The 2024 season at South Boston Speedway looms as a potential record-tying season for two-time NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion Peyton Sellers.
Sellers will begin his chase for a record-tying seventh NASCAR track championship at the .4-mile oval Saturday afternoon, March 23 when South Boston Speedway hosts the season-opening URW Community Federal Credit Union Race Day event that includes a 100-lap race for the Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division. The first race of the day is set for a 3 p.m. start.
Highlighting the afternoon’s racing action is the Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds event, a 125-lap race for the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic that will pay a minimum of $20,000 to win.
“I think we’re just showing up at the racetrack now, and hopefully all of the cards fall where they may,” Sellers remarked during a break at a recent testing session at South Boston Speedway.
“Seven (championships) would be nice, but at the end of the day, if we can win some races and be competitive, that’s all we can ask for. We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing right now. If we have a couple of things go our way, we will be fine.”
The Danville, Virginia resident has finished second in the chase for the South Boston Speedway Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division championship in each of the past two seasons by the narrowest of margins. Last season, when he won seven of his 19 starts and recorded 17 Top-5 finishes, he finished six points behind champion Carter Langley. In 2022 when he won four races and posted 14 Top-5 finishes in his 17 starts, he finished second, 16 points down to NASCAR national champion Layne Riggs in the track championship race.
“The last few years have been exceptional years,” Sellers said. “Any other years those would have been championship-quality years that we put together. We just had some bad luck along the way, and it kept us from being there at the end.”
Sellers is as excited about the 2024 season as he has ever been.
“We enjoy racing here at South Boston Speedway,” Sellers said. “It’s home for us. Our cars are kind of dialed in. Things we have been doing are working. I feel as comfortable behind the wheel right now as I ever have. H.C. (his brother and crew chief H.C. Sellers) and I work together each year trying to keep piling on experience and trying to be the best we can be. Racing season is here now. It’s time.”
Sellers is expecting a high level of competition at South Boston Speedway again this season.
“We’ve seen the last two years with Layne Riggs and Carter Langley that there will always be a new guy that will pop up at South Boston Speedway that can get the hang of it, figure it out and be a competitive threat for the championship,” Sellers pointed out.
“The competition is always good at South Boston Speedway. This place is unique enough to where the cars are constantly changing, and it’s a hard place to get around. That breeds good competition.”
The two-time national champion expects that the speedway’s move to the new Hoosier ST2 tire for the Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division will level the playing field in the division.
“Anytime we make a change of this size you want to see some of the guys that weren’t as competitive have more of an even playing field,” explained Sellers. “I think by the end of the year the veteran teams will shine, and you’ll hit on some stuff that gets you better through the year. For the first five or six races, you want to see more of the underdogs show up and be competitive because they are on an even playing field.
“I think you will see a lot of guys making bigger swings and trying things to get ahead of these tires and trying to keep up with the differences. This tire has a little different sidewall and a little different tread than what we’re used to. It’s going to take something different.”
The March 23 season-opening URW Community Federal Credit Union Race Day event will feature three races. Headlining the event is the Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds race, a 125-lap race for the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic that will see the top stars and cars of the series battling some of the top northern Modified stars in the season’s biggest race on the SMART Modified Tour schedule.
Along with the 125-lap King of the Modifieds race and the 100-lap race for the Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division the speedway’s Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division competitors will see action in a 20-lap race. The first race is set to get the green flag at 3 p.m.
Advance tickets for the Saturday afternoon March 23 Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds event are priced at $17 each. Tickets may be purchased online on South Boston Speedway’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com or by calling the speedway office at 434-572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540 during regular business hours.
Tickets at the gate on race day will be $20 each. Seniors ages 65 and older, military, healthcare workers, and students (with ID) can purchase tickets for $17 each at the gate on race day.
The latest news and updates from South Boston Speedway can be found on the speedway’s website and social media channels. Information may also be obtained by phoning the speedway during regular business hours.
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