The 2021 season has been one of the best of Peyton Sellers’ storied career.
Along with clinching track titles at South Boston Speedway and Dominion Raceway, Sellers currently holds a comfortable advantage over Jacob Goede in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series with only a few weeks remaining on the year.
With so much success to his name in 2021, Sellers is confident that he can cap off the stellar campaign with his first ValleyStar Credit Union 300 victory at Martinsville Speedway following two decades of misfortune.
“We’ve done just about everything at Martinsville except bring a grandfather clock home,” Sellers said. “I’ve qualified on the pole, led the most laps, and led at the white flag but I haven’t led the lap that matters. Truthfully, we’ve taken that experience and tried to apply it so we can make the car better every year.”
Despite being one of the top drivers in his discipline with a resume that now includes six South Boston track tiles and a Weekly Series championship, Sellers has only managed a best finish of third twice in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300, which he accomplished in 2005 and 2017.
Sellers has tried everything since his first Martinsville appearance back in 2002. He has teamed with numerous car owners outside of his program that include Ted Daves, Tony Keen and Steve James but has come up empty each time.
Amidst the frustration, Sellers has repeatedly been forced to watch many of his long-time rivals in Philip Morris, Lee Pulliam, Timothy Peters and others all add their names to the list of ValleyStar Credit Union 300 winners over the years.
The race in which Pulliam won back in 2014 is one that Sellers wishes he could have back.
After leading the most laps of anyone on the afternoon with 59, Sellers was in full control over his competition before a series of late cautions set up a green-white checkered attempt with Pulliam to his outside.
A bad restart by Sellers put him in a three-wide battle with Tommy Lemons Jr. and Sam Yarbrough on the final lap while Pulliam drove away. Yarbrough clipped Sellers heading into Turn 1 and spun him in front of the field, where he was subsequently hit by Josh Berry and Anthony Anders.
Sellers knows that his winless drought at Martinsville has not been due to an overall lack of performance and has every reason to believe his No. 26 Clarence’s Steak House Chevrolet will be among the frontrunners on Saturday evening.
The challenge for Sellers will be simply making the field for the ValleyStar Credit Union 300, adding that speed alone does not guarantee success because of the chaos that typically envelops the heat races.
With no testing on the Thursday preceding the event this year, Sellers said that teams are going to emphasize putting together a perfect setup for qualifying to avoid racing for the remaining 38 positions.
“Not having the Last Chance Qualifier makes everything so much harder,” Sellers said. “If you’re running in a heat race transfer spot on the last lap, you know you’re going to get bumped out because the guy behind you doesn’t have a second shot in the last chance race.”
While Sellers hopes to see the LCQ return to Martinsville in the near future, he considers himself fortunate to simply have the opportunity to compete in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 once again.
The cancellation of the event back in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic was something that Sellers never imagined was possible but he said not having the race reinforced its significance for Late Model Stock competitors.
A larger field is expected for the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 following its one year absence but Sellers believes that will result in more carnage and unpredictability as drivers vie for a grandfather clock.
For Sellers, he said that experience will be crucial towards positioning himself for a victory and finally shaking off the bad luck that has followed him across 13 Martinsville attempts.
“I’ve gotten to the point where I wake up on race day at Martinsville and wonder what’s going to happen that will keep us from winning,” Sellers said. “Things happen at Martinsville but that’s part of it. If I could go out and win this race, it would be huge.”
Everything has gone right for Sellers throughout 2021 leading up to the prestigious ValleyStar Credit Union 300 in which so much can go wrong at any moment.
A perfect weekend is something that Sellers knows is impossible at Martinsville but he has faith in the ability of himself and his team to do what is necessary and finally claim a grandfather clock.
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