DANVILLE, VA :: It has been the best of times and it has been the best of times for Danville’s Eric Winslow in spite of not yet racing this month.

Winslow got engaged on Wednesday night and has been selected as a finalist in the PEAK Stock Car Dream Challenge where he will have a shot at moving up to the next level at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“It’s been a good month and it’s been a bad month but I look at the positive of things,” Winslow said.  “Bad stuff’s going to happen but a lot of good stuff has happened all year.”

While things have been going well for Winslow off the track, he’s looking to rebound on the track.  Last Saturday, he was hoping to return to competitive form at Franklin County Speedway before that track postponed their racing program.  When Franklin County postponed, Winslow loaded up and headed to South Boston Speedway where the rain greeted him again and cancelled the race.  Winslow is more anxious than ever to get back in his racecar.

“I’m ready to get back behind a car right now,” Winslow remarked.  “After crashing in that last race, I’’m ready to go.  I finished third (in Franklin County’s season opener) and haven’t been able to race since then.  I’m ready.  I want to run.  I’m just sitting here thinking I could go run a thousand laps right now.  I’ve been waiting so long just to run.  We got rained out last week.  Every time we think we’re getting ready to do it, something happens.”

Winslow has been selected as a finalist in the PEAK Stock Car Dream Challenge where he will compete at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the three-day challenge this summer being coached by Danica Patrick, Clint Bowyer and Michael Waltrip.

“It’s real exciting to be selected for that,” Winslow explained.  “It’s one of those things.  PEAK’s a big American company.  It’s not like talking to somebody from Roanoke or Danville, that’s a nationwide company.  The fact that they want to do their marketing through motorsports and they’re helping grassroots racers like us and giving us a chance to move up is exciting.  This is a really big opportunity that we need to take advantage of if we can.  It’s a lot of work trying to get prepared for it.  I’ll be practicing for some of it on Saturday.  It’s a lot of fun even being involved and talk to newspapers, media and stuff like that.”

Earlier this week, Winslow got engaged to Chrissy Van Winkle whom he’s been dating for over seven years now.  Winslow recalled when he first met her and how excited he is to be getting married to the love of his life.

“It’s one of those things… I met Chrissy at the racetrack in 2007,” Winslow commented.  “I met her at the first race I ran and that’s when I had the guts to say hello to her.  I won the championship that year and we’ve been together since then.  When you’ve been together for seven or eight years, you go ahead and marry her.  Things are busy for both of us and all this great stuff, it’s time to do that.  She loves going to the racetrack.  It’s exciting.”

The only thing that would make the month of May even better for Winslow is a win at Franklin County Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

“It’s going to be a really big year if we can ever keep the racecar on the track.”