Connect with us

Late Model Stock Cars

Carson Kvapil dominates for first ValleyStar win

Peyton Sellers clinches Virginia Triple Crown with top-10 finish

Corey Latham | Race22

MARTINSVILLE, VA – Carson Kvapil led 119 laps en route to victory in Saturday night’s ValleyStar Credit Union 300, driving away from 2016 winner Mike Looney amid a flurry of late race restarts at Martinsville Speedway.

The win is the second time the JR Motorsports team has won the fall classic and was especially important for Kvapil, who may end up with a full-time ride in one of the NASCAR national series next year.

“This race is the biggest Late Model Stock race in the country,” Kvapil said.  “To even be able to be in contention to win this race is huge and obviously to win it is even bigger.  We just had such a good car at the end of the race.  Bryan [Shaffer] really made some good adjustments during the halfway break and gave us a really good piece to work with at the end.”

The win will also mean a lot to Kvapil’s car owner, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

“I can’t wait to check my phone,” Kvapil continued.  “I’m hoping he’s already sent me a text message or called.  It’s huge.  Josh [Berry] winning this race was huge and I’m super glad to be able to follow it up with a win as well.”

Kyle Dudley started on the pole but faded after the race’s opening laps and eventually got tangled up in incidents with Matt Waltz and Doug Barnes, Jr., derailing his miraculous effort.  From there, it was a race between Kvapil and Looney as the two drivers swapped the lead several times throughout the remainder of the race.

Once Kvapil got the lead from Looney on lap 190, he would never look back, surviving an overtime finish. 

Kade Brown had settled into the third position in the second stage of the race and much of the final stage and appeared destined to win the Virginia Triple Crown, but that run would come to an end after getting tangled up in an incident with Jake Crum, and then Aaron Donnelly, putting an end to his effort.

Peyton Sellers would go on to win the Virginia Triple Crown for the fifth time in his career with a ninth place finish after fading throughout the race’s second stage.

“That’s a real honor,” Sellers said.  “To have this car here, the Hendricks ‘Flying 26’ on it, kind of a throwback scheme, saying how hard it is to win races in the state of Virginia.  They’ve got a good thing with this Virginia Triple Crown.  A lot of guys chasing it every year.  To be able to win it five times is definitely a big feather in our cap.”

Attrition took its toll throughout much of the race.  Jacob Heafner, Carter Langley and Parker Eatmon were involved in the race’s most spectacular incident when a bottleneck situation resulted in the three cars piling up on the frontstretch.  Heafner, who walked away, got the worst of the incident.

Unofficial Results

  1. Carson Kvapil
  2. Mike Looney
  3. Treyten Lapcevich
  4. Casey Kelley
  5. Bobby McCarty
  6. Jake Crum
  7. Brent Crews
  8. Ronnie Bassett, Jr.
  9. Peyton Sellers
  10. Sam Yarbrough
  11. Andrew Grady
  12. Aaron Donnelly
  13. Lee Pulliam
  14. Jared Fryar
  15. Ryan Millington
  16. Doug Barnes, Jr.
  17. Clay Jones
  18. Camden Gullie
  19. Reyan Matthews
  20. Dillon Harville
  21. Daniel Silvestri
  22. Dexter Canipe, Jr.
  23. Blake Stallings
  24. Tristan McKee
  25. Connor Hall
  26. Landon Pembelton
  27. Kade Brown
  28. Conner Jones
  29. Stacy Puryear
  30. Buddy Isles, Jr.
  31. Trevor Ward
  32. Mason Diaz
  33. Timothy Peters
  34. Jacob Heafner
  35. Parker Eatmopn
  36. Carter Langley
  37. Matt Waltz
  38. Kyle Dudley
  39. Stuart Crews
  40. Jason York

Marquis comes from St. Charles, Maryland and has a widespread background in journalism, having covered politics in Washington and Maryland as well as nearly every form of auto racing, including NASCAR, IndyCar, AMA Motocross and IHRA Drag Racing. Now living near Emerald Isle, North Carolina, Marquis covers Late Model Stock Cars and Super Late Models in the Carolinas and Virginia.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Facebook

Archive

Advertisement

More in Late Model Stock Cars