Blake Stallings entered the 2024 season with two goals: One, win a race at Virginia’s South Boston Speedway, and tw0, compete for a title in the track’s Late Model division.
Stallings completed the first goal early in the year. Now he’s working toward the second.
The Danville, Virginia driver entered the year with one Limited Late Model victory on his resume at South Boston; he had never found Victory Lane in 10 years racing at the NASCAR Home Track. That changed during the second race of the season. After qualifying fourth, Stallings stayed near the front until about 10 laps remained. From there, he ran down leader Peyton Sellers.
“When we caught him, we got a run on him in the middle of [Turns] 3 and 4,” Stallings said. “I gave him just a little bit of a nudge in the middle of 3 and 4 just to get a run up beside him, and the race was on from there. After racing side by side for 2 or 3 laps, we were able to clear Peyton and get us a win.”
WATCH: Blake Stallings wins at South Boston
Stallings said finally getting a win at South Boston was not only a dream of his, but his dad’s, as well.
“We stayed consistent and stayed true to try and accomplish it, and we put a ton of work in, so it really means the world to us to be able to go there and win at a place that my dad, Steve Stallings, and my great uncle, Barry Begley, have raced for many, many years,” he said. ” My dad always wanted to get a win there, and he’s always wanted us to get a win there. It just meant a lot to me, my team, my family, as well.”
Through six races this season, Stallings has four top fives and six top 10s. He’s third in the South Boston points standings, 14 points behind the leader. He’s also leading the Late Model points at North Carolina’s Ace Speedway.
Stallings credits a lot of his success to a new car his team built late last season, the one he ran to his best qualifying effort at Martinsville Speedway last fall, coming in 16th.
He has also put an emphasis this year on his health and fitness. He sees being physically fit as a difference maker in a tough Late Model division.
“Just trying to be prepared more physically, just because in today’s time everything is so competitive,” he said. “All the cars are close. You look at any of the NASCAR short tracks or the CARS Tour, anything in a Late Model Stock, it’s always very, very tight, especially qualifying.
“If the car is the best it can be, it puts it down to the driver, and you’ve got to try and be in the best shape to do your job as well behind the wheel. So upgrading equipment and then me taking the time to put in some effort to getting in better shape I think has been a blessing to us and allowed us to be more competitive at different places.”
Being physically fit to race helps Stallings with the mental side of being behind the wheel.
“It’s definitely not so much that I used to get tired or anything like that, but you don’t realize how much you actually have to hold yourself in there, how much energy you’re expending to not be able to focus on the job at hand,” he said. “Being able to be more relaxed, have less strain in the car, allows you to have more mental focus on what’s going on around you, what’s going on with your car, which you need in order to be competitive. It’s definitely, definitely been a game changer.”
Stallings has been racing with largely the same group of people for the better part of a decade, including his dad, friends Casey Smith, Lee Wyatt, Mark Atkins and Cody Jensen, and spotter Joey Conner. All of the crew Stallings said he’s known since he was at least a preteen.
Getting to work with his dad every week is “the best thing in the world to me,” Stallings said.
“He’s always loved racing and always been around racing,” Stallings added of his dad. “Ever since we started with go-karts, that’s kind of been our thing. That’s how we spend our father/son time together is working on cars and being at the racetrack. Having a dad that wants to be that involved in what I’m passionate about as well is definitely a blessing.”
Having a crew that has been around his career since the beginning makes getting wins with them by his side more special, too.
“I think it’s definitely well-deserved for them because they take time out of their life to help me try to accomplish a goal. All their hard work and effort that they put in, I really do try my best to get the finishes for them because I know how much they sacrifice to support me,” he said. “Being very, a very family oriented team, it definitely means a lot to me to be able to show up on Saturday or Friday and perform so that way they can see that their efforts are being put to good use.”
Stallings and his team weren’t able to compete in every race at South Boston last season, but having some momentum starting off the year with the win and good finishes has definitely, he feels, put them in a good spot to hopefully be a contender for the remainder of this summer.
So far this season, five different drivers have won in six late model races at South Boston. With an incredibly competitive division, Stallings said the key moving forward is just staying consistent.
“We’ve got to knock off more top three finishes,” he said. “Some more wins would be great, as well.”
Stallings gave a thank you to his friends, family, fiancé Jordan, and sponsors R&S Race Cars, Stallings Classic Cars, Southside Disposal and Gutter Works.
Racing will return to South Boston Speedway on June 8 for the Oak River Realty Race Night, featuring Late Models, Limited Sportsman, Pure Stock and Hornets races beginning at 7 p.m. ET.