SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — Landon Pembelton is enjoying a career-best season start at South Boston Speedway, and competitors and fans alike are noticing it.
He got off to a solid start last season competing in the Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division at South Boston Speedway with four Top-5 finishes in his first six starts.
This season the Amelia, Virginia resident’s early-season record includes a win in the first race of the track’s twin-race event on May 2, five top-five finishes in six starts, and three finishes that are better than he recorded in the track’s first six races of the 2025 season.
Entering the week of May 11 Pembelton stood third in the NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered By O’Reilly Auto Parts Division I national point standings. He is in second place in the Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division point standings.
What is different between 2025 and 2026?
“I had a lot of confidence coming into this season from the win last fall at Martinsville,” Pembelton remarked. “I can’t thank everyone at R&S Race Cars enough. We’ve gotten everything better. I feel like our program as a whole has gotten better. We’ve gotten the car better. We’ve gotten me better. Marcus Richmond and I have gotten our communication better.
“The last two events we’ve brought some really fast race cars,” added Pembelton. “We’re qualifying better. I qualified second for the May 2 race, and it really paid off. If I had qualified fourth or fifth, I don’t think I’d have won the race. There are a lot of things that are clicking.”
Pembelton pointed out the improvement he has experienced this season has resulted from taking small steps.
“It’s been in small increments,” Pembelton explained. “South Boston Speedway is the toughest track you will find. Small increments will move you from a fifth-place car to a second-place car. We’ve been bringing good race cars all along, it’s just getting that little extra.”
R&S Race Cars co-owner Marcus Richmond is glad to see the early-season success.
“I’m proud of this good start,” remarked Richmond. “Last year we were kind of getting a feel for each other and him being in one of R&S’ race cars. We went through some good runs, but we also needed to be qualifying better. We went to Martinsville, qualified pretty well there, and got the win. That really helped his confidence.”
There is another element.
“The big elephant in the room is you’ve got to have speed at South Boston,” Richmond pointed out. “You’ve got to have speed at every racetrack. Having that speed makes the confidence of that crew chief, like myself, and Landon as the driver, go into a race weekend so much easier.
“The first couple of races this year we didn’t qualify as well as we would have liked so we’ve really been focusing on speed more than anything the last few weeks,” he continued. “Starting well at South Boston is a key because it is hard to pass. I think this focusing on speed has helped him (Pembelton) gain even more confidence.”
Richmond noted the change in approach toward more speed has been successful.
“Even last year we really hit on all cylinders,” Richmond said. “I could give him what he wanted in a car, but it was for the race and not really for speed. This year we’ve had to focus on what he needs to go fast rather than what he needs for the car to drive well. It’s one thing when you get your car driving well and it’s comfortable and everything feels good. When you try to go faster and you’re going through the corner five miles an hour faster than before, the car doesn’t feel as good. I think he’s understanding ‘I’ve got to go through the corners faster’ and let me work on the car to allow him to do that.”
Pembelton will be looking to add to his early-season win total when NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered By O’Reilly Auto Parts action returns to South Boston Speedway on Saturday night, May 16 as South Boston Speedway and Feed Halifax are partnering to support the organization’s efforts in combating hunger in Halifax County, Virginia with the Feed Halifax Driving to End Hunger Race Night event.
