Landon Pembelton had an up-and-down 2022 season competing in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Model Stock Car Division at South Boston Speedway.
He’s looking to turn the table and cap his season on a high note in the 125-lap Late Model Stock Car Division race that will comprise half of the CARS Tour Commonwealth 225 doubleheader on Saturday afternoon, October 22 at South Boston Speedway.
“I’m looking forward to the opportunity this weekend,” Pembelton remarked. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. I raced here at South Boston Speedway all season. It’s going to be pretty much like a home-court advantage. I think we can come here and bring a good enough car that we can run well and compete well with the CARS Tour guys.”
The teenager from Amelia, Virginia has competed in two previous Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour events this season and scored a top-five finish in one of the races. While the CARS Tour uses a different tire than the tires South Boston Speedway uses for its events, Pembelton says it won’t be a major obstacle.
“The CARS Tour uses the Hoosier F45 tire at all of its races,” Pembelton noted. “The CARS Tour brings a little different tire to the table, but it’s not something that I am not used to. We raced on these tires at Martinsville Speedway and Langley Speedway So I have some familiarity with it.”
Pembelton feels good about his chances in Saturday’s event.
“I have a good feeling our car is going to be pretty good,” he said. “We’ve just got to keep working and trying to get better. I’ve raced against all of these guys on the CARS Tour before. They’re all going to be very fast. They race hard, but they race clean. They’re going to be on their “A” game when they come here. We’ve just got to make sure we’re on our “A” game so we can compete well against these guys.”
Pembelton’s 2022 season at South Boston Speedway was not a bad season, but it did not meet his expectations. He finished fifth in the track’s point standings, posting six Top-5 finishes and a dozen Top-10 finishes in his 15 starts.
“This season just wasn’t as good as last year,” he pointed out. “Luck hasn’t been on our side this season. We had a lot of top-five finishes, but they weren’t as good as last year. Last year we were tapping off more top-two and top-three finishes, being closer to winning. This year we were just a little off.”
A bright note to Pembelton’s season has been his opportunity to compete in select ARCA Menards Series races driving a car out of the Venturini Motorsports stable. He finished third at Elko Speedway in his first career ARCA Menards Series start, finished sixth at the Milwaukee Mile and posted a seventh-place finish in the recent race at Toledo, Ohio. He has one more ARCA Menards Series race remaining, that coming at Phoenix, Arizona.
“It’s been a lot of fun racing with the Venturini Motorsports guys and Toyota Racing,” Pembelton said. “They have supplied me with good cars every time. We had one top-three finish and all top-10 finishes. It was more than I could ask for. I’m looking forward to possibly doing some more next year.”
Among the drivers joining Pembelton in the 125-lap Late Model Stock Car Division race that will be part of the doubleheader event is 2022 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series National Champion, Southeast Region Champion and South Boston Speedway Champion Layne Riggs of Bahama, North Carolina. Riggs, who won 10 races enroute to winning the South Boston Speedway title, has two top-five finishes in three starts this season on the Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour circuit. He has six career wins and eight career pole wins in the CARS Tour series.
Carson Kvapil of Mooresville, North Carolina, who drives the JR Motorsports entry, leads the series’ Late Model Stock Car Division point standings entering the South Boston Speedway event, the next-to-last event on the CARS Tour schedule. He holds a 42-point lead over Connor Hall of Hampton, Virginia and Kaden Honeycutt of Aledo, Texas who are tied for second-place in the points standings. Kvapil and Hall both have three wins this season, while Honeycutt has one victory.
Also among the drivers having filed entries for the Late Model Stock Car Division race are defending race champion Bobby McCarty of Kernersville, North Carolina, who has won two of his last three starts at South Boston Speedway, Chad McCumbee of Shallote, North Carolina who has one win in the series this season and sits in fourth-place in the series standings, and Jacob Heafner of Dallas, North Carolina who is fifth in the standings with four top-five finishes.
The CARS Tour Commonwealth 225 on Saturday afternoon, October 22 at South Boston Speedway will also include a 100-lap race for the CARS Tour Pro Late Model Division. Luke Fenhaus of Wausau, Wisconsin holds a 15-point edge over Caden Kvapil of Mooresville, North Carolina with William Sawalich of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, a five-time winner this season, sitting in third place 45 points behind the leader in the Pro Late Model Division point standings. Sawalich won the 100-lap JEGS CRA Pro Late Model race this past Friday night at Winchester Speedway in Indiana and finished third in the Winchester 400, one of the country’s biggest Pro Late Model races, this past Sunday at Winchester Speedway.
The October 22 CARS Tour Commonwealth 225 race day schedule has rotating practice sessions for the two divisions from 8:15 a.m. until 9:45 a.m. Grandstand gates will open at 12 noon and qualifying starts at 12:15 p.m. There will be an on-track Fan Fest driver autograph session at 1:15 p.m. and the first race of the afternoon will get the green flag at 3 p.m.
Advance adult general admission tickets are priced at $15 each and are available through Friday night, October 21 on the South Boston Speedway website, www.southbostonspeedway.com. Also, advance tickets may be purchased at the South Boston Speedway office during regular business hours between 9:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and by calling the speedway at 1-434-572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540.
Tickets purchased at the gate and online on race day are priced at $20 each. Children ages 12 and under are admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult.
The latest news and information about South Boston Speedway and its events can be found on the South Boston Speedway website, www.southbostonspeedway.com, and through the speedway’s social media channels.
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