Pulliam Doubles Up at Motor Mile, Deiny Finishes 2nd Twice

Story by: Langley Austin ~ [email protected]

Radford, VA(August 21, 2011) — On a hot evening at Motor Mile Speedway situated just outside of the town of Radford, VA, Lee Pulliam continued his hot streak and continued to dominate the 4/10 mile track.

Pulliam, who entered Saturday nights twin Late Model Stock Car features with a single season win record of 13 victories so far this season was looking to add his 14th and 15th win, but had a host of top notch racers there looking to take him down. Pulliam as expected took his 18th pole award of the season in qualifying and while many expected his rival, Frank Deiny, Jr. to qualify on the outside, he didn’t as he placed his Kiker Motorsports entry in 7th for the first race.

With Deiny back in the field a little that opened the door for Kris Bowen to continue his strong performances at Motor Mile Speedway and the young driver put his car on the outside pole. Rusty Skewes, Davin Scites and Hunter Devers, who was continuing his impressive performance in the last race, would round out the top five for the start of race number one.

Never really in doubt, Pulliam put his racer out in front of the field and drove off into the sunset with never a challenge, but behind him the field was racing feverishly. Bowen would settle into second while Deiny and Lemons, who started ninth were both on the move with Devers, who had such a great run back on August 6th fading fast. Justin Johnson, who was making another start in Skewes second car qualified eighth, but by lap 12 would bring out the first caution as he had problems with his right front suspension.

With Johnson’s problems sidelining him for much of the first race, he would come home with a 24th place finish in the 26-car field, but another driver making an unusual visit to Motor Mile, Jonathan Cash would be on the move and up to third position. Cash, driving Charlie and Robert Long’s #2 entry would look solid in the opening laps, however he would be the next driver with problems as his car went up in smoke on lap 42.

Cash would be done for the night, but Johnson was limping around as he tried to get his car ready for the second race of the night. Meanwhile back out front was Pulliam as he put a few car length lead on Bowen and just rode as he has all season. Bowen was under fire now from Deiny, who has been Mr. Second Place this season and soon enough, Deiny would take over the 2nd spot.

After a late race caution, Pulliam, Deiny and Bowen would set out and drive to their top three finishing spots as the 100-lap race came to an end. For Pulliam it was win number 14 and for Deiny it was his ninth second place finish of the season, but for Bowen it was another solid performance that showed that his hard work is paying off as he inches closer to being able to compete for the win with Pulliam and Deiny.

Tommy Lemons, Jr., who was again behind the wheel of Jay Hedgecock’s Driver Development car, finished fourth racing up from his ninth place starting position. Davin Scites, who since clipping his car after a crash at Caraway Speedway in early July, seemed to have his program heading in the right direction again with a fifth place finish. Skewes would keep himself in the sixth spot and would be the final driver involved in the redraw for race number two with Kelly Kingery, Harrison Rhodes, Josh Berry and Michael McGuire rounding out the top ten finishers.

Behind these guys, Devers, who started in the top five found himself spun on the final lap as he and Paddy Rodenbeck got together. Devers and Rodenbeck had a spirited battle the final few laps before the altercation and that looked to be something to watch in race number two.

For race number two, Bowen would redraw the pole with Lemons second followed by Deiny, Scites and Pulliam, who was handicapped with starting sixth due to winning the last two races in a row. It didn’t take long for Bowen to assert himself as the leader and Deiny to bypass Lemons for second as Pulliam was fighting to get around Scites for fifth. Through a couple of cautions including one on lap 12 that ended McGuire’s night as he came to stop in turn two, Bowen held the lead, but as the field went green on lap 20, Deiny was up on the wheel.

As the duo entered turn one, Deiny put the bumper to Bowen moving him up and out of the way as Bowen fought to keep his car under control. Bowen would get a chance to return the favor as the caution quickly waved again and on lap 26, Bowen hit turn one and moved Deiny up the track in a classic battle between the two. However, Deiny would be able to hold down the top spot and Bowen would settle into second as Pulliam was on the move behind them. Pulliam was up to fifth by lap 26, fourth by lap 31 and second by lap 40 as he set his sights on Deiny.

He would catch and race Deiny hard for the top spot as Deiny desperately tried to keep Pulliam behind him, though he had to know it was only a matter of time before Pulliam was back out front. Pulliam got into the back of Deiny a couple of times, making the #5 car wiggle a little through turns one and two before passing Deiny cleanly a few laps later. By the halfway point Pulliam was out front with Deiny slipping to second, but Deiny’s former protege`, Justin Johnson was on the move with his fresher tires from his race number one problems.

In what appeared to be a trick learned from his former boss, Johnson used his issues in race one to have a fresher set of tires for a charge through the field from his 22nd place starting position to now race Deiny for second. On every restart, Deiny wouldn’t be able to get to Pulliam, but rather had his hands full keeping Johnson behind him. A Paul Green and then later a Aaron Deplazes spin late in the race would set up a 25-lap or shorter sprint to the finish, but up front everything stayed the same to the finish.

Pulliam would pick up his 15th win of the season and Deiny would grab his tenth second place finish of the season, while Johnson was excited to grab a third place finish after his first race issues. Bowen would hang on to finish fourth as Lemons grabbed yet another top five finish in fifth. Skewes, Kingery, Berry, Devers and Rodenbeck would round out the top ten.

After their altercation on the final lap of race number one placing them 18th and 19th respectively, Devers and Rodenbeck played nice in race number two and came home with top ten finishes. For Devers it was the continuation of a great month of August with a third place effort a couple weeks back and for Rodenbeck it was a return to normal as he had struggled all season in starts around the region and a top ten will do a lot for his confidence before he heads to Martinsville in October.

One of the best battles in the second race of the night was between Rhodes and Old Dominion Speedway regular, Brandon Brown. Brown, who had engine troubles on Friday in practice and rented an engine to race on Saturday and Rhodes, who had finished a strong eighth in race number had a great battle as they beat each other around the track for many laps. Never turning one another despite some hard hits in the turns one and two area, the two kept it straight and despite having a plug wire fall off, Rhodes finished 11th with Brown 12th.

After grabbing a top five in race number one, Scites, who has been off his game for the last month or so, grabbed one of his worst finishes of 22nd in race number two. One driver, who was making his first start in a Late Model Stock Car and no less driving for JR Motorsports, owned by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was Jim Caudill. In race one he ran a solid race and came home with not even a scratch adorning his #88 machine, however in race two he was involved in an early accident and dented his car. Finishing 12th and 18th in his first two races at one of the most competitive tracks in the region was impressive for the driver, who looks to be one of the next Late Model Stock Car stars with a famous last name.

All in all it was a great night of racing, despite Pulliam’s domination and a predictable second place run(or two) by Deiny. Motor Mile Speedway has always heated up in the final races of the season and after Deiny and Pulliam’s altercation a few races back, people are glued to these two when they race near each other. On this night there were no fireworks to speak of, but there was good hard racing between some of the best Late Model Stock Car racers anywhere and in the end you can’t ask for much more.