Daryn Cockram is used to being a contender in Limited Late Model racing but luck has not been kind to the Floyd, Virginia driver in 2015. He is hoping to turn that luck around in Sunday’s Valley Star Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway.
Cockram, 38, is a semi-regular competitor at Motor Mile Speedway and South Boston Speedway. Last season, Cockram scored victories at Franklin County Speedway and Motor Mile Speedway but bad luck this season has shut him out of victory lane. Now looking to his second attempt to make the field for the biggest race in Late Model Stock Car racing.
“That monkey has rode on my back,” Cockram said. “It started last year at Southern National the last race, that thing jumped on my back. I just can’t shake it. We tried and tried and tried. These guys excellent to me and they keep digging so I’m not going to give up. We’re just going to keep going forward and we’ll get it.”
Cockram’s bad luck continued during last Wednesday’s test day. He was forced to load up and go home early when a spindle broke in the morning hours during the test. Despite not getting the same amount of test time as some of the other competitors, Cockram thinks the car is fast.
“From what I found out the first time we took the car out, it’s pretty good then we had a spindle issue causing the left front to bind up,” Cockram explained. “The times dropped off almost a second from what we ran right off the trailer. We just had to load up, go home, regroup and we’re going to redo the front end on the car and come back and try it again next week.”
Cockram is optimistic about his chances to make the field for Sunday’s Valley Star Credit Union 300 and, if he does, he hopes he can play a spoiler role.
“I feel like I should at least get in the field,” Cockram commented. “That’s my main goal, to try to get in and then we’ll see where it goes from there.”
Cockram will be competing on Sunday with a Wounded Warriors Project decal displayed prominently on the hood of his racecar. Cockram said one of his sponsors is a wounded warrior who has a child who have served in the United States Armed Forces and another that continues to serve in the military.
“We have a sponsor that is a wounded warrior and has children currently in the military and out of the military, they’re police officers,” Cockram remarked. “He makes rather big donations and wanted to make a donation in their name and put the decal on the car and he’s the primary sponsor.”
Sunday’s Valley Star Credit Union 300 will begin at 12pm with the heat races. Group qualifying, which will set the field for the heat races and lock in the front row, will be held on Saturday afternoon. RACE22.com will have coverage all weekend with Five Star Bodies RACEDAY LIVE presented by MPM Marketing on location from Martinsville Speedway.
