The facility sits in the Halifax County area of southern Virginia and operates under NASCAR sanctioning, allowing drivers to accumulate NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series National Points. The track runs roughly 12 events per year across its local divisions, which include Late Model Stock Cars, Budweiser Limited Sportsman, Pure Stock, and VSP Heat Hornets. All events are broadcast live on FloRacing.
South Boston Speedway has historically been a stronghold for modified racing. The original SMART Modified Tour ran there in 1992–93 and 2001. Its successor, the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour, competed annually from 2009 to 2013 and biannually from 2014 to 2016. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour has also appeared at the venue twice, in 2001 and 2019.
NASCAR's three national series have all visited South Boston Speedway. The Cup Series last held a race there in 1971 — Benny Parsons scored his first career Grand National victory at that event. The Busch Series made its final appearance at the track in 2000. The Craftsman Truck Series followed for a brief stint between 2001 and 2003. The ARCA Menards Series held three races at South Boston between 2002 and 2004, while the NASCAR Southeast Series hosted 11 races from 1992 to 2006. The ARCA Menards Series East (formerly the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East) replaced the Southeast Series at the track for five years and returned in 2017. The SRX Series paid a visit in 2022.
The track's premier event is the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200, held annually on Independence Day weekend. It serves as the opening race of the Virginia Triple Crown. Two CARS Tours — the CARS Pro Late Model Tour and the CARS Late Model Stock Tour — have made repeated visits to the speedway, including a stretch of 21 events from 1997 to 2011 under the CARS X1-R Pro Cup Series banner, with annual stops resuming in 2017. The track also hosted the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown in 2014 and 2015.
South Boston Speedway has served as a launching pad for a remarkable number of national-level talents. Jeff Burton and Ward Burton, both South Boston natives, developed their craft in the Late Model Stock Car Division there; they are the only brothers to have won the track's Most Popular Driver Award. Elliott Sadler won the track championship as a 20-year-old. Stacy Compton, the 1994 track champion, went on to compete in the Cup, Busch, and Craftsman Truck series. Denny Hamlin also raced and won multiple times in the Late Model Stock Car Division before his Cup career. Wendell Scott, the first African-American driver to compete at NASCAR's highest level, raced in Modified Division events at SoBo.
Among drivers with deeper roots in the track's history, Ray Hendrick won five SoBo track championships — four in the NASCAR Modified division and one in the Late Model Sportsman division — while driving the winged No. 11 Modified coupe fielded by Jack Tant and Clayton Mitchell. Geoff Bodine arrived at South Boston in 1981 from the NASCAR Modified circuit, won nine of 11 NASCAR Late Model Sportsman events, claimed the track championship, and used that foundation to advance to the Winston Cup Series.
David Blankenship of Moseley, Virginia holds the record for most track championships, capturing an unprecedented seventh career NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division title in 1998. Ray Hendrick's five championships rank second historically, a mark that Peyton Sellers tied in 2019 and would equal Blankenship's record in 2024.
Track records include a Modified lap record of 13.849 seconds (103.979 mph) set by Tommy Catalano, and a Late Model Stock Car record of 14.676 seconds (98.119 mph) set by Peyton Sellers in March 2019.
South Boston Speedway occupies a recognized position within Virginia short-track motorsport, serving as both a competitive proving ground and a gateway to national racing. Its consistent production of NASCAR-level talent across multiple decades, combined with its role as host of a major regional crown-jewel event, cements its status as one of the more consequential weekly venues in the American Southeast.