Veteran racer Mark Wertz has multiple Late Model championships over his career, but he has never won a race at South Boston Speedway.  He hopes to change that in Friday night’s Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 – the biggest race of the year at the historic track.

Wertz, 47, from Chesapeake, Virginia, finds himself third in points – only 70 points behind Matt Bowling.  The main reason is due to passing points which are awarded in South Boston’s unique championship points system.  Wertz has elected to start at the rear of the field in races and race his way up inside the top-five to gain maximum points in his pursuit of the championship.

His strategy will be different on Friday night.  A win in the 200 lapper, one of Late Model Stock Car racing’s biggest races, is what every driver is gunning for.  If Wertz qualifies well, he will start at the front and race for the win, not for maximum points.

“Going into Friday, we’re going to look at how we end up qualifying and our goal right now is to qualify in the top-five and try to start there,” Wertz said.  “If we don’t, we’ll go to the back and try to do the passing points thing again and take advantage of the fact that its 200 laps.”

While Wertz is still hoping to win the championship, his strategy has changed after a wreck in the most recent race at South Boston Speedway.  Wertz feels that, dropping to the back for points, he may have given up the win in some previous races.  Prior to the wreck a couple weeks ago, he was within striking distance of Bowling and Austin Thaxton.

“Last week, we were 28 points out and then we had gone to the rear of the field again to come back,” Wertz commented.  “We had been managing to get to the top-five.  In a couple races, we might have given up a chance of winning.  We got caught up in a wreck and fell back to third in points.”

Wanting to win on Friday night isn’t just because of points, but because the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 is Late Model Stock Car racing’s summer highlight and one of the biggest races all year.

“The win for this being the 200 and probably 30 cars and most of the best of the best will be there.  It would be a huge opportunity to try to pounce on an opportunity to win a race at South Boston and pulling off one of the big races.”

Wertz had been a contender for many years in the late 90s and the 2000s.  In 2003, Wertz won the Langley Speedway track championship, collecting 13 wins.  He went on to repeat that the following year.  The rise of CE Falk at Langley Speedway saw Wertz’s win total plummet.  After scoring a win in the season opening race of the 2010 season, it would be five years until Wertz would win again.

Since then, Wertz has returned to being a contender every week.

“Last year, when we picked up that win, we gained a little momentum,” Wertz explained.  “Honestly, some of it was self-confidence.  Just got back in our groove of being real attentive and trying to find new things.  Kind of opened up the book of new ideas instead of the same old thing that wasn’t doing anything for us.”

By the end of the year, Wertz was running competitively at Langley Speedway where he was a contender for the track championship.  He also had strong runs at Southern National Motorsports Park and South Boston Speedway.

“At the end of the year, we almost won the last race at Langley, finished second in that race,” Wertz stated.  “Had a couple really good runs at South Boston, finished third in the Hamlin race and had a really good run at Kenly at the end of the year at Thanksgiving.  I probably was a little too nice with Myatt [Snider] most of the race and found ourselves losing an opportunity to get to the front and challenge but I wanted to pass him clean.

“We’ve gained momentum and confidence and- we found ourselves at South Boston and got off to a god start.  We’re trying to focus on being competitive every week.”

South Boston Speedway made several rules changes in the offseason to promote competition and reduce costs.  The result has been a significant increase in car counts over previous years.

In recent years, South Boston has been struggling to get 18 cars, which constitutes a full field under NASCAR Whelen All-American Series guidelines.  Often times, championship competitors would bring start-and-park cars to enhance the car count in hopes of gaining maximum points.

This year, South Boston implemented a two-tire rule and pays a guaranteed $500-to-start.  The result, South Boston Speedway has the largest car counts in the region, surpassing even the field sizes in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour.  Along with the largest car counts in the region, South Boston Speedway has also become the most competitive track in the Southeast once again.

“With the two tire rule and the $500 to start, they’ve really done a good job of enticing teams to travel to come and support the track.

Other tracks have also taken steps to reduce costs, this has been done in the way of merging the Late Model Stock Car classes and the Limited Late Model classes into one sort of hybrid Late Model Stock Car division.  These rules are more prominent in Eastern North Carolina.  Where South Boston has been successful is keeping the traditional Late Model Stock Car rules in place while cutting costs and enhancing competition.

“South Boston is more of what we know with the traditional Late Model Stock Car,” Wertz continued.  “Not having to change carburetor to compete with a mixed class.  [Michael] Diaz at Southern National has done a good job, so has Carteret that merges Limiteds and Late Models, but some of us don’t want to have to switch carbs or change weights to run at other tacks.  We’re sticking where the NASCAR rulebook is run the way it’s written.”

Along with running full-time at South Boston, Wertz plans to race some at Carteret County Speedway and Southern National Motorsports Park and possibly Dominion Raceway.

One race Wertz won’t run is the Valley Star Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway – Late Model Stock Car racing’s crowned jewel event.

“I doubt we’ll do Martinsville.  I’ve been in my share of Martinsville races and I’m not a big fan of the format and the racing is, in my mind, turned kind of, no matter who’s in the race, it seems like every car now gets torn up.  The way the format is breeds cautions.  That’s not in our interest right now.”

The veteran racer elaborated more on the difficulties of racing at Martinsville for lower budget teams – citing the format which generates excitement for the fans but at a steep cost for competitors.  Often times, the final segment of the Martinsville race, which was extended from 10 to 50 last year, triggers multiple crashes that ultimately decide the outcome of the event.

“Just in my opinion, I think if all the teams know that, no matter how strung out the field gets, there’s going to be a caution with 50 to go, some patience is instilled in most of the drivers until they get there and from that point on, open the door and let it rip,” Wertz elaborated.  “I commend everybody, the track and NASCAR, for trying to keep the interest for the fans and everybody in the race but there’s always going to be somebody who’s not happy one way or the other.  Can’t please everybody.”

Wertz also feels the open practice day, which is not held on the week of the race but on a Wednesday afternoon the week prior, makes it even harder for people like himself to race.

“Gotta go test the week before, then everything’s condensed and rushed the week you’re there.  It’s tiring and expensive.  You’re creating more time off on two different weeks, additional nights in the hotel room, travel expense, you’ve increased it times two when you have the test day in the middle of the week.  I think it’s better to have a practice day while you’re there the week of the race.”

Another issue that Wertz feels is affecting the long term health of Late Model Stock Car racing is the amount of testing in general.

“Having too much practice opens the door to the bigger teams to get more data,” Wertz explained.  “What happens is, a lot of the smaller teams feel like they’re outdone before they get started so they avoid the bigger races for that reason.  Kenly, I felt like we built some decent data the previous times we’ve been down there and didn’t need to burn up a bunch of tires to find out what was already working.

“A lot of these bigger races, teams feel like they have to test and test is like a whole other race expense when you buy tires and all the stuff involved with getting the test done for that weekend.”

Wertz has been around the sport for a long time and is one of the most popular racers in the region, but at the age of 47, he knows he won’t likely be racing much longer.  Friday night could be Wertz’s best chance at scoring a victory in South Boston Speedway’s summer highlight which, if he does, would be his first career Late Model Stock Car win at South Boston Speedway.

“I’ve had a lot of seconds and thirds,” Wertz remarked.  “Winning would be huge.  I’m getting closer to the end of my driving time due to age and the amount of time I’ve been doing it.  This would be a very big win if I could manage to pull it off.  It would be one for the record books for us especially with the competition level at South Boston currently.”