HAMPTON, VA :: Nick Smith appeared to be in command in the Hampton Heat 200 at Langley Speedway on Saturday night until a late race caution and a bump-and-run from Peyton Sellers knocked him out of the lead.
Sellers muscled the lead away from Smith on lap 186 with a bump-and-run and survived a late race restart to pick up the win, his first of the 2013 season. The move came after Nick Smith passed him earlier in the race and looked to have control of the race.
“It all worked out like it was supposed to,” Sellers said. “I’m excited to be here and I’m glad we made the decision. Thursday night, around 8pm, we had the car loaded up ready to go to Motor Mile and we saw that it was going to rain there so we decided to race for $10,000. Bill Mullis and everyone at this track was excellent to us and treated us like family.
“To come here and run with Nick Smith, Matt Waltz and all those guys, they’re so good here week after week. That Green-White-Checkered with Falk on the outside and being able to come out on top is just unbelievable. We had a really good car tonight. We changed springs four or five times during practice. We had to make a decision and went with what our gut told us and it all worked out.”
Smith had already been unhappy with the former National Champion during the halftime intermission. The two drivers had made contact in the first 100 lap stint of the race. After the race, Smith, frustrated by the way Sellers raced him, declined to comment.
Three time track champion CE Falk was not a factor for much of the race, until the closing laps. He worked his way inside the top five and became a threat in the closing laps. With about four laps to go, Falk made contact with Smith sending Smith around and setting up a Green-White-Checkered finish. Falk would go on to finish second after starting the race in 17th.
“It was a lot of luck,” Falk stated. “We used the cone to our advantage for sure and picked up most of our spots that way. We got up to seventh that way. It was a matter of using the cone and picking off two or three spots at a time that way and missing wrecks. We had a decent car. Right before the break, I thought we’d be pretty good then we just over adjusted on it and it was too loose the whole second half of the race. To come home second is great. I thought I had a fifth place car at best. There’s work to be done. To run this race with as bad a starting spot as we did and finish second is is pretty good.The action started early and every single lap of the 200 lap race saw breathtaking action. The first of 12 cautions waved on the third lap of the race. Nick Smith’s toughest challenge early came from Timothy Peters, who took the lead on lap 33. After falling to fourth, Smith would work his way back up to the lead on lap 86.”
Sellers would take the lead again on lap 125. Smith spent much of the middle section of the race in Sellers’ tire marks, challenging the veteran driver for the next 38 laps until he would take the lead once again. Smith then appeared in command until a caution on lap 180 set up a 15 lap shootout. On the ensuing restart, Sellers used the chrome horn to knock Smith out of the lead. Sellers would go on to win the race.
Behind Sellers, Smith would get spun with just a few laps to go off the front bumper of Falk in an accordion effect incident. Smith would recover to finish third. Falk would take second from Ben Rhodes, who ran inside the top 10 all race, on the final restart. Rhodes was relegated to seventh.
The race saw 12 cautions for 74 laps and seven lead changes between four drivers. Smith led four times for 95 laps. Peters led one time for 52 laps. Sellers led twice for 58 laps and Matt Waltz, who dropped out of the race with mechanical problems, led one lap.
When Motor Mile Speedway rained out, Annabeth Barnes and Jack Madrid from Rev Racing decided to head to Langley Speedway. Barnes, who only had about 20 minutes of practice time, would go on to finish 13th after starting 27th – a finish that left the rookie driver feeling good after suffering a series of setbacks over the past few months.
Bad luck again plagued Greg Edwards’ team as transmission problems knocked the defending track champion out of the race early.
Mark Wertz, Dude Gibbs and Brenden Queen all had solid finishes finishing fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. Michael Hardin quietly had a strong run, finishing in eighth. Timothy Peters finished in ninth and Danny Edwards, Jr. finished 10th.
Relive RACE22.com’s Live Coverage of the Hampton Heat 200.
Race Results
1. #99 Peyton Sellers
2. #40 CE Falk
3. #77 Nick Smith
4. #55 Mark Wertz
5. #7 Dude Gibbs
6. #03 Brenden Queen
7. #11 Ben Rhodes
8. #4 Michael Hardin
9. #17 Timothy Peters
10. #26 Danny Edwards, Jr.
11. #36 Chris Johnson
12. #1 Paul Green
13. #72 Annabeth Barnes
14. #83 Jeremy Grogg
15. #57 Eddie Johnson
16. #90 Terry Carroll
17. #2 Matt Waltz
18. #92 Casey Wyatt
19. #8 Jack Madrid
20. #88 Matt Bowling
21. #01 Jeff Shiftlett
22. #14 Trey Jarrell
23. #67 JT Jackson
24. #91 Justin Carroll
25. #15 Lin O’Neill
26. #12 Dean Shiftlett
27. #10 Joe Scarborough
28. #97 Greg Edwards
29. #95 Shayne Lockhart
30. #38 Duane Shreeves
