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By Joe Chandler
Director, Public Relations
South Boston Speedway
SOUTH BOSTON, VA (March 22, 2024) – South Boston Speedway kicks off its 2024 season Sunday afternoon, March 24 with one of its biggest and most exciting events of the season – the URW Community Federal Credit Union Race Day event featuring one of the country’s biggest and richest asphalt Modified races and the start of the chase for the track championship for the NASCAR Late Model Stock Car and Hornets divisions.
The event was originally scheduled for Saturday, March 23 but was postponed to Sunday afternoon, March 24 due to weather forecasts for persistent rain on Saturday.
Three races will be featured on URW Community Federal Credit Union Race Day with the SMART Modified Tour’s Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds race, a 125-lap race featuring the country’s top Modified drivers that will pay $20,000 to win, and a 100-lap race for the Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division headlining the day’s action. A 20-lap race for the Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division is also slated for the afternoon.
“We are extremely excited to host a major event of this caliber to start our 2024 season,” said South Boston Speedway General Manager Brandon Brown. “The King of the Modifieds race will be one of the country’s biggest races of the season for asphalt Modifieds, and the competition in our Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division is second to none. The Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division competitors always race hard and put on an exciting show. This is an event fans will not want to miss.”
The Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds race is a new crown jewel event that will carry one of the season’s richest purses in asphalt Modified racing, thanks in part to many sponsors that include Vista Installations, the Stanley Law Group and Dominion Energy.
Drivers and teams from the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic and top stars from the northern Modified ranks will battle it out in the big-money event that will pay $20,000 to win and award $10,000 for second place. Each of the race’s 36 starters will take home at least $1,200.
Among the Modified stars that will be competing in the race are former NASCAR Cup Series star Ryan Newman, 2023 SMART Modified Tour champion Burt Myers, 2023 Bowman Gray Stadium NASCAR Modified Division champion Brandon Ward, 2022 SMART Modified Tour champion Caleb Heady, Carson Loftin who has won the season’s first two SMART Modified Tour races, Matt Hirschman, Doug Coby, Jason Myers and Luke Baldwin.
A total of 32 cars will be locked into the starting field for the 125-lap King of the Modifieds race. They will include the top 18 drivers in the current SMART Modified Tour point standings that participated in the series’ first two events of the season and 14 others as determined through qualifying time trials. Those 32 cars will be lined up for the start based on their qualifying times.
South Boston Speedway’s Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division will kick off its 2024 track championship chase in a 100-lap race as part of Sunday’s URW Community Federal Credit Union Race Day.
Among the top drivers expected to be in field for the season-opener are two-time NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion Peyton Sellers of Danville, Virginia who will be seeking a record-tying seventh South Boston Speedway NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division championship, Mike Looney of Catawba, Virginia who won the 2023 track championship at Pulaski County Motorsports Park (formerly known as Motor Mile Speedway), and Trevor Ward, the winner of last year’s ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway.
Also expected to be in the field for Saturday’s season-opener are Jacob Borst who finished third behind Sellers in the 2023 South Boston Speedway point standings, Kyle Dudley of Roanoke, Virginia who had five wins and 16 Top-5 finishes in 19 starts while competing at Motor Mile Speedway and South Boston Speedway last season, and Blake Stallings who is looking for his first career South Boston Speedway win and track championship.
Track officials are expecting a highly competitive season in the Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division which will launch its 2024 championship chase in the 20-lap race that will round out the slate of races for Sunday’s URW Community Federal Credit Union Race Day event.
Among the area drivers expected to be in the field for the season-opener are Landon Milam who missed winning last year’s title by a slim 11-point margin, former division champion Jason DeCarlo, Jordaine Penick, Cameron Moss and Cameron Goble, all of whom finished in the top eight of the division point standings last season.
Advance tickets for Sunday’s URW Community Federal Credit Union Race Day event are priced at $17 each. Tickets may be purchased online on South Boston Speedway’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com or by calling the speedway office at 434-572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540 during regular business hours.
Tickets at the gate on race day will be $20 each. Seniors ages 65 and older, military, healthcare workers, and students (with ID) can purchase tickets for $17 each at the gate on race day.
Sunday’s URW Community Federal Credit Union Race Day event schedule has practice running from 12 noon to 1:40 p.m. Gates will open and qualifying will start at 2 p.m. The first race of the day is set to get the green flag at 3 p.m.
