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Pleasant
Homecomings and Returns to Victory Lane Wanted at 2025 Shenandoah
Veterans Classic
Statesville,
North Carolina (July 16, 2025) – The annual Veterans Classic
and its special trophies that race winners claim have become highly
sought after on the Super Cup Stock Car Series calendar.
This year the event at Shenandoah Speedway occurs at the
height of summer, as this Saturday night’s July twin races will
feature some intense combat to earn the prize if the first few main
event results of 2025 are any indication.
Damian Payton
established himself as one of the leading contenders last time out
at Lonesome Pine Motorsports Park, rallying to finish second in only
his third career SCSCS start. With
bent body panels remedied, he is more than excited for his first
full-bodied stock car start at a place where his short track racing
experience began before relocating to Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
“It would be a
sweet homecoming to make it back there, especially for the July
race,” Payton said regarding looking forward to his first return
to Shenandoah since 2016 when he was a teenager.
“I’ve been wanting to run the Veterans Classic for a long
time, just get back to where I started all this racing Legends cars
and we’ll see what we could do.”
One
of the drivers everyone will have to overhaul is the winner of three
of the last four SCSCS races held at the 3/8-mile
progressively-banked oval. Brent
Nelson from Petersburg, West Virginia is winless so far this year,
but he’s bringing a car that has accounted for 17 of his 25 career
victories.
“In the meantime
(after some struggles with the new car to start off 2025), we’re
going to bring ‘old faithful’ back out and see if we can pick up
where we left off with it,” Nelson indicated.
“I know what that car wants, I know what it needs, and
we’re going to see if we can give Mitch (Gibson) a run for his
money.”
Mitch Gibson is
coming in fresh off his first win at Lonesome Pine, a track he spent
a ton of time at growing up. However,
considering he now resides in nearby Weyers Cave, Virginia, Gibson
has a fair amount of knowledge toward Shenandoah as well and
recently turned his first few laps of practice in a SCSCS car to
shake it down there.
“I
have never run a V8 car there again, same as Kingsport,” the
current points leader noted. “I’ve
done some Legends racing there and that’s it.
I know Brent is itching to get me there.
He told me he’s bringing the other car out, so we’ll see
what kind of cat and dog show we got there.
I believe me and him will be neck to neck.”
Another driver
making his first SCSCS Shenandoah appearance will be Parkersburg,
West Virginia’s Eric Barber, who shared that his fuel pressure
gremlins from both Kingsport and Lonesome Pine appear to be
resolved. Drivers from
Eastern Virginia and Maryland, each with prior starts at the track,
have informed the series about their intention to make their 2025
debut. JJ Pack will
surely be a favorite as 2014 series champion with past top five
finishes there, while Rob Hindt and Jeff Thomas look to improve upon
their past results.
Larry Frame had to
skip the most recent race, but always looks forward to a track in
which he raced in one of the weekly divisions previously.
Pennsylvania’s Mike Senica also returns behind the wheel of
the Ashton Racing No. 57.
Spectator gates
will open at 5:00 p.m. with racing, including the twin main events
for the Super Cup Stock Car Series as part of the prestigious
Veterans Classic scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m.
Included among the evening festivities are main events for
the Legends, Bandoleros, and UCAR divisions, plus a kid’s bike
race and spectator drags.
General admission
is only $10 per person with kids 12 and under, veterans, active
military, and first responders admitted for free.
There will be a fan
meet and greet on the frontstretch at 6:00 p.m. and the Virginia
State Police will be a special guest, pacing one of their vehicles
for the evening as well as a flyover taking place.
More information
can be found on the Super Cup Stock Car Series official web site supercupstockcarseries.com
with interactive updates throughout race days and in between
available on Facebook (search Super Cup Stock Car Series), Twitter
(@SCSCSRacing), Instagram (SCSCS_Racing), and https://www.youtube.com/SCSCSRacing.
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