SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — Kyle Dudley captured his first career South Boston Speedway victory Saturday afternoon, winning the 100-lap Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division race that highlighted the Viny’s Italian Restaurant & Italian Delight Family Restaurant Race Day event at South Boston Speedway.
Dudley sped across the finish line 1.268 seconds ahead of two-time NASCAR national champion Peyton Sellers of Danville, Va., in the caution-free race and became the fourth different winner in as many races this season at South Boston Speedway.
“This is a dream come true,” the Roanoke, Va., resident remarked. “We went to work on the car this week and changed everything on the car. You name it, we messed with it. We had raw speed in practice on Friday and again today. We felt good about it.”
That was obvious.
Dudley took the lead from pole winner Craig Moore of Rougemont, N.C., on the first lap, lost it briefly to Moore, and regained the lead from Moore on the ninth lap. Once in front, Dudley was rarely challenged, and at the end, had led 93 laps of the 100-lap race.
“I had an awesome car,” Dudley pointed out. “I was able to keep people where I needed to in order to maintain the lead. I had more in the tank if I needed it. You don’t get to drive a race car like that very often.”
Sellers took second place away from Jacob Borst of Elon, N.C., in the second half of the race but was unable to mount a serious threat to Dudley.
“I could pace with him,” Sellers said, “but I couldn’t quite catch him. I was a little quicker most laps, but he got too far out front. By qualifying seventh we dug ourselves too big of a hole to get out of.”
Borst finished third with a valiant effort, hanging on despite carbon monoxide seeping into the cockpit of his car. Borst said contact while racing fourth-place finisher Mike Looney of Catawba, Va., damaged the exhaust system on his car.
“I had a really good car today, and felt like I was catching Dudley,” Borst said. “I got together with Looney on lap two or three and knocked the exhaust pipe inside the car. It got really hot, and I was breathing a lot of carbon monoxide. I’ve never had one that bad for that long. I don’t remember much of the last 20 laps.”
Stacy Puryear, Blake Stallings, Toby Layne, Raymond Pittman III, Jordan Pickrel and Moore rounded out the top 10 finishers.
Moore, who was strong in the early going, was sidelined after 21 laps with a broken sway bar on his car.