Saturday’s season-opening Danville Toyota ’23 Opener at South Boston Speedway will be an event Carter Langley will never forget.
The Zebulon, North Carolina resident not only scored his first career Late Model Stock Car Division win, he went one step better – sweeping the twin 75-lap Sentara Healthcare Late Model Stock Car Division races that headlined South Boston Speedway’s 2023 season-opening event.
“I didn’t expect my first and second win to come this close,” Langley said after scoring the sweep. “This is special. This really means a lot. I couldn’t think of a better place to get my first win. I didn’t think I was going to get back into Victory Lane. Winning the first and second race back-to-back really gives you a big boost of confidence.”
GRAB. THE. BROOM. @5carterlangley sweeps the @DanvilleToyota ‘23 Opener Late Model Stock features!#SOBOSpeedway | @NASCARRoots pic.twitter.com/tvR1H70VT7
— South Boston Speedway (@SoBoSpeedway57) March 18, 2023
Langley took the lead from Mike Looney of Catawba, Virginia with six laps to go, but had to hold off Looney and fast-closing Peyton Sellers of Danville, Virginia in a three-lap dash to the finish that followed the race’s third caution period. He prevailed at the end, edging Looney by .386-second with Sellers taking third place.
Camden Gullie of Durham, North Carolina finished fourth and Logan Clark of Mechanicsville, Virginia rounded out the top five finishers in the 23-car starting field.
The early portion of the race was a battle between pole winner Bruce Anderson of South Boston, Virginia, Sellers, Looney, Jacob Borst of Elon, North Carolina and Langley. However, that changed when Anderson, Sellers and Borst were involved in a mishap on lap 59 – a crash that sidelined Anderson and relegated Borst and Sellers back into the field. Sellers rallied to take third place and Borst recovered to finish seventh.
There were three lead changes among four drivers in the first 75-lap race, with Anderson leading the first 42 laps, and Sellers leading the next 17 circuits before he was involved in the mishap. Looney inherited the lead at the restart and led 10 laps before Langley surged into the lead and ultimately scored the win.
It's a clean sweep for @5carterlangley!
He caps off a perfect day in @SoBoSpeedway57's season-opener with another trip to Victory Lane.@FloRacing pic.twitter.com/6MS34N2MQT
— NASCAR Roots (@NASCARRoots) March 18, 2023
In the nightcap, Langley, who started the race in ninth-place after the drawing for the inverted start, gradually worked his way through the field, taking second place from Sellers with 25 laps to go and taking the lead from Borst with 16 laps to go. Once in front, Langley managed to separate himself from his challengers and sped across the finish line 1.636-seconds ahead of Borst, who started the race from third place.
Sellers finished third, giving him a pair of third-place efforts for the afternoon, with Mark Wertz of Chesapeake, Virginia, and Craig Moore of Rougemont, North Carolina completing the top five finishers.
There were two lead changes among three drivers with Borst leading 44 laps, Langley holding then top spot for 16 laps and Moore leading the first 15 laps of the race.
TWIN 75 NO. 1
- Carter Langley
- Mike Looney
- Peyton Sellers
- Camden Gullie
- Logan Clark
- Mark Wertz
- Jacob Borst
- Craig Moore
- Thomas Scott
- Andrew Patterson
- Raymond Pittman
- Eddie Slagle
- Eddie Johnson
- Terry Dease
- Conner Jones
- Aaron Donnelly
- Blake Stallings
- Bruce Anderson
- John Goin
- Rodney Boyd
- Jason Barnes
- Jessica Cann
- Hunter Rose
TWIN 75 NO. 2
- Carter Langley
- Jacob Borst
- Peyton Sellers
- Mark Wertz
- Craig Moore
- Camden Gullie
- Logan Clark
- Eddie Johnson
- Thomas Scott
- Aaron Donnelly
- Raymond Pittman
- Mike Looney
- Blake Stallings
- Conner Jones
- Eddie Sllagle
- Terry Dease
- Andrew Patterson
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