Melissa Fifield

Melissa Fifield (born August 7, 1992) is an American racing driver and spokesperson. She primarily races in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, driving the No. 01 Chevrolet for her family-owned team. She won NASCAR Whelen Modified tour most popular driver for three consecutive years.

Racing career Fifield grew up watching races with her family at a young age. She received her first go-kart at eleven years old, and competed in nearby racetracks. She won the Londonderry Track Championship in her rookie season, and eventually drove in the World Karting Association, where she ranked fourth in the national standings. She drove in the Allison Legacy Series at fourteen years old, racing in the North and South series. She had her first and only Legacy Series win at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl in 2011.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour

2014–present Fifield moved up to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour full-time in 2014, racing for her family-owned team. She recorded her season best finish of nineteenth at Thompson Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway. She finished 21st in the final point standings and won the Most Popular Driver Award that season.

Throughout her career in the Whelen Modified Tour, she would always start each race, with most of them being ended early from mechanical issues. She failed to finish a single race in 2021 through fourteen attempts. Her career-best finish is fifteenth, attained twice; once at Wall Stadium in 2019 and once at Lancaster Motorplex in 2024. 2023 marked a significant uptick in her performance, finally starting to finish more races than she DNFed. This change led to eighteen top-twenty finishes in two seasons, as compared to her 23 prior top-twenties through nine seasons.

After making 117 consecutive race attempts, she did not enter the Monadnock Speedway race set for September 21st, 2024. Skipping two races, she raced at North Wilkesboro Speedway, finishing eighteenth, before again skipping the final race of the season. The reasoning for this was made clear when on October 24th, 2024, Melissa announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Keeping her own health in mind, she decided to take a hiatus from racing. July 13th of 2025 marked her return. She raced in the SMART Modified Tour race at Caraway Speedway, finishing nineteenth.

Criticism From 2014 to 2016, Fifield won the Whelen Modified Tour Most Popular Driver award, and would often get criticized on social media, due to her driving performance and being behind the pace. Fifield said, "I've never had anybody make a comment at a pit party or off the track or anything there. Everybody kind of just has the courage to say what they want on the computer, but they'll never say it to your face. People don't have the courage to say something."

Personal life Fifield is currently a spokesperson for the New Hampshire Office of Highway Safety. Because of her efforts, she received a commendation from New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu in 2017. Sununu stated that she is "one of the best race car drivers in the world, and one of the top few female race car drivers in the world lives right here in New Hampshire and she doesn't get nearly the recognition she deserves."

Fifield was featured on the cover of New Hampshire Women Magazine in September 2018, which talks about her NASCAR career.

She also worked with the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (CHaD), where she would interview high school students about making good decisions in life, and their future goals.

Fifield currently runs and operates Pine Knoll Auto Sales, a car dealership in her hometown of Wakefield, New Hampshire, which is also the location of her race shop.

On February 14, 2022, Anheuser-Busch brands announced the formation of a new program, called the Busch Light Accelerate Her Program, a program that allows female drivers who are 21 years old or older, to get more funding, track time, media exposure, and training for NASCAR. Fifield is one of the recipients for the program.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Whelen Modified Tour NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour results Year Car owner No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pts Ref 2014 Kenneth Fifield 01 Chevy TMP STA STA WFD RIV NHA MND STA TMP BRI NHA STA TMP 21st 251 2015 TMP STA WFD STA TMP RIV NHA MND STA TMP BRI RIV NHA STA TMP 25th 239 2016 TMP STA WFD STA TMP RIV NHA MND STA TMP BRI RIV OSW SEE NHA STA TMP 23rd 341 2017 MYR TMP STA LGY TMP RIV NHA STA TMP BRI SEE OSW RIV NHA STA TMP 15th 337 2018 MYR TMP STA SEE TMP LGY RIV NHA STA TMP BRI OSW RIV NHA STA TMP 22nd 302 2019 MYR SBO TMP STA WAL SEE TMP RIV NHA STA TMP OSW RIV NHA STA TMP 23rd 261 2020 JEN WMM WMM JEN MND TMP NHA STA TMP 22nd 156 2021 MAR STA RIV JEN OSW RIV NHA NRP STA BEE OSW RCH RIV STA 16th 291 2022 NSM RCH RIV LEE JEN MND RIV WAL NHA CLM TMP LGY OSW RIV TMP MAR 15th 321 2023 NSM RCH MON RIV LEE SEE RIV WAL NHA LMP THO LGY OSW MON RIV NWS THO MAR 11th 410 2024 NSM RCH THO MON RIV SEE NHA MON LMP THO OSW RIV MON THO NWS MAR 15th 292

Whelen Southern Modified Tour NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour results Year Car owner No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pts Ref 2015 Kenneth Fifield 01 Chevy CRW CRW SBO LGY CRW BGS BRI LGY SBO CLT N/A -

SMART Modified Tour SMART Modified Tour results Year Car owner No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pts Ref 2025 Kenneth Fifield 01 N/A FLO AND SBO ROU HCY FCS CRW CPS CAR CRW DOM FCS TRI NWS 28th 85 2026 FLO AND SBO DOM HCY WKS FCR CRW PUL CAR CRW ROU TRI NWS -* -*