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By Adam Fenwick
NASCAR.com Published: April 8, 2026
Photo NASACR
Life has a habit of getting in the way of racing. Just ask Doug Coby.
The six-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion hasn’t run the full series schedule since 2020. He missed one race in 2021 and has stuck to a part-time schedule since while he focused on other business ventures. He competed in just one race last season, the fewest Coby has contested since he made his series debut in 2002.
Fans can expect to see Coby a lot more this year thanks to a new partnership with Jett Motorsports, which will see the driver from Milford, Connecticut compete in nine events beginning with Sunday’s Icebreaker 150 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (4:30 p.m. ET on FloRacing).
ENTRY LIST: Mods at Thompson
Coby credits Cam McDermott, crew chief for Kyle Bonsignore, for making the connection that led to Coby’s opportunity with Jett Motorsports.
“Last fall, Cam McDermott introduced me to Jariah Roderick and Steve Rollins, who had a Tri-Track team that they were working with Woody Pitkat on,” Coby explained. “Through the course of me racing the Fall Final for them at Stafford last year, they kind of made it known that they wanted to put a Whelen Modified Tour car together for a few races the following season. They expressed some interest in working with me on that.
“At the time, we had just met each other, and we didn’t know how things were going to unfold. When the schedule came out for the Tour this year, they decided they wanted to do a few more than the original number that they had picked.”
According to Coby, the original plan was to enter somewhere between one and four races this year. However, after Roderick and Rollins saw the 2026 schedule, they decided to expand the team’s slate to include nine events at tracks like Thompson, Stafford Speedway, Seekonk Speedway, White Mountain Motorsports Park, Monadnock Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“I told them, ‘You can build the team you want to build and go whatever direction you want to go. I’m available,’” Coby explained. “They decided to go with the nine races and kind of build the team from there.”
The team may be new to Coby, but many of the faces working on the car will be familiar. The crew is made up of people he’s previously worked with, including crew chief John McKenna.
That kind of familiarity means Coby will have an instant bond with many of the crew, which can only help get the team up to speed quicker.
“I was excited to see it coming together with a lot of people involved who are very familiar to me,” Coby said. “My crew chief, John McKenna, from the No. 52 and my No. 10 team and then basically all my crew guys from Mike Smeriglio Racing, most of whom were available, and my No. 10 team.
“It’s not like it’s a whole new team. It’s really a lot of familiar people. A lot of us are pushing on 15 years working together.”
While the Jett Motorsports team has fielded Modifieds before, the car Coby will be driving Sunday is a new LFR chassis that was built specifically for the Whelen Modified Tour.
The team will have sponsorship from Nucar, a Northeastern-based car dealership. Perhaps more importantly to Coby, the car will carry the No. 28, which is a tribute to his friend and mentor Don King.
“Don wasn’t just my first car owner; he was one of my best friends,” Coby said. “The King family and I go well into aunts, uncles, cousins of all of us having a strong relationship. It’s definitely a family thing.”
Coby made his Modified Tour debut in 2002 driving the No. 28 entry owned by King. He went on to make 36 starts driving King’s car, and the pair remained close until King’s passing in 2021.
“The team knew we needed a car number, and we tried to get the No. 2, which the owner was pretty supportive of even though that was Smeriglio’s number,” Coby said. “The Bertuccio’s have that number, and they were keeping it. So, really, we just threw around some options, and even though the No. 10 was available we kind of had some options that were thrown out there.
“One of the car owners, Steve, of all the options said he really liked No. 28 the best. Secretly, even though it wasn’t many of the crews first choice, it was really my first choice all along.”
He may be racing for a new team, but the goal is still the same for Coby. He wants to win races – his next win would break a tie with Tony Hirschman for fifth on the all-time win list – and he believes the team Roderick and Rollins has assembled can be competitive right away.
“I think the goal is to win nine races,” Coby said. “I think we have some expectation to be competitive. That’s definitely why everybody got on board to do it. If we don’t win nine races, which might be unrealistic, we’re certainly going to go try and contend for wins.
“Obviously there have been lots of changes with format with the tire and the pit stop format change since our guys have been together. There are lots of things for us to adapt to.”
