This year’s running of the Valley Credit Union 300 has concluded with a previous Martinsville winner in Victory Lane. Tommy Lemons Jr. clinched his second grandfather clock and $25,000 check.
“Our season hasn’t been what we wanted but the win at Caraway back in July, that meant a ton to me. Rusty [Harpe] meant a lot to me and I think a lot of his family. To win here, it’s a pretty special year,” said the two-time Martinsville winner. “I said it a couple times tonight, you know. When I get to hang my helmet up and my driving shoes, I get to say I’m a two time Martinsville winner. Not a lot of people can say that.”
The race was action packed, just like it is every single year. Despite the timing and scoring troubles during qualifying day, the race went on just as it usually does, attrition and all.
Lemons Jr. overcame a tough beginning to the race to taking over the lead after the top eight cars were inverted. He kept the lead from there. It wasn’t that simple though, Todd Gilliland was a threat to steal the lead at any second.
Todd Gilliland, a 15 year old LMSC driver and ARCA Racing Series driver, made his second Martinsville start today, and his car was dominant. After leading most of the race and having to drop back to eighth after the invert, Gilliland made his way back up to the front just to be knocked out of line of one of the final restarts.
“I don’t really know. Someone just got in our left rear and sent us up the track a little bit and then I had marbles all over my tires. It was just hard to regain your composure after all that, after you’ve been leading all those laps and it’s frustrating. We’ll learn from this and it’s made me a better driver,” said a heartbroken Gilliland. “My crew guys gave me a really good car and we led a bunch of laps, gained a lot of respect from other people and we’ll come back here next year that much better and hopefully make it to the end of one of these races.”
On the first and only attempt at the Green-White-Checkered, after Gilliland was tossed to the back, Timothy Peters found himself battling for the lead on the inside of Tommy Lemons. They brought their cars around turn four on the final lap where Peters tried to get into the side of Lemons to slow him down just a bit, but things went horribly wrong. Peters ended up spinning out and slammed headfirst into the inside wall of the front-stretch.
“It ranks right up there, for sure,” Peters said about how great his night was. “Not for the wrecked race car. It is what it is. It was definitely a great race. I think the fans got they’re money’s worth from lap 50 on to 200. Kudos to Clay and everyone here at NASCAR, rearranging the format. I think it was definitely action-packed. You still got your caution with ten to go, and five to go. It’s still a great race.”
He admits it was one of the hardest crashes he has had in a LMSC. He was thankful for the SAFER barrier in the wall or things could have been much worse. This won’t stop him from coming back again in the future.
“This is the best race on the planet. This is where I came from. I just love coming back here.”
Lee Pulliam, this year’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Champion, finished second in tonight’s event. He was frustrated during the race claiming his car just wasn’t where it needed to be, and he couldn’t beat Gilliland. He knows he can’t give up.
“Todd had a good hot rod all weekend,” said the two-time Martinsville winner. “I think I had one of the best built motor cars here but they’re just giving these Ford crates these 650 carburetors, you know, maybe they’ll realize that’s way too much carb for these guys. It was a boring race. Todd, and all the Ford crates, were just killing us. He just happened to have one that was handling as good as us. If he had a built motor, he would’ve been right there with us. It is what it is. He took advantage of how the rules are. He definitely had the car to win, just got shuffled there at the end. A little bit too inexperienced. But he does a great job. Todd, hands down, for his age, pretty amazing what the kid can do so he gets a little experience and a little more knowledge and he’ll be tough to beat.”
Unofficial Results:
