NASCAR National Points Update: Connor Hall Closing On First National Title

Just three weeks remain in the hunt for the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship with the final day for points accumulation coming on Sunday, September 17.

With just three weeks left, we here at FloRacing thought now would be a great time to take a look at the standings to make sure all fans of NASCAR weekly racing know what it’s going to take for their favorite driver to claim a national championship.

Currently atop the standings and chasing his first national championship is Hampton, Virginia’s Connor Hall. Hall started the season at Langley Speedway a perfect 11-for-11 before breaking that winning streak with a second-place run in late July’s Hampton Heat. Hall was also doing that while at the time running full-time with the CARS Tour as well.

So far, Hall has accumulated 12 wins at Langley, plus wins at Southern National Motorsports Park and Hickory Motor Speedway. Hall currently has 15 wins, 20 top five finishes and 21 top 10 finishes in NAAPWS events.

In the last month, Hall has made the decision to stop running with the CARS Tour full-time in order to put full attention to chasing the NAAPWS national championship and that decision has paid off. Hall currently has 578 total points, and leads by 46 points over second-place driver Doug Barnes Jr.

Speaking of Barnes, the Forest Hill, Maryland driver has put in his best season to date, as far as the national championship chase is concerned. Barnes has picked up eight victories with wins at Florence Motor Speedway, Hickory Motor Speedway, Dominion Raceway and Southern National Motorsports Park. Barnes also has 26 top five finishes and 33 top 10 finishes on the season.

As we mentioned, Barnes is 46 points back of Hall for the points lead. What has hindered Barnes has been car counts. Barnes has made an effort to show up at certain tracks expecting there to be a full-field for max points accumulation, but sometimes that hasn’t been the case once he’s arrived on property.

Even though Barnes is 46 points behind Hall, the championship battle is far from over. Hall and Barnes will face-off head-to-head on Friday, September 1 at Florence Motor Speedway in the “Locked In 150.” A straight-up battle might be exactly what Barnes needs to make up a lot of ground in this fight. Hall has raced at Florence twice this season between the NAAPWS Icebreaker in February, and the CARS Tour race there in April. In the Icebreaker Hall finished 29th, and he finished 13th after starting fourth in the CARS Tour race.

Sitting third in points is a familiar name near the top of the standings, 2019 national champion Jacob Goede. The Carver, Minnesota driver is just 12 points behind Barnes for second, and 58 points back of Hall for the points lead. Goede has four total victories this year with all of his wins coming at Minnesota’s Elko Speedway. Goede also has 19 top five finishes and 23 top 10 finishes.

Just four points back of Goede is the two-time national champion Peyton Sellers. The Danville, Virginia native is 62 points back of Hall for the points lead entering Saturday’s 150-lap season finale at South Boston Speedway. Sellers actually trails Carter Langley by three points for the track championship as they head into that final night.

Sellers has scored a double-digit win total so far this year, but he finds himself only fourth in points because of field sizes. Many of his race wins have not counted towards the national championship chase as a result of those smaller fields.

Denver, North Carolina’s Kade Brown sits fifth in points, 102 markers behind Hall. Brandon Ward, Matt Sheppard, Tyler Matthews, Tim Brown, and Burt Myers round out the top 10 in the standings.

The next race with big NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship implications will be the Locked In 150 at Florence Motor Speedway on Friday night. Race fans can watch that race live on FloRacing with a FloRacing subscription.

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