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Triple Crown Breakdown: 3 Takeaways from Connor Hall’s SoBo 200 Repeat

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SOUTH BOSTON, V.A.- The 19th-annual Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway delivered once again Saturday (June 28) night, producing another prestigious winner already known as one of the sport’s best.

On an evening filled with attrition, a fantastic battle at the front saw Connor Hall pick up his second-consecutive win in the 200, becoming the first JR Motorsports driver to officially win the event.

Behind Hall were plenty of torn up race cars and heavy hitters who saw their Triple Crown hopes dashed before they really had a chance to materialize.

From an underdog flying at the front to disappointing nights for South Boston’s heavy hitters, here are three takeaways from the 2025 Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200.

The Triple Crown Is Connor Hall’s To Lose

The 2025 version of the Virginia Triple Crown carries more weight this year than it ever has before, mostly tied to the $50,000 dollars NASCAR Regional and FloRacing added to the series’ purse.

Following South Boston, a favorite to claim the three-race title has emerged. Only one heavy hitter emerged from the chaos unscathed, and he just happened to win the race in the process.

Welcome to the catbird seat, Connor Hall.

Hall pulled off the win at arguably his worst track of the three Triple Crown venues. When Hampton Heat rolls around in mid-July, the three-time Langley Speedway track champion will be the favorite. Two months later, as cars hit the track at Martinsville to end September, Hall will be driving for the defending race winners, thanks to Carson Kvapil‘s triumph a year ago.

This win wasn’t like the Hall most know and love – the Hall who is all gas, no brakes, and charged from last-to-first to win the 200 a year ago. This was a more mature version of the 28-year old, with abundant poise and finesse behind the wheel.

It was apparent in the later stages that Hall didn’t have the best car. Matt Waltz and Tate Fogleman were wearing out the rear bumper of bis No. 88. But Hall played defense like a champion, nailed the final restart and drove off into the South Boston night $10,000 richer.

This feels like the year of Connor Hall. Driving for JR Motorsports and leading the CARS Tour standings, he’s having a similar season to Kvapil in 2024. All signs point to bigger opportunities on the horizon for Hall, who’s checking boxes in his Late Model Stock car resume one by one.

As for the Triple Crown, it’s certainly something he’s thinking about.

“I really do feel good about it,” Hall told Frontstretch. “I think I’ve got the best team, the best guys, the best opportunity and the best owners. Just super excited to go to Langley and kind of improve on what we had at the CARS Tour race, then go to Martinsville and hopefully just continue what they’ve done there.”

Hall’s set himself off on the right foot to capture the Triple Crown – and a Triple Crown title could mean the Martinsville Clock that has eluded him for quite some time. This battle is far from over. But right now, Hall has the upper hand on the field.

A “Super Matt” Waltz Run Comes Up Short

While Hall has all the hype and momentum behind he and the JR Motorsports team, Waltz’s runner-up finish in the 200 shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Heading into the weekend, not many had Waltz on their radar for potential winners. But Waltz put the No. 2 on the pole and it was apparent early on that he had the car to beat. The 35-year-old led the race’s first 116 laps, going mostly unchallenged, only fending off a few bids from Hall shortly after restarts.

Hall eventually got to the lead. But when he did, Waltz never let him go, working the rear bumper of the No. 88 over the course of several runs down the stretch.

In the end, Waltz got set back during the final set of restarts and was stuck behind eventual third-place finisher Darren Krantz Jr. for a lengthy period of time. That kept him out of contention in the final laps, but Waltz got back to second to wrap up a night where he ultimately led 127 laps.

A guy known for being a Langley regular running second at South Boston should produce a lot of smiles. But with the rocket ship Waltz was piloting, the disappointment was hard to hide.

Close, but no cigar.

“Just some games being played on the restart,” Waltz said. “You’ll have that, I guess. [Hall] knew he wasn’t going to get called on it, but whatever. It sucks for us, hard working team here, we had a great racecar, I feel like we had the best car. We just got a little behind on that last restart.”

The good news for Waltz is that he sits with a 2.0 average finish in the Triple Crown thus far, with his worst track of the three out of the way. Waltz scored a pole and a top five with the CARS Tour at Langley in May, so the 2017 Langley track champion will be a threat come Hampton Heat.

“I’m pretty pumped up,” Waltz said. “South Boston has really been probably my weakest link out of the three. I feel like we’ve had good runs at Martinsville, obviously good runs at Langley. … Definitely have to give a shoutout to Flo for putting up the money for this. It’s pretty cool, it adds another level to the Triple Crown.”

While a dominant win at South Boston wasn’t meant to be, a bigger underdog story could still be in the cards for Waltz.

A Tough Outing For SoBo’s Big 3

When looking for favorites, many circled South Boston’s ‘big three’ as the three to keep an eye on heading into the tracks biggest race of the year.

Trevor Ward, Peyton Sellers and Landon Pembelton are all separated by just three points in the track championship standing. The trip each sit in the top five of NASCAR National Weekly Series points standings and all three have found plenty of Triple Crown success in the past.

But this year, the local crowd had a night to forget.

For Ward and Sellers, their nights were over before they even began. An opening lap spin by front-row starter Justin Hicks stacked up the field, resulting in damage for both local stars.

From that point on, both struggled with damaged racecars and wound up in other incidents throughout the night.

Pembelton survived the early chaos and had begun to work his way to the front just past the race’s halfway point. But on lap 114, the engine on Pembelton’s No. 0 expired and the car was engulfed in flames while still at speed in turn 3.

The end result for the trio were finishes of 20th, 25th and 31st – results that weren’t indicative of the speed they brought to their home track’s biggest race of the year.

“I always try to look at what is the positive thing to look at the whole night,” Ward told Frontstretch post-race. “We’re fighting for a championship here, so we all kind of stayed the same as what we left off the previous week. Unfortunately I hate it for Landon [Pembelton], I hate it for Peyton [Sellers], I hate it for my team and my guys.”

Sellers had strong opinions as well, voicing his displeasure after a highly disappointing night.

“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” Sellers said. “Just [had] two guys on the front row who haven’t raced a lot this year. … Just nowhere to go.

“That’s where it started. That’s where it ended.”

We’ve seen the Triple Crown feature a bad run for everyone in the past, Ward’s winning score in 2023 is a perfect example. But leaving the track where the three were favored is suboptimal for each of them. They’ll have their work cut out for them over the Triple Crown’s other two stops.

The Hampton Heat 200 at Langley Speedway is scheduled for Saturday, July 19, airing live on FloRacing.

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Chase began working with Frontstretch in the spring of 2023 as a news writer, while also helping fill in for other columns as needed. Chase is now the main writer and reporter for Frontstretch.com's CARS Tour coverage, a role which began late in 2023.  Aside from racing, some of Chase's other hobbies include time in the outdoors hunting and fishing, and keeping up with all things Philadelphia sports related.