RICHMOND, VA :: Blake Stallings only has one Late Model Stock Car start to his name but he’s hoping to turn heads on Thursday when he compete in the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown at Richmond International Raceway. Stallings raced at Martinsville last year where he raced his way in to the main event in the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 only to be taken out early in an accident.
Stallings, who is the great-nephew of short track racing legend Barry Beggarly, generally competes in the Limited Late Model division at South Boston where he won three races in 2012 and has one win already in 2013.
“Racing’s been in my family for years,” Stallings said. “My great uncle, Barry Beggarly, he’s been racing as long as I can remember. My dad, Steve Stallings, has also been racing as long as I can remember. It’s been a part of my life my whole life.”
Now, Blake Stallings is hoping for a breakout run at Richmond.
“I feel like we’re prepared tomorrow,” Stallings explained. “Last Tuesday was my first time at the track and in the car. It’s a lot to get used to but I feel like we’ll be strong. Jeff Burton build it last year raced it at Richmond. Timothy Peters is the owner of it so we have high hopes. Just to make the race would be a great accomplishment. We’d love to win the race but we just want to have fun and race with the big boys.”
Stallings is also hoping to compete in the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 and Myrtle Beach 400 later this year. He is also planning on running in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway in October. He will also continue to chase the South Boston Speedway Limited Late Model championship.
“Our chances of winning that are really good,” he stated. “South Boston has a lot of tight competition. It’ll be difficult but we’ve got a good group of guys, hard workers on the team who want to see me do well so I feel like they’ll get us where we need to be.”
RACE22.com will have Live Coverage of the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown later today, beginning at 12pm EST.
