Last week in this space we wrote that the championship battle at Virginia’s South Boston Speedway was a microcosm of sorts for the greater NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship battle. Layne Riggs versus Peyton Sellers. As they battled for the national championship, they competed head-to-head this year at South Boston.

To conclude the season, South Boston had two 65-lap features for the Late Models. Riggs entered with the points lead with Sellers close behind after a late-season charge. Sellers swept the twin features that night, but Riggs finished second in both races. Those two second-place finishes were enough to secure Riggs his first South Boston Speedway track championship.

But those two runner-up finishes did not help Riggs all that much in the national championship chase. 

Highlights: Twin Late Model Features From The South Boston Speedway Season Finale

With two weeks left to accumulate points, Sellers has clawed nearly all the way back. Earlier in the summer it seemed like a guarantee that Riggs would claim his first national championship, but here Sellers sits, just four points behind.

Riggs now finds himself in a bit of a conundrum. Dominion Raceway in Thornburg, Virginia will have a full field this week, but Riggs has struggled there. Riggs has two victories at Dominion this season, while Sellers has 10 wins. If Riggs heads to Dominion, his path to victory over the next couple of weeks is made very difficult by Sellers’ dominance there. 

So where else can Riggs go? He can go to Hickory Motor Speedway where he’s also found victory lane this season, but there isn’t a guarantee that Hickory sees what is considered a “full field” required to receive the necessary bonus points that Riggs needs. 

FloRacing reached out to Riggs to get the answer straight from the source. Riggs said the plan is to battle with Sellers head-to-head at Dominion Raceway, because he agreed that any other track nearby won't get the necessary car count to make the races meaningful for him.

So there you have it. The 2022 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship's new playground for the final weeks is Virginia's Dominion Raceway. Sellers versus Riggs, mano-a-mano, for the national championship. It's going to be fun to watch.

And Then There Were Three…

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is down to its final three races of the 2022 season, and it now appears that the championship battle is also down to three contenders. Jon McKennedy, who is seeking his first championship; Ron Silk, the 2011 champion; and Justin Bonsignore, the three-time and defending champion.

Those are your three combatants after last weekend’s 150-lap showdown at New York’s Oswego Speedway where Bonsignore returned to victory lane for the third time this season. McKennedy was able to finish sixth and grow his gap over Silk who finished 13th. 

VIDEO: Bonsignore Gives Team Some Good Medicine With Oswego Win

But it’s the Bonsignore victory that has made this a three-man race. After premature exits at the season-opener at New Smyrna Speedway and the first visit to Riverhead Raceway, Bonsignore found himself in a giant hole. But he’s had strong runs throughout the summer (and his competitors have had a couple bad races of their own), and now with three victories he’s now just 17 points back of McKennedy with three races remaining.

It's three races where Bonsignore can be considered the favorite at each, as well. A third and final visit to Riverhead Raceway on September 17 is up next, the place where Bonsignore began his Modified career, the same place where Bonsignore has eight victories. Then it’s off to Thompson Speedway where Bonsignore is even better with 12 wins. And then finally the season will conclude at Virginia’s Martinsville Speedway where Bonsignore finished third last year.

Can Bonsignore pull off the miracle comeback and win his fourth championship? Things certainly seem to be trending that way.

ARCA Menards Battle Now a Two-Horse Race

With just four races remaining in the 2022 ARCA Menards Series season, the battle for the championship is now down to just two drivers. Entering this weekend’s Kansas Lottery 150 at the Kansas Speedway, Rev Racing driver Nick Sanchez leads GMS Racing driver Daniel Dye by just ten points.

Throughout much of the season it had been a Sanchez versus Rajah Caruth all-Rev Racing battle with Dye just lurking close behind. For the most part, Sanchez has had the upper hand thanks to his three victories. 

That is still the case, but now it’s Dye in second in the standings as Caruth has started to stumble. With an 11th-place run at Watkins Glen and a 17th-place finish this past weekend on the dirt at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, Caruth has lost ground to Sanchez and has been surpassed by Dye.

Meanwhile, Dye hasn’t finished outside the top 10 since a 17th-place run at Iowa Speedway back in June, and most recently has had two straight top-five finishes. 

Sanchez has also been extremely consistent since a two-week stretch in the middle of the summer that saw him finish in 11th-place two races in a row at Elko Speedway and Mid-Ohio. Since then he’s had one win, two runner-up finishes, a seventh, and three-straight fifth-place finishes in the last three races. 

If Sanchez can continue that level of consistency, he’ll be the 2022 ARCA Menards Series champion, and he should be able to as you look at the remaining races on the schedule. Sanchez won the last time ARCA was at Kansas back in May, and with the exception of Elko he’s finished in the top-10 in every short track race this season. With races at Bristol Motor Speedway, Salem Speedway and Toledo Speedway left after Kansas, Sanchez is in the driver’s seat in this championship battle.

National Championship Points

NASCAR Roots On FloRacing This Week

Saturday

5:30 p.m. ET – NASCAR Modifieds at Riverhead Raceway

5:30 p.m. ET – Late Models and Modifieds at Jennerstown Speedway

6:30 p.m. ET – 500 Sprint Car Tour and NASCAR Weekly Racing at Berlin Raceway

7 p.m. ET – ARCA Menards Series at Kansas Speedway

7 p.m. ET – Twin Late Model features at Langley Speedway

8:30 p.m. ET – Sprint Cars and Modifieds at Meridian Speedway

9 p.m. ET – Championship Night #1 at Evergreen Speedway