THOMPSON, Conn. — Wednesday evening saw three-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Justin Bonsignore reach an important milestone at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.

By dominating the second half of the Thompson 150 presented by FloSports.com, Bonsignore earned an impressive 13th NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory at the facility. This puts him in a tie with Tour legend Ted Christopher on the series’ all-time list for Thompson victories.

As has been the case in many races this year, Bonsignore had to battle 2011 champion Ron Silk all the way to the checkered flag to bring home the historic win.

“It feels amazing to tie Ted Christopher on the all-time wins list [at Thompson],” Bonsignore said. “It’s something we had been wanting to do for a couple of years now. I was just trying to mind the gap with Ron [Silk], and I didn’t know how much he had left in the tank.

“On that last restart, he gave me a lot of respect.”

RELATED: Complete results from the Thompson 150

Bonsignore admitted matching Christopher’s Thompson win total was a moment that was long overdue.

During the late 2010s, Bonsignore was an unstoppable force at Thompson back when the track was featured four times on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule. From 2018-19, Bonsignore won seven of eight races, including six in a row.

The turn of the decade featured diminishing returns for Bonsignore around Thompson. He gradually fell down the running order with each appearance, which culminated into an abysmal showing last October that saw him finish two laps down in 14^th.

Bonsignore was initially unsure if he would shake off a streak of inconsistency at the start of Wednesday’s Thompson 150 after struggling to gain track position in the opening stint. Once he got fresh tires and clean air, nothing could stop Bonsignore from adding another accomplishment to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour record book.

“For a place where we had so many wins, we really lost our confidence in the last year and a half,” Bonsignore said. “We got lapped a bunch of times in October, but [Ryan] Stone went to work on this car and tried something really different today. We missed it a little bit on the first set [of tires], but it was really good on the second set.”

Silk tried everything to keep pace with Bonsignore in the closing stages of the Thompson 150 and even found a couple of good looks underneath him for the lead. A late-race caution failed to provide Silk another opening, and he was forced to watch Bonsignore take the checkered flag.

“I don’t think I could have gotten [Bonsignore] anyway,” Silk said. “He was a little bit better than we were. He could roll the center better, but it was still a good effort. I was loose during the first run and made some aggressive changes to tighten us up for the second. We just got it a tiny bit too tight.”

Although Wednesday’s outcome means he will lose some of his advantage in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour point standings, Silk was proud of the hard work his team put in to improve his car and minimize the damage from a Bonsignore win.

For Bonsignore, who now has 38 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour to his name, Wednesday carried more significance than just tying Christopher’s record at Thompson.

As Bonsignore embarked on a Polish victory lap around Thompson, he took an extra moment in Turn 1 to honor the late John Blewett III, who earned one of his 10 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victories at the facility before tragically passing away in a crash at the track in 2007.

“I left the [checkered] flag up in Turn 1,” Bonsignore said. “That’s where John Blewett III was killed. I saw Doug Coby do that years ago, and I had always wanted to do that. [Wednesday] was the day we lost John all those years ago, and he was the biggest badass there was.

“If we could do anything to honor him, that’s pretty cool.”

With one more visit to Thompson scheduled on the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour calendar in October, Bonsignore has an opportunity to inch closer to another late series legend in Mike Stefanik, who holds the record for most Thompson wins with 15.

Regardless of whether he is able to eclipse Stefanik’s total, Bonsignore’s triumph on Wednesday further cemented him as one of the greatest to ever race at Thompson alongside the many he idolized growing up.

Following Silk in the finish order was the most recent Thompson winner in Eric Goodale, with Austin Beers and Craig Lutz completing the top five.

Rounding out the top 10 finishers were Bobby Santos III, Patrick Emerling, Doug Coby, Anthony Sesely and Tyler Rypkema.

A replay of the Thompson 150 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park can be seen on CNBC on Aug. 26 at 12 p.m. ET.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour gets 10 days of rest before it makes another trip down south, this time to Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia for the CheckeredFlag.com 150. The green flag flies at 8 p.m. ET, with FloRacing providing the coverage.