Last season’s Bowman Gray Stadium Modified Division champion Brandon Ward sees the Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds race, the headline race of the March 23 URW Community Federal Credit Union Race Day event at South Boston Speedway, as one of the season’s biggest and best Modified races.
“It’s going to be one of the biggest premier events for Modified racing period,” Ward said of the 125-lap race that will pay a minimum of $20,000 to win.
“I think it will be one of the most prestigious Modified events of the season. I’m very, very excited about it. This race will bring a lot of good cars not only from the south, but from the north as well. This is one (race) we have marked on the calendar. If you had to pick one this is going to be the one that you want to win.”
In Ward’s mind there is no better venue for the 125-lap SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic race than South Boston Speedway.
“First off, I love coming to South Boston Speedway,” Ward remarked. “I’ve always loved racing at South Boston in every type of car I’ve ever driven, but these Modifieds are really fun to race at South Boston Speedway. With the track surface the way it is, and the grip it has, we can really race and race the whole race up there.
“At a lot of the tracks we go to the race turns into a lot of tire management, but when we come to South Boston Speedway with the Modifieds we can really race and race hard and put on a good show,” Ward continued.
“Having a premier event at a track like this that is big enough and is wide enough to race on and has the grip level that is better to race on, will provide for a really, really good show for such a premier event.”
Ward will be coming to South Boston Speedway with a new team this season, as he will be piloting the New Day Motorsports No. 04 entry owned by Jeff Day and Kevin Powell with Will Spaugh as his crew chief.
“It’s new, but not new for me,” explained Ward. “That is a team that I’ve been with fulltime for the last 10 or 12 years throughout various divisions, whether it be Bowman Gray Stadium or Super Late Model racing. It’s the same group of guys that we won the Bowman-Gray Stadium championship with last year. We’ve just transitioned them over to the SMART Tour as well.
“The last two-and-a-half years I’ve been in the Coulter Motorsports car,” added Ward. “I had a lot of fun racing with them. I thank Joe and Susan Coulter, Randy Renfrow, and the entire group at Coulter Motorsports for giving me the opportunity to drive that car for the last couple of seasons. We had a lot of success, won several races, and ended up runner-up in the points a couple of years in a row.”
Ward, who has five wins, 19 Top-5 finishes and 28 Top-10 finishes in 37 starts on the SMART Modified Tour dating back to the 2020 season, feels good about his chances in the March 23 Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds race.
“I feel like we will have a good chance at it,” he said. “I feel really good about it, and very excited about it. We learned a lot racing up there the last couple of years. It will be a tough race to win for whoever wins it, just because of the car count and the competition level of the drivers that will be coming.”
The 125-lap Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds race is drawing the top Modified racers from both the south and the north. Doug Coby, Matt Hirschman and Woody Pitkat will be among the Modified stars from the north that will be competing against the stars of the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic in the event.
Co-headlining the Saturday afternoon, March 23 season-opening URW Community Federal Credit Union Race Day event is a 100-lap race for South Boston Speedway’s Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division. A 20-lap race for the track’s Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division competitors will round out the three-race event.
The March 23 URW Community Federal Credit Union Race Day event schedule has practice running from 8:30 a.m. until 11 a.m. Qualifying begins at 11:45 a.m., a SMART Modified Tour driver autograph session is set for 1:15 p.m., a last chance qualifying race for the modifieds is set for 2:10 p.m. and the first race of the day is set to get the green flag at 3 p.m.
Advance tickets 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.
South Boston Speedway PR
