The 2024 season has been a quiet, but successful season for Toby Layne.
The 18-year-old racer from Farmville, Virginia is enjoying a consistent and solid season in South Boston Speedway’s Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division. He sits seventh in the division point standings entering the twin 75-lap Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division races that will headline the Saturday night, August 3 Davenport Energy Race Night event at South Boston Speedway despite having two less starts than most of the drivers that are above him in the standings.
Layne has posted six Top-10 finishes in his nine starts and has shown gains in recent races with a pair of sixth-place finishes and a seventh-place finish in his last three starts.
“We’ve learned a lot,” said Layne who is in his first full season competing in the Late Model Stock Car Division. “I feel like we’re making gains every week. We’ve found a little something with the racecar and I feel we’re going to be better.
“Our goal is to learn as much as we can,” he added. “We want to try to keep the car out of trouble, have some good finishes, and hopefully be running in the top five by the end of the season. If we can finish in the top five or top six in points this year that would be a big accomplishment for this being our first full year in Late Model.”
Layne began racing go-karts when he was nine-years-old, competing on dirt tracks up and down the east coast. He moved up to racing Legends Cars in 2021. He competed in the Limited Late Model class in 2022 and part of the 2023 season before running a few Late Model Stock Car Division races late in 2023.
Much of his prior racing experience was at Caraway Speedway in North Carolina and at Florence and Dillon in South Carolina, tracks that differ from South Boston Speedway. As a result, one obstacle for Layne is adapting to the .4-mile South Boston Speedway oval.
“I used to race on low-grip, slower racetracks and having to use a little more (tire) conservation,” Layne explained.
“This place is tough. This racetrack has a whole lot of grip. It’s real fast. Here you really have to be up on the wheel to run with these guys. This place is all ‘go’ and hope you’re quick enough to hang with them. If you don’t have speed in your car you’re going to be in the way.”
The other obstacle facing Layne and his family-owned team this season is learning and dealing with the high level of competition that prevails in South Boston Speedway’s Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division.
“We have a really, really good competitive field of cars at South Boston Speedway,” Layne pointed out. “It’s a big learning curve to come out here and race with Peyton Sellers, Craig Moore and all of those top guys. These guys are so good, and they’ve been doing it for so long.
“I feel like if you’re really good here you can be good just about anywhere,” he added. “I’ve seen Peyton run well everywhere he’s gone, and most of these guys have gone everywhere and run well.”
NASCAR racing returns to South Boston Speedway with the Davenport Energy Race Night event on Saturday night, August 3. Headlining the six-race card are twin 75-lap races for the Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division. Fans will also see a 50-lap race for the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division, twin 15-lap races for the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division, and a 20-lap race for the Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division.
The Davenport Energy Race Night event schedule has registration and pit gates opening at 2 p.m. Practice will begin at 3:25 p.m. and run until 5:05 p.m. Frontstretch spectator gates will open at 3:30 p.m. and backstretch and trackside parking gates will open at 5:30 p.m. Qualifying is set for 6 p.m., pre-race ceremonies are slated for 6:45 p.m. and the first race of the night will get the green flag at 7 p.m.
Advance tickets are priced at $12 each and 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 $15 each. Seniors ages 65 and older, military, healthcare workers, and students (with ID) can purchase tickets for $12 each at the gate on race day.
The latest news and updates about the Davenport Energy Race Night event and all other events at South Boston Speedway can be found on the speedway’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com, by calling the speedway office at 434-572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540 during regular business hours, and through the track’s social media channels.
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