South Boston Speedway championship still an unbelievable feat for Carter Langley

Carter Langley admits he didn’t have the highest of hopes entering the 2023 race season.

At this time last year, the 18-year-old had just totaled a car and was facing questions about his future.

Those questions seemed to be answered on the first night of racing this season at Virginia’s South Boston Speedway on March 18. Langley swept both features in the track’s Late Model Stock Car division, putting him in an early points lead.

He battled back and forth with two-time NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion Peyton Sellers, one of the winningest drivers in South Boston history, for the entirety of the summer. With eight wins and 15 top-five finishes, Langley bested the veteran by six points for his first South Boston championship.

“I honestly still don’t think it’s hit me yet,” Langley said of his track title. “It’s getting there a little every day, but it’s still, I don’t think it’s really hit me. It’ll probably be like banquet time before it hits me. I don’t know.”

Langley first raced a full season at the NASCAR Home Track in South Boston, Virginia two years ago. The two quick wins to start the season gave the young driver momentum throughout the summer.

“We started off the year sweeping the weekend at SoBo, which not a lot of people can do, and the car was a lot better,” he said. “We didn’t have any practice on it since I rebuilt it. Everything was brand new. I was just hoping to come out of there with a top five that weekend, and we ended up sweeping the weekend, and it just kept getting better every week.”

Only once did Langley finish outside of the top 10 in 19 feature races this summer.

“It’s been pretty good. Not the season I was expecting,” he said. “It’s been fun, that’s for sure. Last year I was not having fun at this time… Definitely coming off of a win here this year has been better.”

Langley is in his 10th year of racing. He started in a go-kart when he was 7, following in the footsteps of his uncle, who used to run 4-cylinder cars at Southern National Motorsports Park in Lucama, North Carolina, and family friend Greg Barnett, who Langley and his family used to help at a local dirt track.

The Zebulon, North Carolina native said he “just always wanted to race,” but he also had choices when it came to his hobbies.

“It was baseball and racing at the same time, and I had to choose one, and I didn’t know which one to choose,” Langley said. “But I’m glad I chose racing, because it gives you a feeling that nothing else can give you.”

Even though he has much less experience at South Boston than Sellers and other Late Model veterans he races against each week, there’s something about the track Langley said fits his driving style, and the people there have made it feel like his new home.

“I like multiple lanes of racing. Most weekends we can run the top and bottom,” he said. “It’s just a fun atmosphere. They make you feel welcome there. It’s the best local track racing you can get. The most competitive without having to go on the CARS Tour and basically have full-time teams to run that series.”

Langley credited the chemistry of his team and crew chief Josh Yeoman for his success this season, and the support he receives from his family and friends who come to races and help on the car.

Langley’s regular season is done, and he added another big race to his 2023 last weekend when he competed in Martinsville Speedway’s annual Valley Star Credit Union 300, going up against more Late Model veterans and some of the best drivers from around the country for Martinsville’s coveted Grandfather Clock trophy.

Langley said he felt like he had momentum from his good season at South Boston when he headed to another southern Virginia track. He finished the day at Martinsville 14th.

Langley said he plans to return to South Boston next summer and travel around to other tracks, as well.