Bobby McCarty 'Coming Home' to South Boston Speedway

Two-Time Thunder Road 200 Champion Set To Race Full 2026 SBS Schedule

By Joe Chandler

Director, Public Relations

South Boston Speedway

SOUTH BOSTON, VA (March 4, 2026) – Bobby McCarty is coming home.

For the first time in many years, the three-time CARS Tour champion and eight-time winner at South Boston Speedway is returning to South Boston Speedway to compete in the track’s full schedule of NASCAR Local Racing Series powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts events.

“I feel like I’m coming home,” McCarty said when talking about competing at South Boston Speedway this season. “We’re racing fulltime at South Boston Speedway. I’m really excited. The whole team is excited. All of the guys are super pumped up to be coming back with the past success and the big races we’ve won there.”

It will be a full-circle moment for the Madison, North Carolina resident when the green flag waves for the start of the 100-lap race for South Boston Speedway’s Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division that will be part of the March 21 season-opening URW Community Federal Credit Union Race Day event.

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“Fifteen years ago, I had a Hedgecock chassis with a Banks racing engine, and we were racing fulltime at South Boston Speedway,” McCarty pointed out. “Fifteen years later, I’m in the exact same spot, we’ve got a Hedgecock chassis with a Banks motor and we’re going to race at South Boston. All of it makes a coming home feeling for me.”

McCarty has enjoyed a good amount of success at South Boston Speedway throughout his career. He won the 2012 South Boston Speedway Limited Sportsman title and has 11 career Limited Sportsman race wins. His record at South Boston Speedway also includes eight career NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division wins with two victories in the prestigious Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200. Also notable is that in facing a “must win” situation, McCarty won two of his three CARS Tour titles by winning the series’ final race of the season at South Boston Speedway.

“South Boston Speedway has always been one of those places that made sense to me as a driver,” McCarty said. “South Boston is one of those tracks that has a ton of natural speed with the banking and the grip. There’s so much room to search to find more speed. It’s one of those tracks where a driver has a ton of options to move around. You keep moving around until you find that sweet spot. You get on a racetrack of that size with that that wide of a racing groove, it really plays into racetracks I like.”

The past 18 months or so have been tough on McCarty who formed his own team, McCarty Motorsports, in November, 2024. Many extra hours, long nights, hard work, and large financial resources have gone into the growth of the team and its equipment. The fruits of the extensive labor are beginning to show.

“I now have that mindset that anything is possible,” McCarty remarked. “I went from a 20-by-20 building to a 7,000 square-foot shop with a surface plate. Things have changed so much in a very short time. It hasn’t been easy. There have been a lot of long nights and 18-hour days. We’re definitely building something here.”

McCarty made only about a dozen starts last season but had chances for wins. Two of the opportunities came at South Boston Speedway. Circumstances did not fall his way.

“The second race of the twin-race season-opener at South Boston kind of got away from us,” he recalled. “The Krush 250 didn’t play out in our favor. The cautions with five laps to go killed me. I feel like we could have won three races, but the caution came out with under 10 to go and it didn’t play out. It’s part of the game.”

McCarty’s goal this season is simple – win races.

“I’m going for trophies,” he remarked. “I would love to add a South Boston championship to our resume. If the points play out, they play out. I’m going to keep the mindset that we’re there to win trophies and if we happen to win the championship, we happen to win the championship.”

McCarty feels good heading into the season.

“The more I think about this year and getting ready for it the more excited I get,” he said. “It’s a good feeling. It’s a feeling I haven’t felt in a really long time.

“Normally this time of year I’m getting a little antsy, getting wound up,” McCarty continued. “I’m extremely calm, which is really odd for me at this time of year. I’m ready. I believe in what we’re doing. I believe in the way we race and the way we handle things on and off the track. I’m just ready. I’m pumped up and really excited to be coming back.”

McCarty’s last win came in 2024 at Dominion Raceway. He hopes to break the drought in South Boston Speedway’s March 21 season-opening race.

“A win would be huge for us,” noted McCarty. “To come out swinging like that is the goal. I want to put everyone on notice, and I want to do it quickly. I want people to get a little worried when they see the 6 car roll in. I want to get that first one (win) and get them (the other competitors) thinking early – play mind games with them early.”

In addition to the 100-lap for the Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division South Boston Speedway’s March 21 URW Community Federal Credit Union Race Day event will include the Third Annual Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds powered by Dominion Energy featuring a stout field of drivers competing in a 125-lap race for tour-type Modifieds that pays $20,000 to win. A 35-lap race for the members of the Southern Ground Pounders Vintage Racing Club rounds out the three-race card.

Advance tickets are priced at $20 each. Tickets at the gate on race day will be $25 each. Seniors age 65 and older, military, healthcare workers and students (with ID) can purchase tickets at the advance ticket price at the gate only on the day of the event.

Grandstand gates will open at 9 a.m. for the season-opening URW Community Federal Credit Union Race Day event. The first of the day’s three races will get the green flag at 2 p.m.