Mike Looney fastest in Martinsville Late Model open test

Mike Looney came up just short in his pursuit of a Whelen All-American Series NASCAR National Championship this summer but left Martinsville Speedway feeling confident that he could leave next weekend with a second grandfather clock as a consolation prize.

The 2016 ValleyStar Credit Union 300 winner topped the charts during Thursday night’s open test but was adamant his typically humble way that the time was not indicative of his pace throughout the evening.

Looney’s 20.088 was quickest but only after a majority of the field mocked-up for a qualifying run. Looney said he was unhappy throughout most of the evening before finally starting to get a handle on his No. 87 once the sun set and rubber was laid down.

“Oh, we learned a lot of stuff that did’t work,” Looney said “We got a lot of a lot of information. We’ve found some stuff that did work too. What we learned is that the daylight set-up from when we won here in 2016 is no good at night.

“We thrashed. The guys worked really hard on the race car and I’m just so proud of my team. We changed pretty much everything on our car. Six, seven, eight springs. I don’t know how many sway bars. My guys looked like a Cup team the way they made all these changes, getting the car on the scale and off the scale. All I had to do is stand here and look pretty.”

Peyton Sellers, the 2005 NASCAR national champion, still looking for his first Martinsville Speedway victory was third. Like Looney, he was satisfied with where they finished up the night, but Sellers just could not get the feel he wanted until the session ended.

“This track changed more from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. that it had all day,” Sellers said. “So, overall, I think it was very beneficial. We made a qualifying run late in practice and didn’t go any faster, just got looser and I think it was the track freeing up some as dew rolled in and the temperature changed.

“I think experiencing that will help us a lot going in the next weekend. So, it was definitely a good day to be out here. You know, it’s hard to believe we run six hours with not a car spinning, no caution at all. I mean it went very smooth. So a lot of fast cars here today, that’s for sure. A lot of good cars here.”

Defending winner C.E. Falk III finished eigth, but like everyone else who posted fast times, he’s not totally sure what he has next week either. He tried several different brake packages and tore the car apart trying to find a better feel for his No. 40.

He says his victory in last year’s race has actually taken the pressure off test day.

“You know, the pressure is completely gone,” Falk said. “You know, we were cutting up today and it was fun. We worked really hard but usually during the test we get like ‘hurry up, hurry up,’ and there was none of that today. We just too k out time. We worked on our car all day and feel like we’ve caught up to everyone else.”

The session ran six hours from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. without a single incident. At least 78 cars took a lap but only 48 of them had a transponder.

The race will take place next weekend on Friday and Saturday, both under the lights. The race will air live on the Motor Racing Network (radio) and it is expected the race will stream on FansChoice.TV.

The list of all known timed drivers can be found below.

1. Mike Looney – 20.088
2. Craig Moore – 20.134
3. Peyton Sellers – 20.175
4. Lee Pulliam – 20.189
5. Josh Berry – 20.204
6. Ryan Wilson – 20.215
7. Dexter Canipe, Jr. – 20.223
8. E. Falk, III – 20.226
9. Jason York – 20.249
10. Trevor Noles – 20.254
11. Brennan Poole – 20.258
12. Brandon Pierce – 20.272
13. Dylan Ward – 20.278
14. Travis Swaim – 20.299
15. Kres VanDyke – 20.304
16. Justin Carroll – 20.324
17. David Gilliland – 20.340
18. Trey Crews – 20.346
19. Jamey Caudill – 20.350
20. Brenden Queen – 20.365
21. Jeff Oakley – 20.375
22. Brandon Clements – 20.388
23. Derrick Lancaster – 20.407
24. Taylor Gray – 20.421
25. Colin Garrett – 20.431
26. Bubba Pollard – 20.439
27. Jake Crum – 20.478
28. Kyle Dudley – 20.479
29. Mike Darne – 20.484
30. Grayson Cullather – 20.493
31. D. Smith – 20.516
32. Stacy Puryear – 20.523
33. Tommy Lemons, Jr. – 20.552
34. Jason Barnes – 20.553
35. Jonathan Findley – 20.563
36. Bruce Anderson – 20.614
37. Austin Thaxton – 20.633
38. Justin Snow – 20.662
39. Mason Bailey – 20.703
40. John Moore – 20.718
41. Amber Lynn – 20.739
42. Annabeth Barnes-Crum – 20.790
43. Davin Scites – 20.831
44. James Sweeney – 20.848
45. Owen Smith – 20.921
46. Kyle Barnes – 20.928
47. Chris Elliott – 21.094
48. Jeff Shiflett – 21.409