Matt Hirschman Completes Seekonk Hat Trick, McKennedy Claims Tri-Track Championship

Matt Hirschman completed a Seekonk Speedway hat trick on Saturday, winning the USNEPower Haunted Hundred XL for the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series. With a second-place finish, Jon McKennedy claimed his second championship with the series.

Hirschman led all 125 laps of the feature event, giving him a trio of wins at Seekonk. Along with two Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series wins, Hirschman also won the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at the Massachusetts 1/3-mile.

"What a great year here at Seekonk," said Hirschman in victory lane. "Swept the season, all three races. They've got four total here next year between Whelen and Tri-Track, so even better. We're definitely on a streak here at Seekonk. It'll come to an end at some point, for sure, but while we've got something working for us, we'll keep riding the wave.

"We are having a really good season with some good wins. When we are mistake-free, like we were today, we can win a good amount of races. When we're not, you know, we're just not."

McKennedy chased Hirschman throughout Saturday's race, hoping to save enough tire for a late-race charge to the victory. Not content to rest on a second-place finish to secure the Tri-Track championship, McKennedy fought the entire way but came up just short.

"We had a really good car the whole day. We really did," said McKennedy. "I really wanted to win. It would have been obviously pretty special if we could win in the championship. We had a really good car. Matt's just so good here. I rode behind him in second for obviously the majority of the race.

"I was literally in save mode for over half that race, saving as much as I could. When it was time to go, he had a tenth or so on us. As you could see, those last five or six laps, he was able to pull away. Congratulations to him. He's so tough. I think I've finished second to him four or five times here."

"A very emotional year, up and down. I think we've won six or seven Modified races throughout three different touring series, a handful of Supermodified races, but we also had a few that got away from us, a couple of big wrecks. Big picture, we won the championship, another Tri-Track Modified Series championship for me. Just great. Thanks again to all my guys, all my sponsors, Seekonk for having us, and, again, congratulations to Matt Hirschman."

While the two front-runners were familiar names to Modified fans, Chase Grennan may have been a surprise joining them on the podium. The 18-year-old from New York finished third, ecstatic with a strong run against a stout field of competitors.

"This is amazing for our team," said Grennan. "We never expected to have a run like this when we came here. I've never even seen this place before yesterday, got a lot of great practice laps, but we had a good piece from the moment we unloaded.

"To run up front with two of the best guys in the country is really a dream come true. I watched these guys growing up. I'm only 18 and these guys are my heroes to me. Running next to them like that really is amazing."

Patrick Emerling finished fourth, with Brett Meservey rounding out the top five.

Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series USNEPower Haunted Hundred XL Unofficial Results