Peyton Sellers begins drive for seventh South Boston title Saturday

Peyton Sellers watches the action on the track while taking a break in practice during one of last season’s NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series events at South Boston Speedway. (Joe Chandler/South Boston)

SOUTH BOSTON, Va. – Peyton Sellers’ drive for a record-tying seventh South Boston Speedway NASCAR track championship begins Saturday afternoon, March 19, when the speedway kicks off its 65th anniversary racing season with the Danville Toyota 2022 season opener racing program.

If Sellers can win the 2022 South Boston Speedway NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Model Stock Car division title he will tie David Blankenship of Mosely, Virginia, for the most career South Boston Speedway NASCAR track championships with seven championships.

The Danville, Virginia, resident says it would be an honor to tie Blankenship’s record, but his immediate focus is on winning races.

“I’m just focused on running well and winning races,” Sellers pointed out, “but to be up there with David Blankenship would be a big feather in my cap because in my eyes I will never be the driver he is. He was a guy I grew up watching. I was like ‘Man, that guy is smooth as silk.’

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“We’ve just been able to do this for a long time and put together some really good results,” Sellers continued. “Myself, H.C. (Sellers’ brother and crew chief H.C. Sellers) and a lot of the guys at Sellers Racing have put in a lot of days here at this racetrack. We’re just going to give it all we’ve got and see what happens.”

Sellers enters the 2022 season as the defending NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion, the defending Virginia state champion and defending South Boston Speedway champion. He has won the last four South Boston Speedway NASCAR track championships.

Winning nine of 17 starts, posting a dozen top-five finishes and leading the most laps last season at South Boston Speedway gives Sellers confidence entering the 2022 season, but he isn’t taking anything for granted.

“There are always some young guns coming in that give us a fit year in and year out and there is always a new challenge every year,” Sellers said. “We don’t take anything for granted. We work just as hard today as we did three years ago, if not harder because we put more pressure on ourselves to come back even stronger the next year.”

“It would have been very easy to sit idle all winter and just kind of fluff and buff our cars and come back this year and think we kind of had the bull by the horns. We sold one of our cars, built a new car, and we’re trying some different things trying to get to where we want to be.

“Last year we kept the same two cars we had and just developed our notebook and worked to make them better,” he continued. “This year we felt like there was some better things out there that we could do to make our cars a little better. We have the same motor combination, the same stuff for the most part, and are just trying to fine-tune it a little bit better. H.C. doesn’t sleep much at night for thinking about these cars. We’re constantly trying to get better.”

Saturday afternoon’s Danville Toyota 2022 season opener racing program will be headlined by twin 65-lap races for the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Model Stock Car division. Sellers would like nothing more than to sweep Saturday’s Late Model Stock Car division twinbill as his sponsor, Danville Toyota, is sponsoring South Boston Speedway’s season opening NASCAR racing event.

“It would be very special to be in Victory Lane for the Danville Toyota race,” said Sellers. “Danville Toyota has been with us a long time and there is nothing better than winning when they sponsor the race. They have been a good supporter of South Boston Speedway as well. I feel very fortunate to have them as a sponsor. It would be great to get a win.”

In addition to the twin 65-lap races for the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Model Stock Car Division competitors, Saturday afternoon’s five-race card includes a 65-lap race for the Budweiser Limited Sportsman division, a 30-lap race for the Southside Disposal Pure Stock division and a 15-lap race for the Hornets division.

Grandstand gates will open at 12:30 p.m. Qualifying starts at 1 p.m. and the first race of the day will get the green flag at 2 p.m.

Advance adult general admission tickets for the event are priced at $10 each plus a $1.50 processing fee and may be purchased online on South Boston Speedway’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com, through Friday night, March 18.

Adult general admission tickets online and at the gate on race day are priced at $15 each. Kids ages 12 and under will be admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult.