SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — Tristan Brunelli is a quiet, composed and measured young man. He doesn’t outwardly show a lot of emotion, yet you can tell the 15-year-old racer is excited and ready for the season’s opening race for South Boston Speedway’s highly competitive Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division.
The Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division competitors will battle it out in a 50-lap race that will be part of the Saturday afternoon, April 4 Danville Toyota Race Day event.
All four of South Boston Speedway’s NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts will be in action in what will be the second of three daytime racing events on the speedway’s 2026 schedule.
“I’m really excited,” the young Powhatan, Virginia resident remarked. “It’s going to be another good year with some fierce competition at South Boston Speedway.”
Brunelli had an outstanding rookie season in 2025, finishing second in the division championship chase, winning the division’s Rookie of the Year Award, and earning his first career win in a stock car on May 10, 2025 at South Boston Speedway. The win came in just his sixth career race in a full-bodied stock car.
“Last year was a good stepping-stone into stock cars being my first full season in the Limited Sportsman Division. It was a good foot to step off from to prepare for this year.”
Brunelli feels the experience, track time, and success gleaned from his successful 2025 campaign, a season in which he posted eight Top-5 finishes and 11 Top-10 finishes in 13 starts, sets him up for another successful season in 2026.
“All of it will definitely pay off,” he said. “We’re sticking with the old car we raced in Limited last year. We have good notes from last year that we can go off of this season. We should be pretty close.”
Brunelli’s goal for 2026 is to win South Boston Speedway’s Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division championship.
“The championship is the key focus this year,” noted Brunelli. “I want to get more seat time around this place and hopefully pick up some victories.”
Brunelli knows his task this season will not be easy.
“I expect the level of the competition to be about the same as last year, a high car count and a high level of competition,” he noted. “It will be tough.”
When asked who he expects to be among the top contenders for wins and the championship Brunelli pointed to some obvious choices.
“One of them will be Nathan Crews if he races again this year, and obviously the Dawsons are always fast. They have raced here for years. It will be those guys and several other top drivers that will come in to race here this season.”
In looking at the 50-lap race on Saturday afternoon April 4, Brunelli points to the need to have a solid finish to kick off the season.
“It’s definitely important to how your year is going to go,” he explained. “You want to start your season off on the right foot. You don’t want to get involved in any crashes or have anything happen that would force you to have to make up a bunch of points at the end of the season. If you get off to a good start you won’t have to deal with any of that or have any points calamities at the end of the year.”
