More cars, a higher level of competition, an expectation of a close championship chase, and a season-opening race that will be the division’s longest and richest race of the season are creating a big buzz of excitement for South Boston Speedway’s Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division.
South Boston Speedway’s Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division kicks off its 2024 season Saturday night with a 75-lap race paying $1,500 to win that will be part Danville Toyota Weekly Series Opening Night event. The first race of Saturday’s five-race Danville Toyota Weekly Series Opening Night event will get the green flag at 7 p.m.
A handful of drivers will figure prominently into the 2024 season division championship chase. One of them is Eric Winslow, of Pelham, North Carolina who is returning to full-time competition in the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division this season after several seasons in which he has made sporadic appearances at the four-tenths-of-a-mile oval as his schedule permitted.
Winslow has indicated he will be competing at South Boston Speedway full-time this season in the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division and racing in the Charger Division full-time at Wake County Speedway in an attempt to chase the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division II national championship.
The Pelham, North Carolina, resident is a familiar face to South Boston Speedway fans. He won the Hornets Division championship in 2015, which was the second year of racing for the division at South Boston Speedway.
Over the course of the 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons, Winslow has compiled seven wins, three poles, and 14 top-five finishes in 15 starts.
Winslow very much wants to win the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division title, and he knows he will be facing very stiff competition in the division this season.
“I think the competition is going to be the best it has been in quite awhile,” he remarked. “I think it’s going to be quite a year for the Limited Sportsman division for car count and competition. I also think there is going to be a handful of drivers that can win on any given night. Jason Myers won the championship last year and is tough every week. Nathan Crews is working on his car all the time, and he won three races last year. Last year we had somebody just come in out of the blue like Kenny Forbes who won two or three races.
“With Motor Mile being closed, you don’t know who else is going to show up this season from Motor Mile or some other track,” Winslow continued. “There are a lot of people coming, and when you have 16 or 18 cars that are good quality cars, there is no telling who is going to win.”
Winslow pointed out he is racing at South Boston Speedway because he wants to face good competition.
“That’s the whole point of why I come to South Boston Speedway,” Winslow said. “I feel like South Boston Speedway has some of the best Limited competition there is. I want to beat the best.”
Jason Myers, of Hurt, returns with the hope of winning a second straight South Boston Speedway Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division championship. Myers, who had three wins, six poles and 11 Top-5 finishes in his 13 starts en route to winning the 2023 division championship, has been a model of consistency throughout his racing career.
“It’s a testament to our team,” he explained. “We’re always looking to find speed and get better. Every year we’ve continued to get a little bit better. It takes years of that. Once you get to a certain level you expect that when you go to the race. I feel like we’re in a good spot right now.”
A change in rules regarding springs and a new tire being used in the division this season is expected produce more parity throughout the field, Myers said. “It’s really going to be a completely different season just because of the rule changes and the tire change,” he noted. “It [the rules change and new tire] actually levels the playing field because everybody’s going to be on new stuff. The old notebook that we used to have may not apply anymore. We’ve always had the advantage of knowing what my car did last season when the temperature was this and the track was this. Now, that notebook is pretty much out the window, so everybody will be starting a new one. It should make for some good competition.”
Nathan Crews, of Long Island, returns for the 2024 season with an eye on the championship. He showed a lot of strength last season tying Myers for the most wins in the division with three victories and posted seven Top-5 finishes in his 10 starts.
“I’m very confident coming into this year that we will have a shot at the championship and hopefully getting the pole and winning a bunch of races,” Crews remarked.
The two-time South Boston Speedway Pure Stock Division champion says winning the championship would be an accomplishment that would mean a great deal to both him and his family.
“It would mean the world just to be able to do it and do something my dad [Bruce Crews] did a long time ago,” Crews pointed out.
“That would be very special to me and my family. As most people know I’m running the 75 car and his name on the door is a tribute to him. If I could win the championship just like Jason won the championship last year following his father, it would be cool.”
Zach Peregoy, of Clarksville, is optimistic about a big rebound in 2024. Peregoy finished sixth in the division point standings last season after having finished fourth in points in 2022. He had 11 top-10 finishes in 13 starts last season and finished the season strong with a third-place finish and three straight sixth-place finishes over the final four races.
Peregoy’s optimism surrounds the fact that he and his team rebuilt and updated his car during the off-season.
“I’m a hundred percent more confident this year,” remarked Peregoy who is entering his third full-time season in the division. “We took the off-season to rebuild the car and try some new things. We took everything off the car, looked at it, and fixed everything that needed it. That, plus we had some good runs at the end of last season to build on.”
Peregoy understands the task ahead of him in 2024 is a tough one given the anticipated high level of competition at South Boston Speedway this season.
“This probably going to be one of the toughest, more competitive years,” Peregoy pointed out. “This is the most competitive track I have ever raced at. I’ve been to a few different tracks, but none of them are like this with how competitive it is and the speed here. Any top-five finish is great here. If you can run in the top five here, you can go pretty much everywhere else and run top-five.”
Three brothers from Nathalie will be looking to make their mark in the division championship chase. Drew Dawson, who finished third in the division last season and in 2021, Justin Dawson who finished fifth in the division after having placed seventh in the division in 2022, and Jared Dawson, who finished seventh in the final standings last year after having placed 14th in 2022, are hoping for wins and good marks this season with their family-owned Dawson Motorsports team.
The event schedule has pit gates opening at 1 p.m., and frontstretch spectator gates opening at 3:30 p.m. Practice will run from 3:25 p.m. to 5:05 p.m., and qualifying will start at 6 p.m.
The first race of the night is set to start at 7 p.m.
