SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — The chase for the South Boston Speedway’s Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division championship has suddenly gotten a lot closer.
Two-time NASCAR national champion and seven-time South Boston Speedway champion Peyton Sellers of Danville, Virginia swept the twin 75-lap Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division races that headlined Saturday night’s Viny’s Italian Restaurant & Italian Delight Family Restaurant Race Night at South Boston Speedway.
The sweep gives Sellers four wins in his six starts at the four-tenths-mile oval this season and 62 career wins in NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division races at South Boston Speedway.
“It was a very good night, for sure,” Sellers remarked. “I told the people in the stands I was more excited tonight after winning those two races because it’s hard to have a car that good. You don’t get inverted back to ninth and take the lead on lap seven very often. It’s pretty hard to do. A lot of holes have to open up, and a lot of things have to go your way.”
Sellers started the night trailing points leader Trevor Ward of Winston-Salem, North Carolina by eight points. Unofficially, Sellers closed the gap to two points as Ward finished fourth in the first 75-lap race and finished second to Sellers in the nightcap.
“We tried some stuff for the first race, and probably shouldn’t have messed with it,” Ward explained. “We wanted to try to get better and obviously went the wrong way. We put everything back as close as we could with a couple of minor changes for the second race and had a lot better results. I didn’t feel like we had the tire under us at that point because we used up so much in the first race. We’ll learn, regroup, and get better for the next one.”
Sellers started on the pole in the first 75-lap race, lost the lead, but sped past Blake Stallings of Danville, Virginia on the fourth lap to take the lead. With no caution flags to slow the race, Sellers sped to a .939-second win over Jacob Borst, who started fourth and raced his way to a runner-up finish. Landon Pembelton finished third with Ward and Stallings rounding out the top five finishers.
There were three lead changes among four drivers in the second 75-lap race, all occurring in the first seven laps. Sellers, who had to start ninth as the result of an inverted start among the top finishers of the first race, wasted no time in getting to the front, taking the lead from Ward on the seventh lap.
The race’s second caution flag on the 25th lap tightened up the field for the restart, but Sellers pulled away quickly and sped to a 1.569-second win over Ward in the 50-lap green-flag dash to the finish.
Mike Looney finished third with Pembelton and Borst completing the top five.
Fourteen-year-old Tristan Brunelli earned his first career stock car racing win Saturday night, driving to victory in the 50-lap Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division race.
“It’s very exciting to win your first career race in the Limited Sportsman Division at South Boston Speedway with this tight of a field,” he said with a huge smile. “It’s very hard to win one of these races, and when you do it, it feels really good. This means a lot.”
Dillon Davis edged B.J. Reaves by a narrow .144-second margin to win the 25-lap Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division race.
The win was Davis’ first victory of the season.
Landon Milam took the lead from pole winner Dustin Davis of Nathalie, Virginia on the second lap and drove to victory in the 20-lap Dollar General Hornets Division race.
Shayne Lockhart took the overall race win and the Modified Division win and Kevin Floars took the win Sportsman Division win.
