First Career Win a Dream Come True for Kristian Armstead
- Joe Chandler
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Hornets Division Victory Reignites a Fire Within the Third-Year Competitor
By Joe Chandler
Director, Public Relations
South Boston Speedway
SOUTH BOSTON, VA (April 9, 2026) – The biggest moment in Kristian Armstead’s short racing career may not have happened had it not been for the assistance of some of his fellow competitors and some dogged perseverance on his part and that of his family.
Armstead logged his first career race win in the 20-lap Dollar General Hornets Division race that was part of last week’s Danville Toyota Race Day event at South Boston Speedway. That win puts him on top of the division point standings for the first time.
It was a dramatic moment for the 24-year-old Martinsville, Virginia resident whose small family team consisting of his father, Nathalie, Virginia resident Ted Anderson, his mother Renee Anderson, and cousin, J.E. Anderson pulled together to overcome the adversity of the day.
Armstead avoided the chaos in a calamity-filled race, then on the final restart, powered his No. 76 Acura Integra around the outside of Chris Penick to take the lead, and ultimately the win.
“It was huge,” Armstead said of his first victory. “Friends, family, and people I don’t know have reached out to congratulate me. I was even on the Deez Lug Nutz podcast on Monday. The win reignited a fire that was kind of going out. You have disappointment after disappointment, and then this win comes along. It boosts my confidence through the roof. It’s like I went from zero to 100 in three seconds.
“I really wasn’t expecting it (the win) at all,” Armstead continued. “I never would have expected to win my first race in the first race of the season. I was expecting maybe a Top-5 finish.”
Not only was the win a big moment for Armstead, it was a huge moment for the entire family.
“Words can’t explain the excitement,” Ted Anderson said. “With his grandparents from Michigan in town, his mom there, both of her sisters, and all of their family – we had 10 people there. It was a perfect weekend for it to happen. I don’t think I have ever seen him (Armstead) that excited. That is the best memory I can recall in a long time.”
Raceday started off well but an unexpected issue almost derailed Armstead’s effort.
“We got through one practice and the second practice it (the engine) dropped a cylinder,” Armstead explained.
That left Armstead, his father and his cousin scrambling to find the source of the trouble and fix it.
“Another team member came over and was helping me turn the motor over while I was looking at the top end,” Anderson explained. “I had the top end of the motor off looking at the valve train. He (the other team member) found a wire that was loose. I needed some silicon and another team member from another team brought me some silicon.”
There was more help from one of his competitors.
“One of the teams who specifically asked for us to not tell anybody came over and helped us set up our toe-in and tire pressures,” Ted Anderson pointed out.
“They didn’t have to do that,” Anderson said of the help provided by fellow competitors. “They deserve some of the credit for the win as well.”
Armstead’s journey in racing has been more difficult than he anticipated. Obstacles of various kinds have stood in the way since he began racing in South Boston Speedway’s Dollar General Hornets Division in 2024. A pair of seventh-place finishes, one each in 2024 and 2025 have been his best finishes the 12 career starts Armstead has made since the start of the 2024 season.
“I was definitely surprised,” Armstead pointed out. “The car we had the first year was one we pulled out of a field. The motor was half apart, and we had to put it back together. After every race there was an issue.”
His second campaign, the 2025 season, wasn’t much better.
“I found an old Acura that had been raced at New River,” he explained. “It (the car) was a night-and-day difference. We made a few improvements to the car over the off-season. Saturday was my first time on the track since my last race of last year, which was June 7.”
Armstead’s lead-in to racing is an interesting one.
“For Christmas four or five years ago, my mom got us a Jeffrey Earnhardt Racing Experience at South Boston Speedway,” Armstead explained. “I got in the car, and I just knew I had to do it. I had been watching racing forever before that. To experience it on the track made me want to do it that much more.”
The next NASCAR Local Racing Series powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts event at South Boston Speedway is set for Saturday afternoon, April 18 with the Bojangles Race Day event. This event is the last of the three daytime racing events on the 2026 season schedule.
Headlining the six-race event is a 125-lap race for the Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division. That race is the longest race the Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division competitors will encounter at South Boston Speedway until mid-June.
The Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division competitors will compete in twin 30-lap races. A 25-lap race for the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division, a 20-lap race for the Dollar General Hornets Division and a 25-lap race for the regional touring East Coast Flathead Fords Racing Association will round out the afternoon’s racing action.
Practice will start at 10:25 a.m. and frontstretch spectator gates will open at 10:30 a.m. Qualifying starts at 1 p.m., pre-race ceremonies will start at 1:45 p.m. and the first race of the day will get the green flag at 2 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 miliary 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.