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Gibson
Scores First Career SCSCS Victory in Hometown; Dedicates Win to Late
NASCAR Team Owner Who Made Career in Racing Possible
Coeburn,
Virginia (June 22, 2025) – When Mitch Gibson set fast time at
one of the originally scheduled appearances for the Super Cup Stock
Car Series at Lonesome Pine Motorsports Park on May 31st, he quickly
cemented himself as the possible favorite to win in a return to his
hometown of Coeburn. Now
located in Weyers Cave, Virginia, he had to wait a few more weeks
before the green flag would be unfurled, but it was worth it with a
convincing flag-to-flag triumph during Saturday’s Fan Appreciation
Night Reloaded.
Due
to the past month and a half of relentless inclement weather that
the 3/8-mile oval and many tracks in the region have endured, an
extremely jam-packed schedule was on the agenda to make up for lost
time. It was amicably
agreed upon among officials as well as all competitors to run one
main event worth double points rather than twin races for this
particular day.
Gibson picked up
where he left off last month by grabbing his second consecutive Pole
Award with a best time of 17.10 seconds, the bonus points tying him
up top the series standings with defending champion Brent Nelson.
In an additional effort to keep the race day festivities
moving, final practice doubled as qualifying for this occurrence.
The
field started straight up with Damian Payton lining up alongside
after a second-place qualifying effort that was two-tenths faster
than the lap he turned a few weeks back.
Unfortunately, the race would remain green for less than a
turn when Pole Award winner from Kingsport Speedway in April, Lexi
Arnold, made contact that sent Payton around and Arnold into the
wall. Nelson also grazed
the fence trying to find a way through.
Arnold was driving
the No. 14 Surplus Brokers LLC / Burns Management Group LLC
Chevrolet that previously had success with the late Mike Potter
behind the wheel and before that was part of a championship-winning
Pro Cup fleet for Henderson Motorsports with Caleb Holman as driver.
However, this car was originally intended for her father
Scott Arnold to drive until mechanical misfortune sidelined 
her
primary car earlier in the week, and she described what had occurred
on the initial start from her perspective.
“When we went
into corner one my brake line decided to not cooperate,” the
Johnson City, Tennessee driver explained.
“That plus the track being slippery, plus me not knowing
the track too well, and this being my first time out in the car
other than about 15 laps of practice – there were a lot of
contributing factors that led to that.
But I did communicate with the other guys and I apologized.
I owned up to it and said hey, it’s racing and it happens,
and I hate that it happened, but I’m happy most of them were able
to finish the race.”
Payton came to the
pits under the caution period for 
extensive
cosmetic repairs to his No. 64 McElligott Performance and Design /
Cozy Cabins at Shady Grove / Payton Racing Chevrolet and restarted
at the rear of the field. The
Winston-Salem, North Carolina racer steadily advanced one position
at a time while Gibson had extended his lead advantage to nearly 10
seconds at one point.
A yellow flag flew
with only a handful of circuits remaining when the right front tire
that made contact with the wall on Brent Nelson’s No. 80 Precision
Auto 
Collision
/ JEBCO / QH Design / Nelson Motorsports Chevrolet finally gave out
while running in third. This
set up a final restart with Payton right at Gibson’s back bumper.
Gibson prevailed over the closing laps, becoming the first
first-time winner in the series since the 2022 season.
“Definitely
pretty special,” Gibson indicated shortly after doing some donuts
in the No. 35 Moyer Brothers Company / LDW Technologies / Superior
Welding / 1500channels.com / Jeffrey Salyers Realty / Ashton Racing
Ford on the frontstretch in celebration.
“Couldn’t have done it without my sponsors and my crew
people. It’s funny,
I’ve probably got the youngest crew on all of pit road.
I think the oldest one is 30 and after that the rest of them
are like 16 and under. Definitely
a lot of fun to come back home.
I got to hear a lot of cheering in the stands.”
Perhaps
the most important aspect of the victory was in light of the recent
passing of longtime NASCAR and former Pro Cup team owner with
notable Food Country USA-sponsored cars from the nearby Abingdon
area. Charlie Henderson
hired Gibson in high school to become a tire changer, eventually
paving the way for him to do the same in the NASCAR Cup Series for
the former Morgan-McClure Racing team.
“I dedicate this
one to Charlie Henderson,” Gibson continued.
“I wouldn’t know half the amount that I know if it
wouldn’t have been for Charlie and (crew chief who was not in
attendance on this evening) Caleb Holman and everybody putting me
under their wing, taking me in, and teaching me what I know.”
Gibson additionally
summarized the final restart.
“I saved a lot up
there the last half of the race and (Payton) sort of threw me off my
line because midway through the race I wasn’t even using the
brakes and so I was saving so much,” the new points leader
indicated. “It took me
a couple laps to get settled in, but after a couple laps I was able
to pull away eight or 10 car lengths and sort of cruise.”
Payton rallied back
for a best career runner-up result.
“Right from the
start I got a good jump right there with Mitch going into one and
then next thing I know I’m looking backwards and getting beat up
on all four corners,” Payton recapped, beginning with the opening
lap mishap. “Was able
to bring it back to pit road and my guys worked on it.
All four tires were up, it still rolled, I could still turn
it somewhat, and it was game on back through the field almost all
the way. (Gibson)
checked out and was gone after all that happened and I didn’t get
to see how much he was using his stuff up, if he had anything left.
Thought after the first lap or lap and a half (of the final
restart) I might have something for him, but he drove away a little
bit.”
“Can’t thank
McElligott Performance and Design enough for all their hard work.
The job list just got longer I guess.
We’ve got to fix this thing hopefully in time for
Shenandoah.”
Finishing third was
a bit of a surprise for the day.
With primary driver Mike Senica not able to make the
rescheduled trip due to non-racing commitments and backup driver
Jeff Roark occupied with his race day management roles at Lonesome
Pine, series director Bill Ashton hopped back behind the wheel of
his own No. 57 Chevrolet. This
was partly thanks to the track’s experienced race director Darrell
Holman, stepping up to call the SCSCS race from the tower.
The Uniontown, Pennsylvania resident was immersed in a great
battle from second through fourth with Nelson and Payton during the
early laps.
“I was more
satisfied when I was running in second and had pretty good
control,” the two-time past series race winner noted.
“Then my brakes got soft and I just couldn’t hold that
position. Third I’m
really happy with. (Holman)
filled in for me and I certainly appreciate it.
I appreciate everyone at Lonesome Pine and the way they treat
us when we come here. It’s
just a great place to race.”
Nelson finished
fourth with Parkersburg, West Virginia’s Eric Barber rounding out
the top five after coming to the pits with fuel pickup problems.
Arnold ended up sixth while Denver, North Carolina’s
“ShoTime” Mike was on hand but loaded up with concerns prior to
practice.
Next up will be the
annual Veterans Classic at the progressively-banked Shenandoah
Speedway in northern Virginia. Gibson
now enters Saturday, July 19th with a 65-point advantage, as it was
also decided that with the considerable movements in scheduling
already this year that the worst race result can be dropped from
each driver’s overall point total.
“Glad everybody
was alright from the wreck at the start of the race,” Gibson
concluded. “I looked
in the rear-view mirror and didn’t see anybody, but hopefully
everybody can get their cars back together and we can have a good
show at Shenandoah. It
would be nice to see 12 or 15 cars and be a good show for
everybody.”
More information
can be found on the Super Cup Stock Car Series official website supercupstockcarseries.com,
on Facebook (search Super Cup Stock Car Series), Twitter (@SCSCSRacing),
Instagram (SCSCS_Racing), and https://www.youtube.com/SCSCSRacing.
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