The ValleyStar 300 at Martinsville Speedway is the biggest Late Model Stock race of the year, but one of the biggest names in Late Model Stock racing this year will not be racing this weekend.
Despite originally having Martinsville circled on their calendar just a month ago, Lewis said that he and his Kevin Harvick Inc. team are not in a good position to run this weekend now.
“We actually had Martinsville on our schedule,” Lewis said. “About four weeks ago we were going to go. We are just not in a position to be able to do that right now with the cars we have at the shop. We have to look at the bigger picture and that’s the [CARS Tour] championship.
“That’s what we’ve raced for all year. With the season that we’ve had; it’s been very good. Obviously it could be better, but we felt like it was smart to not go to Martinsville and focus on Tri-County and get all our notes together to be prepared as [best] as possible to go win the championship.”
Lewis was looking forward to Martinsville this year, and was excited to get a chance to race the biggest LMSC race of the year. While it does hurt him to miss it, he understands why and is focused on the bigger picture.
“It definitely stings to not be able to go run Martinsville,” Lewis said. “It sucks. This was going to be my first time running Martinsville in a Late Model Stock. Being fairly new to the Late Model Stock world, I wanted to go do it and chase a clock, but at the end of the day, it’s all [about] the big picture.
“We’ve worked so hard this year to be able to win KHI’s first CARS Tour championship. That’s the goal. Two weeks ago we changed the attitude of what we needed to do and pull[ed] out of Martinsville.”
Despite missing Martinsville, Lewis and his team will be working hard preparing for the CARS Tour race at Tri-County next weekend on Saturday, October 4, while many of the CARS Tour regulars will be in Virginia.
“The biggest thing is, it’s a four day turnaround to be ready for Tri-County [after Martinsville],” Lewis said. “Realistically, three and a half days. Just say, you go to Martinsville and you destroy a car. Either you’ve got a car ready to go back at the shop or you have to [re]-build that car for Tri-County.
“You can never plan on things going smooth[ly] and not wrecking a race car. It sucks that it’s that tight together, but at the end of the day, we’re trying to be smart. We’re prepared. All the bases are loaded. The ammos in the chamber. We’re going to be, I feel like, more prepared because we’re not going to Martinsville.
It definitely hurts me inside knowing I can’t go run that race knowing the year we have going on with KHI’s second full-time year in the CARS Tour and we’re won four races and had really good success and fast cars. It definitely sucks not being able to go to Martinsville, but I feel like we’ll be more prepared than a lot of people going to Tri-County.”
Lewis will be watching this weekend, but it is not an off weekend for him. He will be behind the wheel, just not in a late model.
“Obviously I’ll be watching,” Lewis said. “It’s to sit back and watch a race knowing you could be in it, but at the same time, I’m not really taking a week off. I’m going back to where it all started with Legends cars. I’m going to run [the] Road Course World Finals in Dominion this weekend. We’re going to try to win five in a row. We’ve won four years straight. So we’re going to try to set a new record and return back to where it all started.”
Despite Lewis’ absence from Martinsville this weekend, the field is as stacked as ever with 77 entries. Not only are drivers chasing a grandfather clock, several are chasing the Virginia Triple Crown championship.
The action starts at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 27 with four 25-lap qualifying races and the 200-lap main event at 7 p.m. ET. Tickets are still available, and FloRacing will stream all the action live starting at 2:45 p.m. ET.
