fit for the 31-year-old.
Although Bohn has traded his nerf bars for fenders, Bohn feels at home with the similarities between the three tracks.
“This track is pretty much the same animal is what I’ve grown up racing on between Wall Stadium and I’ve won the championship at Bowman Gray in a modified. This is just a little bigger, but it’s going be the same beating and banging, missing wrecks, and stuff like that.
“I felt like this would probably be the best race from my first race. And I mean most people would disagree, but this is where I grew up racing. We’ll do this one and then see how this goes and you know, possibly do some more.”
With the Whelen Modified Tour returning to Martinsville next season for the first time in 10 years, excitement is already building.
Although Bohn has made sporadic NASCAR Modified starts since the end of the Whelen Southern Modified Tour, he wouldn’t rule out returning for the historic race.
“We’ve talked about it with some people. There’s nothing set in stone yet. I’ve got a few possible opportunities for next year modified stuff and other stuff. We’ll just get through today and tomorrow, and then reevaluate after that.”