This week’s Hampton Heat 200 at Virginia’s Langley Speedway is officially the biggest one yet in the event’s 16-year history. And that’s no exaggeration. Between the already sold-out crowd expected and a massive 38-car entry list, the Hampton Heat has become the can’t-miss event of the pavement Late Model season.

As of a couple weeks ago we already learned of one driver entered, of course. NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced his plans to compete in this year’s Hampton Heat back in June. This Saturday will be the first time that the two-time Daytona 500 champion will ever race at Langley Speedway. 

Just over a week away until @DaleJr returns to the late model seat.

We’ll see you next week, @LangleySpeedway. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/2xi5zUxhQ5

— JR Motorsports (@JRMotorsports) July 12, 2024

And it seems that since his entry was announced, nearly everybody with a Late Model Stock Car in Virginia and North Carolina wanted to get the chance to race against him. Langley Speedway General Manager, Vaughan Crittenden, said on social media on Friday that the 37 entries received ties the record for most entries in the history of the Hampton Heat. But now on Monday the track has received an additional entry bringing the total to 38, which is officially the largest field in Hampton Heat history.

So without further delay, let’s break down this massive entry list for “America’s Hottest Race” and see who will be trying to hold off Earnhardt and the rest of the field for the victory.

We’ll start with Hampton, Virginia native, Connor Hall, who has been on fire this season. Hall is the defending NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion, and he’s making sure he proves that title was no fluke. Hall is leading the NAAPWS national championship points standings once again already, all while also leading the CARS Tour points standings as well. Hall also has eight victories at Langley already this season between weekly and CARS Tour competition. Seven of those wins have come in weekly competition, while Hall also scored the victory in the closest finish in CARS Tour history at Langley last month. Oh, and while we’re at it, Hall also leads the Virginia Triple Crown standings after winning the opening round at South Boston Speedway a couple of weeks ago. Hall went to victory lane in the 2019 Hampton Heat, though he hasn’t found victory lane in this race since.

But one man that loves to take the fight to Hall is Chesapeake, Virginia driver, Brenden “Butterbean” Queen. Let’s not forget that entering last year’s Hampton Heat, Hall was undefeated at Langley. He’d won every race run at Langley right up until Queen ended that streak by scoring his second Hampton Heat victory. 

Queen and his Lee Pulliam Performance team have been feast-or-famine in 2024 so far. Queen has two CARS Tour victories and three poles with the CARS Tour so far this year, but he’s also had some bad finishes, including a DNF last race at Caraway Speedway. Queen led nine laps in the CARS Tour race at Langley in June before a late spin left him with a 14th-place finish. But if there’s any track where Queen and LPP can right the ship, it’s here at Langley where Queen is a three-time track champion and one of only two drivers to have multiple Hampton Heat victories. The only driver to do that is CE Falk III who has won it three times. If Queen wins on Saturday, he’ll tie Falk’s wins record in this event.

And now we’re tied for the largest car count in the event’s history. https://t.co/wzwNH8DBFE

— Vaughan Crittenden (@Vaughan_C24) July 12, 2024

Three-time CARS Tour champion, Bobby McCarty, has also had a feast-or-famine season so far, though his has been a bit more drastic than Queen’s. McCarty showed plenty of speed all weekend at South Boston Speedway a couple of weeks ago before his race was derailed early by a mechanical issue. McCarty is looking to tie Queen with two Hampton Heat victories should he and his R&S Race Cars team get the job done on Saturday night. McCarty has started this race from the pole the last two years but has been unable to get back to victory lane like he did in 2017.

All total there are five former Hampton Heat winners entered for this Saturday’s race. We’ve already mentioned Hall, Queen, and McCarty. The fourth former winner we’ll highlight is multi-time NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion, Peyton Sellers. 

The Danville, Virginia driver doesn’t head to Langley too frequently as he spends most of his time bouncing between South Boston Speedway and Dominion Raceway, but Sellers did find victory lane in the Hampton Heat 11 years ago in 2013. Since then, Sellers has only finished on the podium twice. In the last two years, Sellers has finishes of 14th and eighth in this event.

And that brings us to the final former winner entered for this year’s Hampton Heat, Chesapeake’s Woody Howard. Howard went to victory lane in the second Hampton Heat ever contested in July of 2009. He backed that up with a second-place finish one year later in 2010. After that, Howard didn’t run the Hampton Heat for three years until he scored a top 10 finish in 2014. Since then, Howard has run the race a handful of times with mixed results. Howard finished 13th, one lap down in last year’s Hampton Heat.

The entire 37-car entry list for this year’s Hampton Heat can be found below.

The Hampton Heat 200 will take place on Saturday, July 20 with racing set to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET. The green flag for the 16th Hampton Heat is scheduled to wave at 8:45 p.m. ET.

Tickets for the Hampton Heat 200 are already sold out, so the only way to watch this year’s race will be on FloRacing with a FloRacing subscription. If you are not already a FloRacing subscriber, you can become one by clicking here. 

2024 Hampton Heat Entry List

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