SOUTH BOSTON, VA :: Joey Throckmorton is hoping to find a bag of treats in this weekend’s Halloween Spooktacular at Southern National Motorsports Park.
Fresh off a win at Orange County Speedway, his third win of the season, he’s heading to Southern National Motorsports Park with hopes of bringing home a fourth win but he knows that, not being a Southern National regular, it’s going to be a challenging race.
“Every time we’ve gone to Southern National, we’ve run well,” Throckmortion stated. “That doesn’t mean a lot this year. Of course, we’ve got a different car every time we go. That’s why we wanted to go practice. From start to end of practice, we made a lot of gains. We’re glad we went today instead of Friday where we couldn’t go back to the shop and change things. Overall, it was only me and one other car and he doesn’t race there normally.”
During a test session earlier this week, Throckmorton’s optimism was elevated. He felt the practice times were fast but he won’t know until race day if he’s fast enough to compete with the track regulars.
“On times, we were in the ballpark but we’ve got to wait until we get there this weekend to see where we stack up. I know Rusty Daniels will be good and I don’t know who exactly is running. I don’t know all the people who race down there. Hopefully we’ll be in the ballpark. I hope it’s a big field. It’s always better if it’s a big field.”
Daniels also says running on four scuff tires will change the way he and others approach the 75-lap race but he’s optimistic about his chances to win.
“We wouldn’t be going if we didn’t have a shot at winning. We got a couple things we’ve got to change and move. I think we’ll be okay. Scuff tires is a crapshoot on what you get. You’ve just got to be careful and assess what you get and put them in the right spot to work but I think we’ll be fine.”
If Throckmorton has a good run in the Halloween Spooktacular, he may come back to Southern National at the end of November to compete in the Thanksgiving Classic. His plans for 2014 consist of running races at Orange County Speedway and South Boston Speedway. Throckmorton scored two victories at South Boston and one at Orange County in 2014.
The Halloween Spooktacular is scheduled to be run on Saturday afternoon with the green flag dropping at 3pm but may be postponed to Sunday due to the threat of rain on Saturday.
