C.E. Falk III Q&A - - Danville Toyota 300 winner

Transcript of the interview with C.E. Falk III after the three-time defending Langley Speedway track champion led a race-high 154 laps and won the Danville Toyota 300 at South Boston Speedway (photo by James Price/James Price Photography)

Q: After letting this one sink in a little bit after Victory Lane, how does this win feel?

A: “It feels incredible. It’s up there with the Denny Hamlin win, our first Hampton Heat and our first track championship. This was a huge win for us. Man, we built this new car and had Sammy [Houston, crew chief] come on board and man, he’s absolutely great. He’s made me a better driver and a better mechanic. I’m really pumped about the season. This is so cool.”

Q: Last time you were here, you finished second and had a lot of drivers come up to you and congratulate you for the run you had. You’re still getting the same type of praise now. Is it better being in Victory Lane?

A: “It’s cool, especially now that they remained it Philip’s Victory Lane and I get to be the first one in it. That’s really cool. I don’t know, any win up here is tough. To get this 300-lapper and a big check to start the year, it’s huge. It’s really cool.”

Q: Big check and you’re the leader in the Triple Crown with Langley and Martinsville to go. When we talked Thursday, you said you don’t really think about it but you still think about it. Does that change with getting the win in the first of the three events?

A: “You’ve just got to be prepared. All these guys, they’re going to work hard and they’re really tough competitors. We had a good car today and the second half just really fell our way. I feel really confident going to Langley; we’ve got a great car. I’m really confident we can go to these races up here in South Boston and continue to win.”

Q: The past three years, you’ve progressively gotten better and better in the national standings and you said what hurt you last year was not getting full-field wins early in the year. What does this one do you for?

A: “It’s so early, man, I’m going to let the crew get this under their belts. This is a really big win for our team and we’re just going to keep racing and try to win them all.”

On GoDanRiver.com: 

Falk returns to Victory Lane at SoBo with dominating Danville Toyota 300 win

Matt Bowling Q&A - - Danville Toyota 300 fourth-place finisher

Transcript of the interview with Matt Bowling after the Ridgeway native finished fourth in Saturday's Danville Toyota 300 at South Boston Speedway.

Q: Not a bad start to your season with a fourth-place run. Talk about your first run in this new car and how you picked up from your solid run in last year’s 300-lap race.

A: “This new car is a great car; the best car I’ve ever been in. I think it definitely has the potential to win some races. We’ve just got to work out some little things in it and we ain’t far from winning races. We just got real free right there after the halfway and got too free. The other guys were kind of a little bit better than us. Overall, we had a pretty good day I feel like for qualifying ninth and coming to where we did and we kind of turned our weekend around.”

Q: Do you think you had anything for the top two cars [Falk and Smith]?

A: “Maybe at one point in the race or I could have gotten a caution, but not at the end. They had me beat pretty bad. I just got terrible free and I don’t think I had nothing for them. They drove a great race and they didn’t cut us no slack. That’s racing for $10,000.”

Q: You were battling Nick Smith on Lap 236 and had second for a brief moment before he used a cross-over move to get the spot back. If you had been able to keep second, do you think maybe a little more clean air on your nose might have allowed you to pull away from him and possibly a second-place finish?

A: “I might have been able to hold onto second if I had clean air but I stayed there in third. Frankie [Frank Deiny Jr.] got to me, kind of put some pressure on me and caused us to race with him some. That kind of messed us up some, but that’s racing. He’s doing what he’s supposed to do. I believe we could have got in front of him [Smith], but that was a nice move by Nick and I know next time.”

Q: You said you want to race full-time at Motor Mile. After a race like this, do you reconsider maybe racing here full-time?

A: “We’re not for sure; we possibly could run here. We’re not throwing that out the window, but right now we’re on track to run Motor Mile.”

Nick Smith Q&A - - Danville Toyota 300 second-place finisher

Transcript of the interview with Nick Smith after the pole sitter finished second Saturday in the Danville Toyota 300 at South Boston Speedway:

Q: When we talked yesterday, you said you didn’t really know what type of strategy you were going to have for this 300-lap race. You stayed in the top three the entire race and that strategy seemed to play out just fine.

A: “It’s kind of frustrating to finish second the longer I think about it, but overall, it was a great day for the team. For me, I’m kind of frustrated because I want to be in Victory Lane, but I can’t say enough about the guys. They worked their butts off. The car drove really well and they got the setup dialed in right off the bat; we didn’t get hardly any practice for that to be like that. I think we did great.”

Q: Are you going to keep going for the Triple Crown after this finish or just keep going race to race?

A: “I’ll definitely go race by race, but when it comes down to the Triple Crown, that’s just another race. Just got to do the best we can do and see what happens.”

Eddie Johnson Q&A - - Danville Toyota 300 third-place finisher

Transcript of the interview with Eddie Johnson after the veteran driver of the No. 57 Chevrolet finished third Saturday in the Danville Toyota 300 at South Boston Speedway:

Q: You said before the race all you had to do was be patient, stay out of people’s trouble and be there at the end. Didn’t quite get the caution you needed there to get the win, but third place today. How good does that feel?

A: “It feels really good to start off the year with a third-place finish here and collect a fairly nice paycheck. … All the guys worked awful hard on the car and my son, he’s done all the setup on the car. He had a really good car and deserved to win, but who knows? I saved it for him. This car is going to be his car for Southside this year, so I’m sure he’s pretty happy about that.”

Q: You said that you kind of had a time where you’d think you would go. Do you kind of wish you had maybe gone a little sooner and maybe had a shot to win this thing, or was that your game plan and you were sticking with it?

A: “Well, you always can go back and wish you had done this or wish you had done that. But, we’ve got a third-place finish, the car is all in one piece and we’ve come here with a third-place finish with the competition the way it is, we’re pretty happy. A few more laps, we could have had second and if we could have had a caution, maybe we’d have won. Who knows?”

Q: The top three finishers today typically run well at Langley. How does that bode for going into the next stage of the Triple Crown?

A: “Well, when they first come out with the Triple Crown, I looked at it and said, ‘Well, I might not have the car or the money that other people have and win it, but second and third sure looks good and that’s some decent bonus money for you at the end of the year. We’ll surely be looking forward to it. The main thing is to be able to go down to Langley, be able to finish that race and then the third thing is qualify for Martinsville. That’s probably the toughest of the whole Triple Crown deal.”

Q: Does it bode well for you that the top three run well at all three tracks and this finish gives you a leg up on the rest of the field?

A: “We’re in third place right now. (Chuckles) Everybody else is chasing us and we’re chasing two of them. That’s all we could ask for. We’re in the hunt.”

Danville Toyota 300 - - Unofficial Results

NASCAR Whelen All-American Series

Danville Toyota 300 Results

Saturday

At South Boston Speedway

South Boston, Va.

Lap length: 0.4 miles

(Start position in parenthesis)

1. (4) C.E. Falk III, Toyota, 300 laps

2. (1) Nick Smith, Chevrolet, 300

3. (8) Eddie Johnson, Chevrolet, 300

4. (9) Matt Bowling, Chevrolet, 300

5. (5) Dennis Holdren, Chevrolet, 300

6. (19) Michael Hardin, Chevrolet, 300

7. (2) Peyton Sellers, Toyota, 300

8. (12) Austin Thaxton, Toyota, 300

9. (15) Jesse Little, Chevrolet, 300

10. (13) Darrell Gilchrist, Chevrolet, 299

11. (14) Ryan Robertson, Chevrolet, 299

12. (20) Mike Darne, Chevrolet, 299

13. (17) Ronald Hill, Chevrolet, 299

14. (6) Kris Bowen, Chevrolet, mechanical, 278

15. (3) Frank Deiny Jr., Toyota, mechanical, 275

16. (16) Terry Carroll, Chevrolet, 142

17. (7) Bruce Anderson, Chevrolet, accident, 136

18. (18) J.D. Eversole, Chevrolet, mechanical, 103

19. (10) Greg Edwards, Ford, mechanical, 89

20. (11) Dude Gibbs, Chevrolet, accident, 51

21. (21) Danny Willis Jr., Chevrolet, mechanical, 13

22. (22) Justin Snow, Chevrolet, mechanical, 11

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 63.739 mph.

Time of Race: 1 hour, 52 minutes, 57 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 2.968 seconds.

Caution Flags: 5 for 27 laps;  
Cautions Summary (Laps, Drivers Involved): Lap 52-57 (Gibbs spins on backstretch); Lap 118-123 (Deiny stops in Turns 3 and 4); Lap 137-143 (Hardin, Carroll and Anderson wreck in Turn 1); Lap 151-154 (halfway break); Lap 182-185 (Hill, Gilchrist and Darne spin in Turn 2; no contact).

Lead Changes: 8 among 4 drivers.

Lap Leaders: P. Sellers 1-19; N. Smith 20-56; F. Deiny 57-68; N. Smith 69-124; C. Falk 125-154; P. Sellers 155-160; C. Falk 161-184; N. Smith 185-190; C. Falk 191-300.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): C. Falk 3 times for 154 laps; N. Smith 3 times for 99 laps; P. Sellers 2 times for 25 laps; F. Deiny 1 time for 12 laps.

Danville Toyota 300 - - Halfway Break

Danville Toyota 300

Running order after 154 laps

1. (40) C.E. Falk III

2. (83) Matt Bowling

3. (10) Nick Smith

4. (99) Peyton Sellers

5. (12) Dennis Holdren

6. (74) Ronald Hill

7. (80) Kris Bowen

8. (2) Austin Thaxton

9. (97) Jesse Little

10. (77) Michael Hardin

11. (20) Darrell Gilchrist

12. (57) Eddie Johnson

13. (31) Ryan Robertson

14. (14) Mike Darne

15. (5) Frank Deiny Jr., 7 laps down

16. (90) Terry Carroll, 18 laps down - accident

17. (9) Bruce Anderson, 18 laps down - accident

18. (34) Greg Edwards, 66 laps down - mechanical

19. (98) J.D. Eversole, 72 laps down - mechnical

20. (17) Dude Gibbs, 102 laps down - accident

21. (07) Danny Willis Jr., 141 laps down - start and park

22. (7) Justin Snow, 143 laps down - start and park

4 leaders and 4 lead changes: Nick Smith 2 times for 93 laps; C.E. Falk III 1 time for 30 laps; Peyton Sellers 1 time for 19 laps; Frank Deiny Jr. 1 time for 12 laps.

Sellers 1-19; Smith 20-56; Deiny 57-68; Smith 69-124; Falk 125-154.

4 cautions for 23 laps: Lap 52-57 (Gibbs spins on backstretch); Lap 118-123 (Deiny stops in Turns 3 and 4); Lap 137-143 (Hardin, Carroll and Anderson wreck in Turn 1); Lap 151-154 (halfway break).

The top four are being inverted for the second half of the race. Here is the rundown for when the race restarts:
1. (99) Peyton Sellers
2. (10) Nick Smith
3. (83) Matt Bowling
4. (40) C.E. Falk III

5. (12) Dennis Holdren

6. (74) Ronald Hill

7. (80) Kris Bowen

8. (2) Austin Thaxton

9. (97) Jesse Little

10. (77) Michael Hardin

11. (20) Darrell Gilchrist

12. (57) Eddie Johnson

13. (31) Ryan Robertson

14. (14) Mike Darne

15. (5) Frank Deiny Jr., 7 laps down

Danville Toyota 300 official starting lineup

NASCAR Whelen All-American Series

Danville Toyota 300 lineup

After Friday’s qualifying; race Saturday

Positions 1-18 set on time

At South Boston Speedway

South Boston, Va.

Lap length: 0.4 miles

(Car number in parenthesis; fastest lap in bold)

1. (10) Nick Smith, Chevrolet, 15.946/15.744 seconds
2. (99) Peyton Sellers, Toyota, 15.969/15.782
3. (5) Frank Deiny Jr., Toyota, 15.958/15.794
4. (40) C.E. Falk III, Toyota, 15.907/15.844
5. (12) Dennis Holdren, Chevrolet, 16.064/15.857
6. (80) Kris Bowen, Chevrolet, 16.036/15.864
7. (9) Bruce Anderson, Chevrolet, 15.984/15.883
8. (57) Eddie Johnson, Chevrolet, 16.210/15.899
9. (83) Matt Bowling, Chevrolet, 16.015/15.904
10. (34) Greg Edwards, Ford, 16.038/15.913
11. (17) Dude Gibbs, Chevrolet, 16.166/15.935
12. (12) Austin Thaxton, Chevrolet, 16.102/15.967
13. (20) Darrell Gilchrist, Chevrolet, 16.246/15.973
14. (31) Ryan Robertson, Chevrolet, 16.272/16.019
15. (97) Jesse Little, Chevrolet, 16.228/16.069
16. (90) Terry Carroll, Chevrolet, 16.452/16.098
17. (74) Ronald Hill, Chevrolet, 16.394/16.154
18. (98) J.D. Eversole, Chevrolet, 16.447/16.296
19. (77) Michael Hardin, no time
20. (14) Mike Darne, no time
21. (07) Danny Willis Jr., no time
22. (7) Justin Snow, no time