Ronnie Bassett, Jr. chasing first grandfather clock at Martinsville Speedway

Ronnie Bassett, Jr. hopes the change of the season brings winds of change after a summer slump as he looks ahead to Saturday’s ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway.

Bassett started his 2025 season on a high note with a third place finish in the zMAX CARS Tour opener at Coastal Plains Raceway.  Since then, he has only scored two additional top-fives, one at Orange County Speedway in April and the latest at Caraway Speedway in July.  He believes the speed is there and hopes to get his luck turned around on Late Model Stock Car racing’s biggest and brightest stage.

“We’ve just been in a slump to be honest with you,” Bassett told Short Track Scene.  “Last year, this time of year, we had solid top five runs going.  Now we’re struggling to get to the back half of the top-10.  We’ve just gotta get our luck turned around.  I feel like we’ve had decent speed and we just haven’t been in the right spot at the right time here lately, and not being there at the end of the races and not being able to capitalize.  I’m hoping to get to Martinsville this weekend and turn all that bad luck around and just be there at the end.  If you’re running in the top-five or six with 15 or 20 to go, you’re going to have a s shot to potentially win the race there.”

Bassett typically races for his family-based team out of Winston-Salem.  But this weekend, he will be driving a car owned and prepared by his crew chief Shane Wilson.

“It’s a combination between the two of us so it kind of works out pretty good,” Bassett explained.  “We were mingling in some of our stuff and using some of his to make one and, yeah, it’s tough going to a racetrack and trying to do both [drive and focus on setup].  With Shane around, I feel like I can rely on him and lean on him to take care of the crew chief part.  This weekend, you’re really gonna have to, me as a driver, focus on making time and making the car go fast and just let him do his job.  He’s a car owner as well but he’s gonna be crew chiefing so I’m going to have to let him do it, do my part, amd hope it ends in a good result.”

Bassett is one of the 21 drivers who is eligible for the $20,000 Virginia Triple Crown, where he is tied for second in points with Woody Howard.  If he is able to win the race and win the Virginia Triple Crown, the combined take home would be $52,000, not counting other bonuses the race pays out.

READ MORE » Virginia Triple Crown champion to be crowned at Martinsville

However, it’s the Ridgeway grandfather clock that goes to the winner that Bassett wants the most.  Bassett joked that the clock would have to be split in half between himself and Wilson.

“We’ll probably have to take a saw and cut it down the middle and half of it will go to Statesville and half go to Winston-Salem,” Bassett stated.  “The money and all is great.  Our biggest goal is to go there, be there at the end of the race to have a shot to win the race and the rest will take care of itself.”

Ronnie Bassett, Jr. is a former winner of the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park and has an ARCA Menards Series East victory at New Smyrna Speedway. He also has one career win in the zMAX CARS Tour, which came in the 2024 Throwback Classic at Hickory Motor Speedway.

Qualifying for the 2025 ValleyStar Credit Union 300 will be held at 8:00 pm on Friday. The field will then be set in a series of heat races on Saturday beginning at 3:00 pm. The 200-lap main event will take place at 7:00 pm. Qualifying and heat races for the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 will be streamed live on FloRacing. The feature race will be streamed on Flo, as well as on The NASCAR Channel, available free on Amazon Prime and Tubi.