Sellers, Morris Set To Battle For Track Championship In South Boston Speedway Regular-Season Finale

Expect a high-speed chess match between Peyton Sellers and Philip Morris in Saturday night’s Late Model Stock regular-season finale at South Boston Speedway as the pair chase the 2018 track championship.

 

Sellers, who has won twice on the .4-mile oval this season, enters the GCR Presents Spaulding Equipment NASCAR Late Model Twin 75s with a 41-point lead over Morris, who has nine South Boston wins in 2018.

 

Despite the disparity in win totals, Sellers has stayed in the point lead most of the summer by capitalizing on track passing points, awarded for each car passed when a driver opts to drop to the rear of the field before the start of a race. The scenario is made even more interesting by the fact that there are twin 75-lap races, giving both drivers two shots at putting points on the board.

 

“I’m a little bit at Philip’s mercy,” said Sellers, the 2017 track champ who is looking for his fourth title overall. “If he wants to drop to the back of the field, we will too. We’ve had a lot of success going to the back, even though we’ve gotten torn up a couple of times.”

 

Morris, who is also leading the chase for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Championship, says his decision will be easy Saturday night.

 

“I’m definitely going to drop to the back for the points. I almost have to utilize passing points,” said Morris, who has one South Boston championship to his credit.

 

Dropping to the rear of the field will be Morris’ only strategy change for Saturday, though.

 

“I think we’ve got to go to the track, hit our marks like we have been all season and let the chips fall where they may,” said Morris. “We have to try to win the race. That’s the best we can do at this point.

 

“We just have to rely on the fact we are as good as we can be and not be too crazy in over-playing everything.”

 

Sellers said it is much more difficult to get to the front in short races like Saturday’s twin 75-lappers. “It’s a little harder than other races,” he said of the 75-lap races. “But we think we’re in good shape. We’re not stressing it too bad.

 

“We set out at the beginning of the year not to run for a national championship but to win the track championship at our home track. We haven’t had the wins we would have liked, but we’ve won the most poles and won the biggest race (July 4^th weekend) of the season.”

 

Championships will be decided in all five divisions Saturday night. In addition to the twin 75-lap Late Model races, there will be a 50-lap Limited Sportsman race, a 30-lap Budweiser Pure Stock race, a 15-lap Budweiser Hornets race and a 30-lap Mod 4 race.

 

Grandstand gates open at 5:30 p.m. with qualifying scheduled for 6 and the first race set for 7. Tickets are $10 for adults, with children 12 and under admitted free.

 

SBS PR