MARTINSVILLE, VA :: The front row for the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 was set on Saturday with Mike Looney and Lee Pulliam earning the honor to lead the field to green on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.
The veteran duo bested a field of 71 Late Model Stock teams and have become the only drivers officially guaranteed a spot in the 42-car starting field. The other 69 competitors will have to advance through a series of 25-lap heat races on Sunday just to make the 200-lap feature.
Beyond the $1,000 pole award payout, qualifying doesn’t count as a victory, but Looney and his Billy Martin owned team celebrated regardless.
“I can’t believe this is real,” Looney said. “This is a huge deal for a team of our size and our budget to beat a field of this size and this quality. Qualifying is one thing and racing is another but man I can’t put it into words what this means. I really can’t describe what this means.”
The pole earns Looney and Pulliam security for the first 175 laps as they gets to bypass the heats and save their tires 25 laps of racing before the Lap 175 competition caution. Looney (a Motor Mile Speedway regular) believes it will allow him to set the pace and manage his race better than the rest of the field.
“If you can beat these guys on Saturday, it’s an unbelievable feeling because they’re all fast,” Looney said. “But beyond that, we don’t have to run the heat race and are going to save 25 laps on our tires. That doesn’t hurt. I say we need to just survive the first 175, put on four tires at tbe break and see how it plays out.”
After making wholesale changes on his Kiker Motorsports No. 5, Pulliam was pleased with a runner-up qualifying effort and shared in Looney’s sense of relief.
“We made some pretty big changes there before qualifying,” Pulliam said. “That seemed to help the car. I know where we can be better. Hopefully we can get this thing just a tick better. So I’m happy about it. That’s a big deal. We’re in the show and on the front row. I couldn’t be more tickled.”
The biggest surprise in qualifying was 17-year-old Ryan Repko, whom posted the third-fastest time despite this being his first trip to NASCAR’s oldest track.
“It’s huge being close to the top of the board with all these big names here,” Repko said.
He ran within a split second of some of the biggest names in the discipline thanks to video games and social media.
“I ran iRacing to try to get as much experience as I could,” Repko said. “I also watched a lot of YouTube videos.”
The race is NASCAR’s richest and most prestigious Late Model Stock Car event. The winner will take home $25,000 and the iconic grandfather clock trophy. The event begins at Noon ET with three 25-lap heat races and a 25-lap last chance race.
Each of these heats — including the last chance race — will take 10 cars to make up the 42-car starting lineup.
The complete qualifying results can be found below.
- 87 Mike Looney 20.323
- 5 Lee Pulliam 20.342
- 14 Ryan Repko 20.354
- 04 CE Falk 20.383
- 08 Deac McCaskill 20.390
- 17A Stacey Puryear 20.392
- 83 Matt Bowling 20.421
- 27 Tommy Lemons Jr 20.428
- 88 Josh Berry 20.435
- 02 Brandon Butler 20.448
- 33 Macy Causey 20.456
- 01 Phillip Morris 20.460
- 12 Nick Smith 20.463
- 26A Danny Edwards 20.464
- 22 Trevor Noles 20.478
- 17 Ryan Millington 20.487
- 12B Bobby McCarty 20.501
- 15 Kres Van Dyke 20.502
- 2A Myatt Snider 20.507
- 97 Greg Edwards 20.518
- 1A Christian Eckes 20.524
- 63 Tyler Matthew 20.532
- 4C Annabeth Barnes-Crum 20.534
- 4 Dylan Hall 20.536
- 57 Justin Carroll 20.541
- 03 Brenden Queen 20.546
- 24 Mason Diaz 20.546
- 50 Ross Dalton 20.552
- 73 Bruce Anderson 20.554
- 98 Stephan Parsons 20.555
- 4A Kyle Dudley 20.558
- 16 RD Smith 20.561
- 54 Michael Fose 20.568
- 20 Sam Yarbrough 20.574
- 21A Travis Swaim 20.581
- 99 Layne Riggs 20.590
- 50A Garrett Bunch 20.599
- 2 Brendan Pierce 20.602
- 51 Chris Chapman 20.608
- 01A GR Waldrop 20.616
- 98A BJ Mackey 20.617
- 21 Mike Darne 20.622
- 12C Ryan Wilson 20.623
- 12A Austin Thaxton 20.634
- 81B Patrick Coleman 20.636
- 5A Tyler English 20.642
- 18 Bradley McCaskill 20.669
- 41 Haley Moody 20.686
- 18A Jason York 20.693
- 21B Jimmy Wallace 20.715
- 1 Jamie Sweeny 20.728
- 55 Mark Wertz 20.729
- 90 Terry Carroll 20.747
- 51A Kyle Plott 20.751
- 42 Mason Diaz 20.752
- 9 Brad Kurth 20.768
- 57A Jimmy Mullins 20.790
- 8 Thomas Scott 20.791
- 19 Cameron Bowen 20.795
- 7 Dylan Ward 20.806
- 29 Brandon Baker 20.819
- 81A Zack Clifton 20.828
- 81 Justin Johnson 20.873
- 38 Mark Kessee Jr 20.888
- 25 Derrick Lancaster 20.901
- 26 Peyton Sellers 20.919
- 77 Trevor Ward 20.929
- 10 Keith Parker 20.931
- 4B John Moore 20.937
- 78 Ricky Gillespie 21.069
- 36 Mark Simpson 21.215
Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.
