SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — Peyton Sellers and Landon Pembelton were obviously miffed with each other after the first of Saturday night’s twin 75-lap Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division races at South Boston Speedway.
The pair took turns leaning on each other to gain position over the final 25 laps with Sellers rooting Pembelton out of the way on the final lap to earn his second victory of the 2026 season.
“We didn’t have the best car, but we got a win,” Sellers remarked in the wake of his second win of the season. “It just kind of fell our way tonight.”
A caution period with 25 laps to go set up a torrid battle for the win between the two drivers. After having drawn side-by-side with Sellers, Pembelton muscled his way past the eight-time South Boston Speedway champion to take the lead with one lap to go. Sellers repaid the prior contact, moving Pembelton out of the way on the final circuit to take the win.
“He (Pembelton) raced me clean on the bottom, and as soon as he got a nose to me both times, he carried me right up to the top of the track,” Sellers explained. “When I get up into the hot dog stand eventually he’s got to come off of me a little bit. The second time I was like ‘that’s enough of that’ so I moved him out of the way for the win. That’s part of racing. He had run me fairly clean up to those two times that he got up to me door-to-door and carried me up the track.”
Pembelton had a differing viewpoint.
“It was racing,” Pembelton said. “I got into him a little earlier in the race. I got a little free in (into the turn) and got into him and washed up into his door. Coming back to two (laps) to go I was able to get to him. I had a really good run and used up a little bit more of the racetrack. If we touched in (turns) three and four we barely touched. He (Sellers) really didn’t give me a chance after that. He was in my right rear pretty good, and I didn’t have any angle in the car at that point. He never let me go and then picked me up and sent me into the marbles.
“It’s racing, I guess,” he added. “I’ll keep it in the memory bank.”
Conner Weddell finished third with Trevor Ward and Chase Burrow rounding out the top five finishers.
While Pembelton had to settle for the runner-up spot in the opening race he staged a dominant performance in the second of the twin 75-lap races that headlined the Feed Halifax Driving to End Hunger Race Night event.
The Amelia, Virginia resident charged from his eighth-place starting position to take the lead from Andrew Grady on the 11th lap.
Once in front, Pembelton set sail, building a quarter of a lap lead over Trevor Ward, his closest challenger. A caution period on lap 61 closed up the field, but Pembelton needed only three laps to build his lead back to almost a quarter of a lap.
Pembelton took the checkered flag 1.553 seconds ahead of Ward to earn his second win of the season. Ward had entered the weekend as the leader in the NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts Division I national point standings.
Weddell finished third to complete a solid effort with Sellers and Blake Stallings rounding out the top five.
“I didn’t get raced the best in the first race, but the second race we were blessed with a good win and had a great racecar,” Pembelton remarked. “That thing was a hot rod. It was probably the best car I’ve ever had here. Marcus Richmond has made me a ton better, and we’ve made the car a ton better. That’s all you can ask for.”
It was a night of drivers earning their first win of the season with Tristan Brunelli and Dennis Holdren splitting wins in the twin 30-lap races for the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division.
Teenager Jay Hemenway and former South Boston Speedway champion Johnny Layne split wins in the twin 15-lap Southside Disposal Pure Stock races.
