Brian Loftin has only one thing on his mind as he looks toward the SMART Modified Tour’s return to South Boston Speedway on Saturday afternoon, October 14 for the Boone Tractor 199 presented by Massey Ferguson – scoring a repeat win.
Loftin charged from deep in the field to win the 99-lap SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic race on April 1 and earn his first career South Boston Speedway victory. With the series championship out of the picture, Loftin’s focus is solely on winning races.
“We’re coming for one reason, that’s to get the checkered flag,” Loftin pointed out. “We’re not worried about the season-long stuff. That will shake out how it needs to. We’re not close in points, we’re just looking for getting checkered flags right now. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
The Lexington, North Carolina resident is looking forward to returning to South Boston Speedway for what will be the SMART Modified Tour’s second visit to the .4-mile oval this season.
“Anytime you leave a place, and you won the last race there, you’re excited to go back because that’s always a good feeling,” Loftin remarked. “You know you had a pretty good racecar.”
South Boston Speedway is one of Loftin’s favorite tracks.
“I love the place,” said Loftin. “It’s got a lot of grip, and it’s high-banked, high speed. You can get after it and drive the car. I like to go out there and use the car, get it to the ground, and let’s see how fast we can go instead of riding around and seeing who has the most left at the end.”
The 2008 NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour champion played tire strategy to earn the win in the April race at South Boston Speedway. He started 16th in the field, pitted early for his tire change to gain track position, and was able to stay up front with the race’s other frontrunners the rest of the night.
Loftin was fortunate that circumstances fell in his favor that night. However, it does not always work out that way.
“As competitive as the SMART Modified Tour is now, there is so much race-play,” Loftin explained. “We could have run that race in the spring five different ways and not come out the winner. If the caution had fallen five laps differently somebody could have gotten a run at me, or I might have had to use up a little more tire. There are all kinds of different scenarios. You’re never going to get one to play out twice the exact same way.”
The competition on the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic has been intense this season. There have been six different winners on the tour with three races remaining on the schedule.
“The competition is as tough as I can ever remember a southern Modified season being,” Loftin said. “You’ve got 15 or 16 cars that can win any race. You have to challenge for every one of those spots. You can’t be off your game at all because somebody is going to take advantage of it if you are.”
The SMART Modified Tour events at South Boston Speedway are very competitive events. There were five lead changes among six drivers in the April event. Caleb Heady of Mooresville, North Carolina won pole for the spring race with a time of 14.142 seconds and 101.824 mph in a qualifying session that ended with there being less than a tenth of a second difference between Heady and the fourth-fastest qualifier. In the 2022 SMART Modified Tour event at South Boston Speedway there were seven lead changes among six drivers.
Four races will comprise the Saturday afternoon, October 14 Boone Tractor 199 presented by Massey Ferguson racing program with the Pace-O-Matic 99 for the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic headlining the day’s action. Fans will also see a 50-lap race for the Carolina Crate Modified Series which will be making its first visit to South Boston Speedway, and twin 25-lap races for the Southern Ground Pounders Vintage Racing Club.
Advance adult general admission tickets for the Boone Tractor 199 presented by Massey Ferguson are priced at $17 each and may be purchased online on South Boston Speedway’s website, www.
Tickets at the gate on race day on Saturday, October 14 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.
The race day schedule for the Saturday, October 14 Boone Tractor 199 presented by Massey Ferguson event has frontstretch spectator gates opening at 10:30 a.m. and practice going from 10:30 a.m. until 12:25 p.m. Qualifying will begin at 1 p.m. and an autograph session is scheduled from 2 p.m. until 2:45 p.m. The first race will get the green flag at 3 p.m.
The latest news and updates about the Boone Tractor 199 presented by Massey Ferguson and other South Boston Speedway events can be found on the speedway’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com, and the track’s social media channels. Information may also be obtained by phoning the speedway at 434-572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540 during regular business hours.
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