SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — Winning a track championship at South Boston Speedway is a special accomplishment. For Jason Myers, winning this year’s South Boston Speedway Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division title has its own special meaning.
In winning the division championship Myers joins his father, Billy Myers, a three-time division champion, on the list of South Boston’s Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division champions.
“Winning the championship means the world to me,” Myers remarked. “It’s awesome. I don’t see him (Billy Myers) get emotional often, but he did the last race. It’s really special to have both of our names there as champions. I never thought I would be a racecar driver when I was younger. To be able to do it and have success is really special.”
Winning the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division title gave Myers a sense of relief. He had been the division runner-up each of the two previous seasons, losing the championship by narrow margins. He lost the championship by a mere two points in 2021 and was 29 points shy of the title in 2022.
“We’ve been so close here the last couple of years, and things just didn’t go our way,” Myers pointed out. “To finally be able to get it done is just a major relief. You start putting pressure on yourself and questioning whether you can do this or not. We finally got it done, and it’s a huge monkey off my back.”
The Hurt, Virginia resident had an outstanding season at South Boston this year. He won three races, tying him for the most wins in the division, posted a division-high 11 top-five finishes in his 13 starts, tallied 12 top-10 finishes, won a division-high six poles, and led a division-high 145 laps.
Also noteworthy is that Myers secured seven top-three finishes that included a pair of wins and four runner-up finishes over the course of the season’s final eight races to clinch the championship. His margin over division runner-up Carter Russo was 23 points.
“You have to be consistent,” Myers explained. “The big thing is that when we didn’t win, we usually finished second. That’s what it takes to be able to be there at the end for a championship.
“We were really focused coming into this year. This year we came into the season with a different mentality, knowing we had to stay up front every race and finish races. We had all the pieces to do it. A lot of times you have to have luck, and luck just went our way this year. We also brought good cars every week. It really showed the last few races. We knew we had to do well to stretch the points lead out so that we could have a stress-free last race and we were able to do that.”
Myers pointed out the level of competition in the division was very high. That is noted in that seven different drivers won races and 14 different drivers led laps in the division during the season.
“It was very competitive,” he said.
“We had seven different winners. You can’t get much more competitive than that. We were fortunate to come out with three wins. We always had a fast car. We won a bunch of poles, but that doesn’t always convert into wins. You have to be consistent, and that’s what we were.”
Myers pointed out the high level of the competition in the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division at South Boston prepares drivers for success in the late model stock car division.
“A lot of these great drivers you see in late model came through the same limited sportsman division,” Myers explained.
“It was tough when they were here, and it’s still tough. Anybody in this field can win. The talent that is going through the Limited Sportsman Division now is just unreal. That is across the whole southeast region.
“A lot of people struggle when they come here,” he continued. “Not only is the track tough, but the competitors are tough. People that come here usually travel very well, too. They go to other tracks and the competition just isn’t the same as it is here. It (the high level of competition) is good for the sport. It’s good for the division. I hope it stays strong.”