Crucial Night Ahead for Limited Sportsman Title Fight at South Boston Speedway

Dawson, Brunelli, Rundstrom Set to Battle in Two Pivotal Races on Saturday, August 1

By Joe Chandler

Director, Public Relations

South Boston Speedway

SOUTH BOSTON, VA (July 27, 2026) – A veteran racer and two talented teenagers are bringing the chase for the South Boston Speedway Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division championship to a boil.

Longtime standout Drew Dawson leads the title fight, but nipping at his heels are young wheelmen Tristan Brunelli and Brian Rundstrom Jr.

Dawson has led the standings nearly all season, but these two aren’t letting him run away with the championship.

Dawson of Nathalie, Virginia, now in his eighth season competing in the division, holds a 14-point lead over 15-year-old Brunelli of Powhatan, Virginia and 16-year-old Rundstrom of Green Bay, Virginia who are tied for second place in the standings.

Twin 30-lap races for the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division that are part of the Boone Tractor Race Night presented by New Holland and Gravely event on Saturday night, August 1 at South Boston Speedway will turn up the heat on the title chase.

The division’s final twin-race event of the season is a pivotal event for the three title contenders, all of whom are trying to earn their first career South Boston Speedway division championship.

See Them Battle in Person Saturday, August 1! Get Your Tickets Here

Dawson, who has finished third in the division three times in the last five seasons and finished in the Top-4 of the division five times, is in an unenviable position heading to the twinbill. His car was destroyed in a crash at the last event.

With help, Dawson was able to locate and purchase a chassis formerly raced by Late Model Stock Car competitor Ryley Music. Music’s grandfather, former Late Model great Phil Warren, had listed the chassis for sale on Facebook Marketplace.

“I had been racing the chassis that was totaled in the wreck the last three years with a bent rear clip,” Dawson explained. “We’re basically starting from the ground up with this new car. I have faith in this new car. It’s a newer model than the car I had. Hopefully we can have pretty good speed off the trailer.”

Dawson and his team are thrashing to get the new car together, knowing the upcoming twinbill is pivotal in the championship chase.

“These races are going to be very important,” Dawson said of the twin 30-lap races. “Those guys, the 18 (Brunelli) and the 88 (Rundstrom) are going to be very tough. Everybody wants to get a big piece of that championship pie. Everybody is figuring out the right (chassis) setups to where they can have at least a Top-5 car.

“It’s going to come down to whoever gets their (car) setup right the rest of these last few nights of the season,” he added. “I’m trying to stay focused on being smart, coming home with decent finishes, and making this new car as quick as we can. I lost a lot of points after the last race. I’ve got to be very cautious these last five races knowing I have been losing a lot of points.”

On the other side of the coin are two talented teenagers that would like nothing better than to make a hard run at Dawson for the division championship.

Brunelli, the 2025 Rookie of the Year, finished as the division runner-up last season. He agrees the upcoming twin 30-lap races are extremely important.

“It’s very important because it could make or break your season, depending on how you finish,” Brunelli explained. “One bad race can change everything. You saw it the last race. We went from 27 points back to 14 points back because Drew had a bad night.”

Brunelli is keeping an eye on two fronts – one in trying to cut his deficit to Dawson, and two trying to open a gap of some sort over Rundstrom.

“We’ve just got to bring a good car to the track,” he remarked “We’ve got to keep qualifying well. Qualifying is a big thing in our division. We also have to execute really well. We struggled through April, and after May our luck turned around. We’ve got to stay consistent. We can’t have a bad finish.”

Tristan Brunelli (18) and Brian Rundstrom Jr. (88) battle on July 11 during the Kenny Meadows Memorial feature.

The closeness of the division points battle brings some pressure on Brunelli, but he knows he needs to keep his mind on an even keel.

“I try not to look at the points a whole bunch,” he pointed out. “Last year I noticed that the more I looked at the points the more I’d get into my head, and that’s when mistakes come. You need to keep a steady mindset and go into the next race like a normal race.”

Rundstrom, who has the best record among the three drivers in this season’s twin-race events with a win and a runner-up finish in two of the three previous twin-race events, mirrors Dawson and Brunelli’s thoughts regarding the upcoming twin 30-lap races.

“This event is super, super important,” Rundstrom said of the twinbill. “If you have a bad finish in both the first and second races, it will really hurt your chances. I’m going to keep a level head and run these last races like I have the rest of the year and try to win five more races.”

Rundstrom feels any one of the trio has as good of a shot at winning the championship as the others.

“All three of us have a really good shot at the championship,” he remarked. “Drew will have a little bit more of a struggle like we did when they put their car back together. We need to take advantage of that and outrun the 18 (Brunelli), which I think we can do, and stay on top of it. I think we will have a good shot at it.”

Rundstrom plans to be aggressive in the August 1 twinbill.

“You definitely need to be aggressive in the first race,” he noted. “You need to play it by ear in the second race. If you win the first one you can start no better than eighth in the second one. If you can win and finish second in the other it’s a good night.”

Rundstrom has a high level of confidence regarding the division title heading into the twin 30-lap races.

“I feel we’ve been better than Drew and Tristan in most of the races,” he noted. “Drew’s been struggling a little bit, so I think we’ve got a good shot with him. With Tristan, I feel like as long as we qualify better than him, we are okay. I don’t think they have better race pace than us. As long as we qualify in the top four, I don’t think he should be too big of an issue.

“We’ve had a really good year,” he continued, “but we’ve still got a little more to prove and have a little more in the tank. We’ll use the rest of that and go after the championship.”

Six races are on tap for the Boone Tractor Race Night presented by New Holland and Gravely event. Twin 75-lap races for the Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division and the twin 30-lap Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division races headline the night’s racing action.

A 25-lap race for the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division and a 20-lap race for the Dollar General Hornets Division will round out the night’s racing action.

The Saturday, August 1 event schedule has registration and pit gates opening at 2 p.m., practice starting at 3:25 p.m., frontstretch grandstand gates opening at 3:30 p.m., trackside parking gates opening at 5:30 p.m., qualifying at 6 p.m., pre-race ceremonies starting at 6:45 p.m. and the first race of the night starting at 7 p.m.

Adult advance tickets are priced at $12 each. Adult admission at the gate on race day is $15. Suite passes are $40 each. Seniors ages 65 and older, veterans and miltiary personnel, first responders, healthcare workers and students with ID may purchase tickets for $12 each at the gate on race day. Kids ages 12 and under are admitted free.