Cameron Ruggles road trips his way to the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division V national championship

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In 2025, on nearly every Saturday from late April to mid-September, Cameron Ruggles loaded up his race car and drove five hours north from his home in Virginia to Pennsylvania‘s Jennerstown Speedway.

Plenty of race tracks occupy land much closer to Ruggles’ Chesterfield home, but he wanted to race at Jennerstown.

Why?

Because the 24-year-old believed he could win not just a track championship in Jennerstown‘s Fast 4s division, but also the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division V national championship.

Ruggles‘ dream of capturing the Division V title became a reality this year. He scored eight wins in 16 feature starts at Jennerstown and never finished outside the top five, which gave him a 12-point edge on New Smyrna Speedway competitor Zach Curtis in the final Division V standings.

“I‘ve been chasing the national title for a few years now ever since I figured out how it worked,” said Ruggles, who began his racing journey 10 years ago at his home track of Southside Speedway. “It means a lot, because I‘ve had a lot of years where I would get halfway through the season and have a lot of success, or the motor would blow, or the car would get wrecked.

“This year, everything just went absolutely perfect. It was almost like a Cinderella story for me.”

Cameron Ruggles

Prior to 2022, Ruggles had never heard of Jennerstown Speedway. He said he discovered the track while watching FloRacing one evening and decided to make the trip to Pennsylvania to try his luck at the 0.522-mile asphalt oval near the end of the 2022 season.

“In 2022, I was also trying to win the national title, and I had a chance if I went and traveled because our dates didn‘t line up with Dominion (Raceway),” Ruggles said.

Ruggles thought he could be competitive at Jennerstown with the car and equipment he had.

He was wrong.

“I thought my car met the rules pretty well,” he said. “I went up there and found out it didn‘t. I built a new (car) to go up there because it was a fun race track. I lined up pretty decent the first time, but once I built a car specifically for that place, I ended up winning quite a few races.”

After making several trips back and forth to Jennerstown during the 2023 season, Ruggles said his original plan was to race weekly at the Pennsylvania track in 2024.

However, after winning the opening race of the year at Jennerstown, an engine failure forced him to reevaluate his plans.

“In race two, I blew a rod out of the block and couldn‘t afford to fix it,” said Ruggles, who instead spent most of the 2024 season racing at Virginia‘s Dominion Raceway. “My first race back (at Jennerstown) was opening night this year.”

Ruggles returned to Jennerstown focused and ready to chase not just the track championship, but the Division V national championship, as well.

He got off to a hot start, winning the first feature of the year on May 10. He failed to win the next two features but then rattled off five victories in his next six starts between June 7 and July 19. He knew then he had a real shot at winning the national title.

“It was always the hope to win the national title, but everything has to go perfect throughout the season,” said Ruggles, who always rewatches his races on FloRacing to see how he can improve for the next event. “Between the first couple races, I didn‘t really know if it was going to end up this way. I won the first one on opening night. Then in the next two I struggled. Then I ended up popping off five out of the next six where I started ninth or worse and still won.

“That‘s when it became kind of a reality to me that if I stayed where I was and stayed consistent, I could grind out the rest of the season.”

Ruggles won the final Fast 4 feature of the season at Jennerstown on Sept. 13 and locked up the track championship in the process.

He thought then he‘d also secured the Division V national championship, but he had to wait until the season ended on Sept. 21 before he officially received word he had done so. He also captured the Division V Northeast Regional championship.

“The last two weeks of the season, I couldn‘t sleep because I was on MyRacePass every hour just refreshing and checking the points,” Ruggles said. “I knew (winning the national championship) was a possibility, but like I said, everything has to go perfect.”

Ruggles‘ championship season wouldn‘t have been possible without sponsorship and support from Jones Utilities, Dixie Paving & Sealing, Parker‘s Welding and Fabrication Services, Bill Horner, TORP Chassis, BK Racing, Shreffler Tuning and 4Putt Race Engines.

He also credits his crew chief Eric Robertson, his girlfriend Gracie Leach and his parents for helping him in his pursuit of his goals.

Looking back on his season and the countless long days and nights on the road traveling, Ruggles said every moment was worth it thanks in large part to the welcoming family atmosphere at Jennerstown.

“They made it about as smooth as I could possibly describe it,” Ruggles said. “The track is on the up-and-up, and that‘s what I‘m more impressed with than anything. I love seeing race tracks thrive. That‘s a beautiful facility, and they deserve it.”

Ruggles, who will be one of the many champions honored during the upcoming NASCAR Regional and International Awards on Nov. 21 in Charlotte, North Carolina, is already looking ahead to 2026.

He said the plan is to return to Jennerstown next season and try to become the first driver since Chris Vannausdle in 2020-21 to repeat as the Division V national champion.

“Next year I‘m going back to Jennerstown hopefully to chase another one of these things,” Ruggles said.