The Top-Five in 2025 SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic Driver Points have advanced to compete in the SMART Playoffs. They will race for the  Championship in a three-round format starting this Saturday at Franklin County Raceway. Let’s lay out what the playoffs look like…

THE PLAYOFF RACES

RACE ONE

Saturday September 20th

The Mod Squad Nationals

Franklin County Raceway, Callaway, Virginia

RACE TWO

Saturday October 11th

The Freeman Hoosier 99

Tri-County Motor Speedway, Hudson, North Carolina

RACE THREE - FINALE

Friday and Saturday October 17th and 18th

The Frontier Natural Gas 99

North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina

(Part of a Triple-Header Title Weekend with the zMAX CARS Tour)

THE PLAYOFF FORMAT

The playoffs start with five eligible drivers for the first of the three Playoff races. A driver will be eliminated from playoff contention in each of the first two rounds. If a playoff driver wins either of those two rounds, he will advance to the SMART 3 championship round at North Wilkesboro. In both round one and round two, the lowest playoff driver in points will be eliminated at each event, unless he is the victor of that race. Four drivers will advance to the second round of the playoffs and then three for the finale.

In the SMART 3 Championship Round at North Wilkesboro, the remaining three drivers will compete in a “head-to-head” challenge, much like the NASCAR Cup Series. With that format, finishing results, not point standings, will determine the champion, as well as second and third in the standings.

The SMART Modified Tour detailed that in the event of a cancellation of either the first round or second round of the playoffs, the driver who is lowest in the point standings of the playoff contenders will be eliminated for each round. If both of the first two rounds are cancelled, the “SMART 3” will be determined by the wins of the eligible drivers, and the remaining positions available, by the playoff contenders position in the point standings.

THE SMART PLAYOFF DRIVERS

LUKE BALDWIN - 7VA

Luke Baldwin is the points leader going into the 2025 three-race Playoff. The third-generation of the Baldwin racing family is the defending Champion of the SMART Modified Tour. Baldwin has made four starts this season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and is poised to move up the ranks in the NASCAR world. The Mooresville, North Carolina driver has three wins in 11 SMART races this season. Baldwin captured a spring win in the Pace-O-Matic 99 at South Carolina’s Anderson Speedway. The 18-year old revisited the win column during the SMART Beach Trip on Labor Day weekend by taking the checkers in the Carteret Clash at Carteret County Speedway. His third win came at Caraway Speedway’s Robert Jeffreys Memorial on September 7th after the disqualification of the race-winning car driven by Carson Loftin. The 7VA team that Luke Baldwin races for is owned by Virginia Senator Bill Stanley and former NASCAR driver Hermie Sadler. The Neil Cantor lead team has eight top-five finishes and an average finish of 4.54 in 11-SMART races this season. His only finish outside of the top-ten this season came at Coastal Plains Raceway’s Cardinal 99 in August. 

RYAN NEWMAN - 2

Ryan Newman has been red-hot on the SMART Modified Tour and enters the Playoffs as second in the rankings.  The 2008 Daytona 500 Champion is piloting the potent Randy Renfrow no. 2 car for the second-consecutive season. Newman, who started his career in the open-wheel midget and sprint car ranks, looks to get his first open wheel title since winning the USAC Silver Crown Championship in 1999. The South Bend, Indiana driver has wins in 2025 at The Rumble in Rougemont at North Carolina’s Orange County Speedway and the Kenny Minter Memorial at Franklin County Raceway. He also took a dominating win in last week’s Flying VA Classic at Dominion Raceway.  Newman hopes the momentum of last week’s win, plus his victory the last time the Tour visited Franklin County, will be the mojo he needs to kick off the playoffs. Remember, the last time SMART ran Franklin County in May, Newman and Baldwin had a photo finish that was the closest in series’ history.

PAULIE HARTWIG III - 73

The youngest of the SMART Playoff contenders comes in at the tender age of 14-years old.  Hartwig, who is most known for his prowess in Dirt Modifieds, has been one of the most consistent racers on the SMART Tour this season and ranks third heading into the Playoffs. The Tour’s leading rookie contender took his first career SMART win in a last-lap duel with Luke Baldwin at the Hickory Hundred in April, becoming the youngest driver to ever win in SMART history. The 8th grader starts the Playoffs at Franklin County without his crew chief, Bobby Geiger Jr, as he is off attending his son’s wedding. Paul Hartwig Jr, will assume crew chiefing duties for his son at Franklin. If the Galloway Township, New Jersey driver reaches the SMART3, he will come into North Wilkesboro with confidence, having won at the famous North Carolina track twice in Crate Modified competition in 2022 at the age of 11.

JOEY COULTER IV - 02

Joey Coulter IV and his Rum Runner Racing Team enters the playoffs fourth in the standings without a win in 2025. Coulter, a winner in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2012, is now a veteran competitor in the Modified ranks. The Miami Springs, Florida driver is a two-time SMART winner. His last victory came in the Revolutionary 99 at Carway Speedway in 2022. After suffering a 20th and 19th place finish in race number two-and-three of the 2025 season, Coulter has turned the tide producing an average finish of 5.75 over the course of the next eight-races, including two-runner-up performances. Veteran NASCAR Crew Chief Harold Holly is making the calls from the pit box for Coulter, as they hope to get the “Grey Ghost” 02-car to the Championship finale at North Wilkesboro. 

JAKE CRUM - 99

Jake Crum has had some inconsistency in the 2025 season, but hopes to bring the Jamie Tomaino owned no. 99 to the top by the end of the three-race playoff. Crum, a veteran of Late Model Stock racing, is still looking for his first SMART Modified Tour victory. The Statesville, North Carolina driver is the 2009 winner of the Valley Star Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway. Crum’s best run of the 2025 SMART season, a second place result, came in the season-opening Zach Brewer Memorial at South Carolina’s Florence Motor Speedway.

The SMART Modified Tour kicks off the playoffs with a Saturday day race at Franklin County Raceway with the 99-lap Mod Squad Nationals on September 20th. All SMART Modified Tour races are broadcast live on FloRacing.