By Joe Chandler
Director, Public Relations
South Boston Speedway
SOUTH BOSTON, VA (December 23, 2024) – South Boston Speedway’s exciting 2024 season was one highlighted by new milestones, one of the closest points battles in the track’s history and the emergence of the track’s first female division champion in 20 years.
The special events at the .4-mile oval – the inaugural King of the Modifieds Smart Modified Tour event, the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 which annually kicks off the Virginia Late Model Triple Crown, and the annual zMAX Cars Tour event – had their own unique excitement and thrilling finishes.
The track’s 67th anniversary season saw two-time NASCAR national champion Peyton Sellers of Danville, Virginia earn a record-tying seventh South Boston Speedway Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division championship.
In one of the closest points battles in the track’s history, Jason Myers of Hurt, Virginia won the track’s Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division championship by a single point over Eric Winslow of Pelham, North Carolina.
Jordaine Penick of Meherrin, Virginia became only the second female driver to win a South Boston Speedway division championship when she won the track’s Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division title. She and B.J. Reaves of South Boston, Virginia, who claimed the track’s Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division title, earned their first career South Boston Speedway division titles.
Following is a look at some of the speedway’s 2024 season division highlights and special events.
Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division
The 41st season of the Late Model Stock Car Division as the feature racing division at South Boston Speedway produced some of the most exciting and dramatic racing anyone anywhere could want to see.
This season’s division championship chase went down to the season’s final race. With a third-place finish coupled with a sixth-place finish by fellow Danville, Virginia resident Blake Stallings in the final race, Sellers won a record-tying seventh South Boston Speedway NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division title.
Sellers is now tied with former seven-time champion David Blankenship of Moseley, Virginia for the most titles in the division. He finished the season with a division-high five wins and won the title by a 29-point margin.
Toby Layne of Farmville, Virginia won the track’s Rookie of the Year Award and won the NASCAR Regional Rookie of the Year Award for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Stallings won his first career South Boston Speedway Late Model Stock Car Division race. He finished the season with three wins and was the division runner-up.
Seven different drivers won races, six different drivers earned pole wins, and a total of 14 drivers led laps during the season’s 14 races.
When the season ended, there had been a total of 101 different winners in a total of 739 NASCAR- sanctioned Late Model Stock Car Division races at South Boston Speedway spanning the division’s 41-year history.
Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division
The 2024 season featured one of the closest championship points battles in the track’s history with Myers edging Winslow by one point to capture the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division championship.
When it came down to crunch time Myers rose to the occasion. Trailing by a point entering the season’s final event, he needed to win the final race to win the division crown – and he got it.
With that victory, Myers won his second straight Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division championship, putting him only one title away from matching his father, former South Boston Speedway champion Billy Myers, who has three career South Boston Speedway division titles.
Jason Myers’ 2024 season record included three wins, six pole wins, and eight Top-5 finishes in his 11 starts.
The 2024 season brought some of the most competitive racing fans have seen in the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division. Only 33 points stood between the champion and the 5th-place finisher in the standings, which is indicative of how competitive this division was. At season’s end, there were five different winners and seven drivers leading laps throughout the 11-race season.
Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division
With a late-season twist in the division title chase, brothers B.J. Reaves of South Boston, Virginia and Zach Reaves of Danville, Virginia finished first and second respectively in the quest for the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division title. The season marked a very rare occasion in which brothers took the top two spots in a division.
Consistency was at the core of B.J. Reaves winning his first career South Boston Speedway division championship. His season record included two wins and six second-place finishes in his nine starts.
In winning the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division championship B.J. Reaves became the fourth different division champion in as many years, a result that shows the high level of competition in the division.
Also, Dillon Davis of Nathalie, Virginia won an extremely close battle for Rookie of the Year honors with only eight points standing between him and his closest challenger.
Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division
The 2024 Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division championship chase was one of the more unique ones in the division’s history.
Sixteen-year-old Jordaine Penick wrote herself into the South Boston Speedway record books by becoming only the second female driver to win a NASCAR-sanctioned division championship at the speedway, and the first to do so in 20 years.
Penick had a division-high nine Top-5 finishes that included six third-place finishes. At the mid-point of the season Penick strung together five straight third-place finishes to move to the top of the division standings.
Her teammate, 15-year-old Max Sangillo of Farmville, Virginia, was right behind her, as the pair of teenagers captured the top two spots in the final division point standings.
Sangillo, like Penick, saw success through consistency. He scored six Top-5 finishes in his 10 starts and put together four straight fourth-place finishes in the middle of the season to claw his way into title contention.
As a quick snapshot of the season, there were three different race winners, three different pole winners and six different drivers led laps over the course of the season’s 10 races.
In addition, the Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division competitors competed in the division’s first-ever twin-race event this season.
Special Event Highlights
• Seventeen-year-old Luke Baldwin of Mooresville, North Carolina, competing in only his third career Tour-Type Modified race, edged veteran NASCAR Modified driver “Big Money” Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pennsylvania by .415-seconds in a 17-lap sprint to the finish following the last of the race’s six caution periods to win the first-ever King of the Modifieds SMART Modified Tour race. The win was worth $20,000. There were 30 cars in the starting field.
• Conner Hall of Hampton, Virginia, the 2023 NASCAR national champion, started last in the 32-car field and made a dramatic drive to the front to win the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 and capture the first leg of the 2024 Virginia Late Model Triple Crown. Hall’s victory, his first career win at South Boston Speedway, was worth $10,500 as he took home the $10,000 winner’s prize and the $500 Anderson Outdoor Solutions Hard Charger Award for the driver who gained the most positions from their initial feature starting position.
• Carson Kvapil won the 125-lap zMAX CARS Late Model Stock Car Tour race held in mid-September at the .4-mile oval. The win was worth $7,000.
Spencer Davis of Dawsonville, Georgia earned his second win of the season on the zMAX CARS Pro Late Model Tour and his first career CARS Tour win at South Boston Speedway in the 100-lap race for the zMAX CARS Pro Late Model Tour that served as the co-feature race.
• South Boston Speedway hosted its first INEX U.S. Legend Car race in 12 years as part of the CARS Tour event in September. Michigan native Jacob Staten, now a North Carolina resident, won the 30-lap INEX Legend Car race.
• Veteran Modified racer Burt Myers of Walnut Cove, North Carolina took the lead from Mike Speeney on the 86th lap and held off former NASCAR star Ryan Newman and Jake Crum in a two-lap dash to the finish following the race’s final restart to win the 99-lap Battle of SoBo SMART Modified Tour race held in October. It was hist first career win at South Boston Speedway.
• The regional touring STAR Super Stock Tour made its first-ever visit to South Boston Speedway in October in conjunction with the SMART Modified Tour event. Jeff Melton of Mooresville, North Carolina started on the pole and led every lap enroute to winning the Stars Align Biggie 50 STAR Super Stock Tour race. Melton collected $1,000 for winning the race and also won the Volt Battery Pole Award.
The latest news and updates at South Boston Speedway can be found on the speedway’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com, by calling the speedway office at 434-572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540 during regular business hours, and through the track’s social media channels.