BENCHMARK – Peyton Sellers Setting The Standard At South Boston

“Haters are my favorite. I’ve built an empire with the bricks they’ve thrown at me.”

CM Punk

This week we headed over to South Boston Speedway on Benchmark Community Bank Night as the Hitachi Energy Late Model Stocks reach a pivotal middle portion of the 2026 championship points race. And imagine, the elite local Late Model Stock class is in the midst of yet another amazing points battle with national championship implications also again part of the conversation. There’s a reason for that. And it lies in the drivers and the battles they’ve had for this particular track title. The reputation is legit. All you have to do as we’ve stated many times is look at the names on their championship list and then look at the number of national champions that arose from it. When you think of South Boston Speedway, you think of Late Model Stocks. It’s not that the other local divisions here don’t provide for some outstanding racing. Often legendary in their own rights, but it’s kind of like Modifieds at Bowman Gray Stadium. South Boston Speedway and Late Model Stocks are synonymous. It’s a place that is known for shaping winners and champions that can and have gone on to compete anywhere else they’ve shown up to race.

And headed into this weeks Late Model Stock 125 lap feature, two drivers are locked at the top of the board, Trevor Ward and Landon Pembelton. Both have won the Martinsville Speedway ValleyStar Credit Union 300, the biggest Late Model Stock race in the country and so both are proven big race winners. Trying to hold on to their heels however is one Peyton Sellers. 7 time South Boston Speedway champion. 2 time national champion. He needed a great finish here if this is the year he can grab 8. An almost unfathomable feat. But the start of this year has been a bit challenging for Sellers Racing as it comes to Peyton’s 2026 campaign. The team has had their hands full as it branches out into fielding cars in the driver development environment. A smart move for the future of the team in the long term and one that’s seen great success right off the bat. We’ve personally seen Sellers Racing cars in victory lane with development driver Max Reaves at the wheel, and just a couple of weeks ago we almost saw it again at Tri-County Speedway with young Arthur Gama at the wheel in his first Late Model Stock start, finishing second in one of the best Late Model Stock races we’ve ever seen. And trust me, we’ve seen some great ones. Epic races. It’s already quite clear that Sellers Racing is now providing race cars that allow developing drivers a real chance to show their full racing abilities.

Truth is however, that’s probably not why the team, in their own words, have started a bit sluggish, at least by their standards, in the early stages of Peyton’s 2026 South Boston Speedway effort. I’ve seen this before, and not just by this team but many other championship teams. You see, they’re always reaching. Never settling for what’s given them past success. Always looking for more. Before we even got to the racetrack this weekend, I told my Short Track Report partner and son Joshua Weatherman that Peyton Sellers and the Sellers Racing team would come to the track with the car to beat. That statement comes with experienced observation. When it’s time to rise, champions rise. And they do it in the midst of the most elevated competition. And the great champions and teams do it consistently and with a passion. Ah, but that doesn’t settle with some, does it? There are those who will not even look at this article because of the picture on the cover. Every great champion also comes with their group of haters. Those that just can’t for the life of them figure out what the big deal is. To them it must be track favoritism, unchecked cheating, or any other bevy of reasons that can muster into their “this can’t be legitimate” minds. I wonder if those people understand that they only add fuel to a champion’s fire. See, a champion uses any and every thing they can to get an advantage, and haters only fuel their passion to win. Even toward the end of their careers, when most think about stepping away, a hater’s comments can drive a great and competitive champion back to the racetrack. Just ask one. And after all, these haters do need something or someone to hate on.

Yeah, guys like Peyton Sellers give them what they need. And as I suspected, Sellers Racing and H.C. Sellers brought Peyton the piece he needed and he did what champions do. Ward was fastest in practice. He’s been fast all year. But so has Landon Pembelton. Both in a place in their career where their experience carries weight. And in the midst was young Dominion Raceway VA Racer division winner “C-Weed” Conner Weddell, looking impressive in his first full Late Model Stock season, and he came to play Saturday night. Also in the mix was young hotshoe Landon S. Huffman in the midst of his big league driver development quest, showing up at the places he knows will make him a better driver in the long run. Not running for a championship here this year, focusing all his efforts on wins. All these guys looked great in the race. They’d been building momentum all year. They were running amazing lap times all night, giving each other all they had. As Huffman told me: “I felt I was running 17 second laps all night consistently, but Ward kept his gap in front of me and Sellers in front of him”, as he explained how hard it was to come to a place like South Boston Speedway and run against some of the best in the game in the middle of a points chase. In the end however, Sellers gave a good example to all the haters why he is a multi-time champion and the winningest at the showcase track known for great champions.

He dominated the race. To the point that if you weren’t an avid short track racing fan, you might have looked at it as a bit of a snoozer. But I saw something else. I saw Landon Pembelton setting himself in position to contend for the win only to loose an oil line or something similar causing him to become a fireball momentarily, only to get the car fixed and finish the race like nothing happened except not getting the finish he needed or wanted. I saw Ward and Huffman battling it out in a tremendously heated battle at times to see who would challenge Sellers for the win right in his tracks. And I saw Conner Weddell battle himself to near collapse, showing pure speed and talent in the process as he perfects his race craft early in his young career. But mostly as I evaluated, I saw what most seem to want to ignore. Yeah, when it’s not your favorite, it’s tough to see a driver win time and time again. I see how it can make some fans tend to think they must have some advantage the other drivers don’t. Well…they do! They have the knowledge that every driver who’s ever been in the game chases. Their formula to win. They’ve done everything you can imagine to learn it. And yes, they’ve worked hard from day one since they started. They have the talent and the work ethic. As one of the commenters on our post said, it was enough to make him “puke.” I couldn’t help but write this for him. Oh and for every other fan that feels that way about their established local track champion. If you ever go to a track for the first time, you know ’em. They’re the guys that come out with winner and championship patches on the drivers suit to a rousing round of cheers, but an equal or greater amount of boos. You know, like some fans did to Kyle Busch for years while he was becoming one of the winningest NASCAR drivers of all time.

Peyton Sellers is that guy at South Boston Speedway and the fans that boo him will give you their “legitimate” reasons for why they just can’t stand it. They love it when their guy can beat him, or for some of them if anyone beats them. Because deep down they know what that means. For someone to beat Peyton Sellers, epsecially at his home track in South Boston, right down the road from the Sellers Racing camp, they will have to bring the best effort. Deep down they know that Peyton Sellers, and those very few like him, are nothing short of benchmarks. And if you want to know if your guy has what it takes, you do like Layne Riggs or Carter Langley did. If you want to be the man, you have to beat the man. Some have done it, but most cannot and will not. That’s the simple truth. Drivers like Peyton Sellers make the sport better because to beat them you have to be better. We tout the youth of the sport for a reason. They are one of the greatest groups of young drivers I’ve ever seen. Honestly it’s because the mentors they have to learn from on and off the track. And if you can’t respect that, you’re probably not really paying attention. Until next time, as always, See You At The Track!