Gibson Wins the SCSCS "Daytona 500" at Shenandoah Speedway

 

Shenandoah, Virginia (September 2, 2025) – An abundance of excitement and optimism surrounded the 2025 running of the Veterans Classic at Shenandoah Speedway, rescheduled from mid-July.  There were debut drivers, familiar racers in different rides, competitors returning to the series after a couple years away, and those that previously raced regularly at the 3/8-mile progressively banked oval.  When the night concluded, there were some mixed feelings as well as instances where preparation met good fortune.

 

Points leader Mitch Gibson not only set the fast time with a 16.544 second lap but redrew the pole position for the first 50-lap main event.  Although the driver who relocated in recent years to nearby Weyers Cave broke out to the early lead, the acclimation of the aforementioned combinations making up the largest turnout since early 2023 meant having to slice through traffic frequently in what turned out to be a torrid green-to-checkered pace without a single yellow flag.  In addition, in close pursuit was 2014 champion and fellow home state driver JJ Pack in the No 6 IceBoxx Customs / JPR Ford.

 

Following the completion of the seventh circuit, Pack would find his way to the lead, but not for the entire distance.  Gibson worked underneath between turns one and two approaching the halfway point.  The two raced side by side before Gibson was clear and on his way to a second career Super Cup Stock Car Series victory and a signature trophy to go with it.

 

“It’s like the Daytona 500 for this series,” the driver of the No. 35 Moyer Brothers Company / LDW Technologies / Superior Welding / 1500channels.com / Jeffrey Salyers Realty / Trevor’s Life / Ashton Racing Ford indicated about winning the Veterans Classic in his first attempt.  “There are so many people that help me, I could thank a ton.  I have to thank (past NASCAR Truck Series competitor and Pro Cup champion) Caleb Holman, for one, he helped me get this car back to where it needed to be and it’s just a super-fast car.

 

The battle for the lead, upon first glance, contained some side-to-side contact.  Nevertheless, once ultimate second place finisher Pack climbed out, he noticed quite the surprise regarding his Mark Martin replica paint scheme.

 

“That was pretty crazy,” the Midland, Virginia resident commented.  “He slid up there in turn one into two and caught us in the left side, but there was not even a mark on the car so we must have just touched tires.  It was fun and he raced pretty hard, so it was a good time.”

 

“I went back there to apologize as soon as I got out of the car,” Gibson added.  “I knew when I got down where you can put two tires under the white line, I guess you could say I hit that little incline on the track there where it goes down and it upset the car a little bit and I turned a little sideways.  I thought I got into him, but apparently I didn’t.  It was awesome racing with JJ Pack.  He’s a tough competitor and I think I’ll talk about that for weeks.”

 

Pack continued to recap his second consecutive second place result, and the second consecutive time something mechanical perhaps prevented sealing the deal down the stretch, despite impressively being a mere 1.199 seconds behind the leader at the end.

 

“We got to where we were lapping cars and things got a little wild and just happened to pick the right lane at the right time and he picked the wrong one and I snuck away with the lead from him,” the seven-time series race winner recalled from the beginning.  “Later in the race we just kept going like that, Mitch was on my butt for quite a while on the rear bumper.  We lost the alternator belt which ended up making it go flat on me and I was running it off the battery.”

 

As the field lined up for the second of the 50-lap main events later in the evening, Gibson once again drew the top spot.  Accelerating into the lead, the green flag period would be short-lived as Gloucester, Virginia’s Jeff Thomas, having one of his best SCSCS performances after qualifying ninth and falling just short of running the entire distance in the first race due to the shifter coming off the transmission while running in sixth, spun his No. 15 Charles Parks Photography / Heights Barbershop / B.A.D.G.E. / Thomas Racing Team Chevrolet in turn one following the completion of one lap.

 

During the ensuing yellow flag period, due to the late hour and agreement the track has with the neighboring community, the second race would not be restarted.

 

“We would like to apologize for having to cut our last Super Cup Stock Car Series race short due to hitting our curfew but we attempted to do the best we could at getting all the races in,” a statement on the Facebook page for Shenandoah Speedway expressed.  “Moving forward we will try not to let this happen again and do our due diligence on working out any problems we encounter throughout raceday.”

 

One of the drivers looking forward to the adjustments made between races was Damian Payton, who completed the podium earlier in the evening returning to his home track he grew up racing at nearly a decade prior.

 

“It was good to be back, for sure,” the Winston-Salem, North Carolina resident said.  “We made a lot of really good gains throughout the day.  Really disappointed not to get to run the second race.  It is what it is.  We’ll figure out where to go from here.”

 

The No. 64 McElligott Performance and Design / Cozy Cabins at Shady Grove / Payton Racing Chevrolet adorned red, white, and blue roof rails plus additions to the hood in support of the Veterans Classic.

 

“We have a sticker for each branch in the military just to recognize them and thank them for all that they do to keep us safe,” Payton mentioned during the pre-race fan meet and greet.  “Very excited to be back here at Shenandoah.  Been trying to get something put together to come to this event for years now.”

 

Uniontown, Pennsylvania’s Bill Ashton took home one of the trophies in the 2024 running but settled for fourth in his 100th SCSCS start.  Rounding out the top five was the No. 42 Drive 2 Thrive / JPR Pontiac of Rob Hindt from Elkton, Maryland, tying a career best finish from 10 years ago.

 

Hard Charger of the race honors went to Warrington, Pennsylvania’s Mike Senica, who introduced new sponsor HurraysGirlBeer.com to the No. 57 with a sixth place result.  Behind him in the order was Conover, North Carolina resident Dylan Godinez, a mechanical engineer for NASCAR’s Front Row Motorsports during the week, learning and logging laps in the No. 83 Eric Barber Enterprises Chevrolet in his series debut.  Another former track regular, Yellow Spring, West Virginia’s Larry Frame, was the last car running at the finish in the No. 80x Precision Auto Collision / Nelson Motorsports Chevrolet.

 

Two drivers far up in the points race suffered misfortune with an ultimate outcome in the pit area.  Defending champion Brent Nelson brought the No. 80 Precision Auto Collision / JEBCO / QH Design / RAM Trucking / Snap-On Tools / Nelson Motorsports Chevrolet that he started off the season driving and was running in fourth position when the lower pulley came off causing a sudden loss in oil pressure.  Eric Barber was another driver eager for the second race after issues sidelined him early on while running fifth.  The Parkersburg, West Virginia driver was making his first start in the No. 2 WeAreJ6.com / Eric Barber Enterprises Chevrolet that won at Ona Speedway and had advanced from the back to sixth on the opening lap.

 

Since the second race did not reach halfway, it was not determined as an official race.  However, based on the rulebook, should a race be started and stopped before halfway and not restarted, drivers will be awarded points for the position they were running in on the last completed green flag lap.

 

Despite the unfortunate ending to the night, the facility’s infield altogether was filled with vastly more trailers and racecars than in recent time, one of which was Gibson’s son Caliph achieving a third-place finish in the Stock4 class immediately prior to climbing into his own car.  It was a noticeable increase in attendance led between first-year track promoter Chris Lilly and first-year SCSCS director Bill Ashton.

 

“I’m glad to see we had 11 cars tonight,” Gibson continued, about the promising SCSCS turnout.  “I’m so happy that the series got a little growth tonight and I’m glad to see the clean racing.  Overall, it was just a great first race.”

 

Series and track officials are discussing a plan to be part of an event that will award both the second of the 2025 Veterans Classic trophies and likely serve as a championship race.  An announcement with details and dates regarding the close of the season as well as a post-season non-points event should be finalized in the coming days.

 

Details will 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.