You could tell it really meant a great deal for Blake Stallings to get the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series win sticker at South Boston Speedway and literally everything for him to stick it on his Late Model Stock.
After five years of trying, Stallings finally broke through and won for the first time at the famed Virginia bullring and he did it the way everyone who races at SoBo would want these days by outdueling six-time champion Peyton Sellers.
The winning pass was made with seven laps remaining and was the end result of a race long duel where both drivers were in the mix all day. Stalling was third for most of the race behind Craig Moore in second, who was denied a chance to win himself due to a flat tire, which ultimately forced him to settle for sixth.
But the first half of a Twin 75 belonged to Stallings.
“I hope Peyton didn’t think I was too aggressive getting into him a little bit into 3 and 4,” Stallings said “His car is so consistent here that the first opportunity I had, I had to take it. I wouldn’t wreck him to win the race but it was good hard racing to get beside him and have a chance to win.”
This was a major accomplishment for the son of veteran racer Steve Stallings.
“It’s the world to me,” Stallings said. “My dad has always wanted us to win a Late Model Stock race at South Boston Speedway. Five years I’ve been chasing it here. We won the championship at Ace, we’ve won some Limited races here but to put this win sticker on my car here is everthing.”
Sellers is working out the bugs on a new car but gave respect to Stallings.
“Big rebound from last week,” he said. “Got to get our front end working better. This car has a lot of potential. Congrats to Blake. I know they have been working for this for a long time . We’ll figure it out and (brother, crew chief) HC is working on it.”
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Jacob Borst turned up the figurative wick within the final 35 laps and began methodically working through the field to win the second 75 lap feature.
He started seventh and was running third most of the race when he picked off Kyle Dudley for second with 35 to go and then to the lead under Craig Moore with 25 to go.
The race was procedural, clean and green with Borst claiming his fifth career Late Model Stock win at SoBo.
“It wasn’t easy for sure,” Borst said. “We didn’t have a good weekend last time out and those are the races that will humble you. My dad and the whole team busted their butts on this thing. We were really tight in that first race but as the tires wore off, it became a rocket ship. Craig and Kyle are class acts, good drivers, to win against these guys and we’ll try to do it again next week.”
Twin 75 No. 1
Blake Stallings
Peyton Sellers
Stacy Puryear
Jacob Borst
Mike Looney
Craig Moore
Kyle Dudley
John Goin
Karl Budzevski
Raymond Pittman
Jamie York
Bruce Anderson
Ryan Wilson
Jason Myers
Alex Brock
Toby Layne
Chris Elliott
Twin 75 No. 2
Jacob Borst
Craig Moore
Peyton Sellers
Stacy Puryear
Blake Stallings
Mike Looney
Kyle Dudley
Ryan Wilson
Jason Myers
Karl Budzevski
Toby Layne
Raymond Pittman
John Goin
Jamie York
Alex Brock
