CALLAWAY, VA :: Joey Phillips will be attempting to make his first career Late Model start at a track not called Franklin County Speedway this weekend in the Myrtle Beach 400 at Myrtle Beach Speedway.
Phillips, 18, recently moved up to a Late Model after running a U-CAR for several seasons at Franklin County Speedway and Motor Mile Speedway. He began racing in late 2010 and continued racing in U-CARs in 2012 and 2013 where he scored multiple victories at both Franklin County and Motor Mile. At the end of 2013, he sold his stuff, saved his money and decided to make the move to a Late Model while also working as a crew-chief for another team.
His trip to Myrtle Beach Speedway this weekend will be his first race outside of the Roanoke/New River Valley region and his first race in a Late Model outside of Franklin County, where he’s scored a handful of top-five finishes this season. For this weekend’s race at Myrtle Beach, he’ll be relying on veteran Late Model racer Steve Dalton to learn how to race the track.
“I’m pretty much relying on Steve Dalton. He’s the one that set my car up all year. We’re good friends and he has a lot of laps down there so I’m going to take advice from him, what he’s done and experienced. We’ll practice all day Friday and learn most of it firsthand I guess. There’s nothing like firsthand learning.”
Phillips says his car’s gotten better throughout the year – citing his top-five finishes at Franklin County.
“The car’s got better over the course of the year. I finished second four times and third two or three times and I think I finished in the top-five every race I’ve raced in except three or four. Nothing to boast about with eight or nine cars but it sounds good on paper.”
His main goal, aside from learning, is just to make the race. If he doesn’t make the field for the Myrtle Beach 400, he can take it in stride.
“We’ll try to make Myrtle Beach. That’s the goal, just making it. If I go down there and don’t make it, I get to have a nice little vacation at the beach anyway.”
