Peyton Sellers continues to lead the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National points standings through the first four months of the 2019 season.
Currently, with four wins in 12 starts, Sellers has a narrow 10 point advantage over five-time NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Champion Philip Morris. Sellers, who won the National title himself 14 years ago, has his work cut out for him to maintain his lead over Morris, who already has six victories this season already in 14 starts.
Morris appeared to be settling in at Motor Mile Speedway and potentially running for a track championship as well but after car count dipped below the needed 16 cars for maximum points, Morris said he’d have to look at where car count is and adjust.
“We kinda hoped we were going to have the car count here,” Morris told RACE22.com following the June 1, 2019 race at Motor Mile Speedway. “When we didn’t get it here today, it really shocked me for one thing. Then we saw there was car counts at other places, so we just gotta go back to the drawing board and we just gotta figure out where’s the best place for us to settle in.”
Sellers will be at his home track of South Boston Speedway, where he’ll compete for the track championship as well as keep an eye on the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National points but for Morris it will be a weekend where he’s going to have to take a stab in the dark at what track will have the most car count. It’s also a weekend where all four Virginia tracks where he could travel to are competing on the same weekend and all four will run just a single Late Model Stock Car feature instead of twins, which would give him the most point gaining potential.
Behind Sellers and Morris in the National standings is a West Coast driver, Blaine Perkins, who competes at Kern County Speedway and Irwindale Speedway in California. Perkins is 80 points back of Sellers but with victories. Behind Perkins is Drive for Diversity competitor Nick Sanchez, who has put together some great runs at Myrtle Beach Speedway and sat on the pole for a recent South Boston Speedway start. With no wins on the season (three less than Perkins) and in five less starts he’s only four points behind Perkins.
Fifth in the National standings and the points leader for the state of North Carolina, Thomas Beane is just six points back of third place Perkins. Beane, who himself has yet to win a race this season has put together nine top fives and ten top ten finishes on the season. Beane is one of only two competitors in the top ten that has only started races at his home track (Hickory).
One driver who does a lot of traveling is the sixth place driver, Ryan Vargas. Vargas competes at Irwindale Speedway in California on the west coast and also competes part-time on the east coast in a Lee Faulk Racing car. Vargas will be back on the east coast this weekend traveling to Anderson Motor Speedway in South Carolina, a place that Faulk’s team has won at several times over the last few seasons. Vargas already has two wins on the west coast.
Jeff Oakley, Sam Yarbrough, Zachary Webster, and Mike Looney complete the top ten in points. Perennial championship points contender and 2010 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National champion Keith Rocco sits 11th in points but with under 10 starts on the season so far, he will likely climb into position to compete for one of the top spots before seasons end.
Cover photo by Dinah Mullins.
State by State Point Leaders (LMSC Region):
Virginia:
1 – Philip Morris 320
2 – Peyton Sellers 316
3 – Jeff Oakley 232
4 – Mike Looney 222
5 – Lee Pulliam 194
North Carolina:
1 – Thomas Beane 244
2 – Chris Hudspeth 200
3 – Connor Mosack 162
4 – Vince Midas 132
5 – Pat Rachels 130
South Carolina:
1 – Sam Yarbrough 230
2 – Justin Milliken 182
3 – Austin (Willie) Somero 162
4 – Tommy Lemons, Jr. 142
5 – Brian Vause 140
Tennessee:
1 – Nik Williams 112
2 – Joey Trent 88
3 – Zeke Shell 78
4 – Wayne Hale 62
5 – Derek Lane 54
Click here for the full National Points Standings.
Click here for the full State by State Points Standings.
