Peyton Sellers not only left South Boston Speedway last Saturday night with a win but also the lead in the Virginia Late Model Triple Crown.
The Virginia Late Model Triple Crown is a $10,000 bonus to the driver who posts the best average finishing position in the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at South Boston, the Hampton Heat at Langley Speedway and the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway.
Sellers, a past Whelen All-American Series National Champion, beat Late Model Stock Car legend Philip Morris to the line in dramatic fashion. Tyler Hughes finished third, with Brandon Pierce and Bobby McCarty rounding out the top-five.
Fellow Late Model stalwarts CE Falk III, Mike Looney, Matt Bowling and Timothy Peters were also in the field at South Boston with Falk and Looney locking up top-ten finishes while Bowling and Peters were involved in a lap one incident that put a damper on their night.
“It definitely is the place we want to be heading into Langley and Martinsville,” Sellers said. “There’s a lot of good cars that are going to be laser-focused when it comes to the Triple Crown and we are the ones that they are chasing.”
Hughes is chasing the Triple Crown for the first time.
“It gave me a solid bit of momentum and a good bit of confidence,” Hughes said. “I’ve had a lot of bad luck this year with things going wrong and it really hasn’t been my year. I felt like at South Boston I put a lot of pressure and hard work to really have a good run there.
“This is our first go at the Triple Crown, we’ve never run at Martinsville or in the South Boston 200 before and have only run the Hampton Heat once, so it really gives us a lot of hope to win this thing.”
Sellers, who has won the Triple Crown before, said to be able to do something that will get you even mentioned with the legends of Virginia short-track racing is special.
“It’s very neat to win the Triple Crown,” he said. “Being from Virginia and having grown up seeing the greats like (Bugs) Hairfield and (Roy) Hendrick race, to be able to be mentioned with them and to think I might have also had a small part in growing short track racing in Virginia is really neat. It’s really great that the three tracks in Virginia put it on.”
Hughes would like to be mentioned in the same breath as previous Triple Crown winners, like Sellers and last year’s winner Timothy Peters.
“You get the bragging to say you won the Triple Crown and get to add your name to the list of people who have won it in the past,” Hughes said. “To add my name to that list would be pretty special.”
The next leg of the Triple Crown is July 21, in the Hampton Heat at Langley Speedway.
The Triple Crown will conclude at under the lights at Martinsville Speedway on September 29, with the ValleyStar Credit Union 300, NASCAR’s biggest, richest and most prestigious Late Model Stock Car race. The winner of the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 will receive a $25,000 check. With the $10,000 bonus for the Triple Crown on the line, as well, it could be a profitable night for one Late Model ace.
Tickets to the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 are on sale now and can be purchased by calling 877.RACETIX or online at www.martinsvillespeedway.com. Adult tickets are $30, youth tickets are just $5, and camping and VIP experiences are still available.
The Virginia Late Model Triple Crown winner will be determined via best average finishing position in the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway, the Hampton Heat at Langley Speedway and the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway. Therefore, the race results from the June 30 event at South Boston act as the current Triple Crown standings.
The current Triple Crown standings are as follows:
1. Peyton Sellers
2. Philip Morris
3. Tyler Hughes
4. Brandon Pierce
5. Bobby McCarty
6. CE Falk III
7. Woody Howard
8. Justin Carroll
9. Mike Looney
10. Tim Phipps
11. Nathan Crews
12. Terry Carroll
13. Eric Winslow
14. Grayson Cullather
15. Charles Barnes
16. Matt Bowling
17. Thomas Scott
18. Austin Thaxton
19. Dusty Ellington
20. Mason Diaz
21. Jason Barnes
22. Josh Oakley
23. Quincy Adkins
24. Thomas Beane
25. Timothy Peters
26. Bruce Anderson
27. Justin S. Carroll
28. Mark Wertz
29. Mark Keesee Jr.
30. Colin Garrett
31. Brenden Queen
32. Stacy Puryear
33. Trevor Noles
34. Ty Gibbs
35. Stuart Crews
