Matt Hirschman Claims Eighth Richie Evans Memorial Win, Emerling Wraps Up World Series Title Run

Matt Hirschman continued his winning streak in the Richie Evans Memorial on Friday night at New Smyrna Speedway, while Patrick Emerling finished second to wrap up a dominant week and claim the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing's Tour-type Modified championship.

Hirschman took the lead from Ronnie Williams on lap 56 of the 100-lap event and never looked back. While Emerling passed Williams and briefly closed the gap on Hirschman, Hirschman stretched out his advantage to more than 1.5 seconds by the checkered flag.

For Hirschman, this particular World Series has been a struggle. Hirschman won multiple World Series feature races each of the last four years, but that streak ended in 2025.

However, when the week reached its traditional conclusion with the Richie Evans Memorial, Hirschman was singing a different tune.

"It's like that Toby Keith song," quipped Hirschman. "I wasn't as good this week as I once was, but I was as good once as I ever was. Finally put it together. I don't know if taking last night off was the right thing, but we just had to reset. Just didn't start off the week good. Last year, we did the same thing, but Wednesday we turned it around. This year, Wednesday, we didn't turn it around with a win."

Still, Hirschman keeps some important streaks alive. He goes home with at least one win during the World Series, a trend dating back to 2017. Hirschman also hasn't lost the Richie Evans Memorial since Ryan Preece won the event in 2018.

"I'm glad we're leaving here with a win," said Hirschman. "It's always special to win the Richie Evans Memorial. It's still the biggest part of the World Series for the Tour Modifieds, and we've done it many times in a row, so we continue that streak.

"We've never come here with Pee Dee Motorsports and not left herewith a win. That would have made for a long trip home, but this makes it a little bit shorter."

Hirschman's win stopped a different streak - Emerling's run of dominance during this year's World Series. Emerling entered Friday night with three wins in a row in the Tour-type Modified division, and four Modified wins in total going back to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season opener last Saturday.

Emerling settled for a second-place finish in the caution-free Richie Evans 100, but there were still plenty of reasons to celebrate a week that ended with an average finish of 1.6 in World Series competition and the week-long championship.

-Photo credit: Jason Reasin

"We've had long green flag runs here before in this Richie Evans 100," said Emerling. "I don't think we've ever went cautionless, so that's interesting.

"Congrats to Matt. He had a little bit of a tough week, and he got it turned around a little bit. I've just got to give it up to the entire Fleet Works No. 1 team. Everyone did an excellent job all week. A great week. This race, the tire stagger just came in a little bit off from what it shoudl have been. Otherwise, we would have been probably knocking at the door there.

"We were really close to winning a championship down here several times. To be able to get it is awesome. We had an awesome week. We won the big one last Saturday. Pretty much everything else was a bonus. It was an awesome week for us."

Tyler Rypkema finished third, followed by Jake Lutz and Monday night Tour-type Modified winner Austin Beers.

-Featured Photo credit: Jason Reasin

Richie Evans Memorial 100 Unofficial Results