Landon Huffman is a Sheetz Freak at Martinsville

Sheetz and Late Model Stock racing are synonymous with each other so a partnership with a prominent driver makes all the sense in the world.

Martinsville? You know the Sheez.
Hickory? Right around the corner.
South Boston? Right down the road.
Dominion? Literally on the property.
Tri-County? Not too far.
Wilkesboro? New one opened last year.

Where there is a short track in the Mid-Atlantic region, there is a Sheetz open 24-7 to welcome the pre-race tailgaters, the post-crash commiserating, post-win celebrations and no shortage of written and filed Short Track Scene headlines.

Why WOULDN’T Sheetz be on a race car?  

 “Well, first of all, I agree with you because I’ve spent more than many a couple of paychecks at Sheetz over the past number of years,” Huffman told Short Track Scene on Wednesday at a press event in Roanoke. “I think they are heavily invested in our community and geographically, they have a race track at literally every track we compete at across North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.

“Having them come aboard this weekend is big but how it came together was an interaction on Twitter, on X, and we went back and forth over our accounts about something funny and it got a lot of attention. Dale Jr. jumped in there and they reached out to me and was interested in working together on the content side.”

Huffman pitched them on coming aboard for the biggest race of the year and see how it goes from there. He’s done car unveils and activations at Sheetz locations near Ridgeway and Martinsville while creating social media content for both brands as well.

“Their corporate team has been awesome,” Huffman said. “Their content team has been awesome and we’ve had a lot of fun with it so far, with a lot more potential, and the car is absolutely beautiful. I’m excited to get on the race track and hopefully the one race will turn to more.”

For so many reasons, Huffman would love to take them to Victory Lane on Saturday night. This is the race that got away from him in 2023, his debut appearance in the race, and one that narrowly escaped him head-to-head with Trevor Ward.

Huffman did not have the money to even run this race until 2023, when he was hired by Barry Nelson, and took the iconic No. 23 to Victory Lane in the Old North State Nationals and a runner-up at Martinsville.

But how he lost it, haunts him, even though he wouldn’t change a thing.  

“That race was tough,” Huffman said. “It was tough and it wasn’t at the same time because growing up the way I did, the Martinsville 300 was a far cry from my budget for Late Models, and never had a chance to race it in my own equipment until things happened with Barry and getting that opportunity and won that $30,000-to-win race.

“So we had a lot of momentum, and to be in that position in my first start in that race, even though we didn’t have the best car, had what I thought was a third-place car to Trevor (Ward) and Peyton (Sellers) it was special to even be in that spot.”

But he has played that restart back in his mind over-and-over.

“The way the last restart worked out, I positioned myself to have a shot at the lead and got the lead and got into Trevor a little bit,” Huffman said. “I moved him up in the track into Payton and I felt like that was my one that I got.

“Losing at Martinsville sucks. It’s devastating but I felt like the racing values I have showed in that moment because it would have meant less to do it that way, knocking someone out of the way, and I wasn’t going to do it that way.”

That race came in a Forrest Reynolds race car and the same engine as that year at Nelson. He’s contended for wins all year in the CARS Tour and has been a fringe championship threat at times.

“There are a lot of things lining up for us this year if things go our way.”

And regardless of whether they do or not, Huffman will have that Sheetz MTO order waiting on him down the road in Ridgeway on his way back towards Claremont.

“I have one slight bone to pick with them,” Huffman said. “I didn’t realize the rewards points don’t roll over year-after-year. I’ve been using the same Sheetz card and didn’t redeem all of them since 2016 and apparently I’ve cost myself. You got to spend them year-to-year.”

It seems like they’ve made up for it this weekend at Martinsville.