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Sellers: Competition Is Tougher Than Ever In NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series

by Hunter Thomas December 13, 2020 0 comments

Peyton Sellers just missed out on his second NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series championship, but he finished out the Division I season second in the standings with a Late Model track championship at Dominion Raceway.

Sellers typically competes at his home track, South Boston Speedway, but due to the facility shutting down during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Danville, Virginia native had to look elsewhere to compete. For the first time in his career, Sellers attempted to win a Late Model championship at Dominion Raceway in Sportsylvania, Virginia, and he did so in typically Peyton Sellers fashion. In 16 races, he won eight, and he didn’t finish outside of the top-five throughout the 2020 season at the track.

“It was a good season for us,” Sellers said. “Of course, we would’ve loved to have won the national championship, but we had a good run, with winning 10 races out of 30. And personally, I always try to look at the bright side of what we have. Our family has been healthy this year and this year brought us closer together, for sure.”

Sellers also said, “It did cost us more money – we had to travel more with Motor Mile and South Boston shutting down. It was also hard to get my local volunteer guys to be there every weekend. When we were racing at South Boston, they were just driving 30 minutes down the road. Most of my crew guys work Fridays and Saturdays, and they couldn’t volunteer as often as usual this year [racing at Dominion and Langley].”

Although this year’s statistics show that Sellers dominated the season, 2020 was a challenge for he and his team. Due to a chain of events that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sellers had to travel much further and spend more money than usual, and that’s a huge deal for a regional Late Model team. Not only that, but he had stout competition as he battled JR Motorsports’ Josh Berry and Ryan Millington for this year’s championship. The difference between Berry who won the championship and Sellers was 28 points. Berry ran seven more races than Sellers throughout the season. Sellers won an overall of 10 races and captured 26 top-five and 28 top-10 finishes.

“The competition is tougher than ever,” Sellers said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to race in all four corners of the U.S., but with so many Cup teams in this area, personnel and technology trickles down to short track racing. We ran against JR Motorsports, and they’ve got more resources to pull from then we do. It’s a feather in our cap to run second to those guys!

“My home track is South Boston, and with everything going on, we had to drive an extra three hours to race at Dominion and Langley. Hickory ran regularly, but with all the restrictions states were under, it was a miracle that (Josh) Berry, (Ryan) Millington and myself had a chance to do this well (in the point standings). Last year we ran 38 races, this year we ran 31, so we got pretty close to our target number in a much shorter timeframe. We had to do a lot of twin races and Saturday-Sunday shows, but we got there.”

Sellers owes this year’s success to his family, team and of course, sponsors. Thanks to the incredible support, he was able to call an array of audibles and make this COVID-19 hindered season a success.

“Our sponsors have been very good to us through everything going on this year,” Sellers said. “Danville Toyota, Clarence’s Steakhouse and Riverside Exxon, to name a few. The guys that have helped me every week. My parents went to every race – my brother is my crew chief and my dad spots for me. It’s a big family effort for us. My wife comes out to just about every race as well.”

In 2021, Sellers looks to compete at South Boston Speedway and race to for another national championship. Sellers won the Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series championship back in 2005. Sellers was so impressed with the way that Dominion Raceway carried out its 2020 season that he also plans to compete there again as well.

“Dominion Raceway treated us like family,” Sellers said. “They ran races without fans and showed us that they were willing to go the extra mile to race. We’ll be racing at Dominion, and of course, South Boston is just a 30-minute trip for us, so we’ll be there as well. We will definitely be racing Late Model Stocks and competing for the national championship.”

Sellers also makes his way to South Carolina on a few occasions, so if Florence Motor Speedway becomes NASCAR sanctioned, look for Sellers in the iconic No. 26 Toyota to race at the historic 4/10-mile oval located in Timmonsville, South Carolina.

“We definitely look forward to the opportunity to race at Florence if they become NASCAR sanctioned. We [historically] would go to Myrtle Beach about three times a year. We enjoy traveling around and supporting all the tracks in our area.”

Source: Hunter Thomas/TheFourthTurn.com