Kres VanDyke was one of the headliners following last year’s Valley Star Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway.

While he did not make many friends on the track, his seemingly superhuman team put the entire Late Model Stock Car world in awe when they repaired his car with the kind of speed that would make Barry Allen look like a tortoise.

VanDyke was involved in two incidents in the heat races. The first came on the first lap of the first heat race when he and Jamey Caudill got together, triggering a massive accident. VanDyke’s team got his car repaired in time for him to make the field for the last chance qualifier where he would end up in another incident – this time on the last lap when he and Jake Crum got together coming to the checkered flag.

Both cars were devastated, but VanDyke’s team got the car repaired and he was able to start the feature race where he eventually finished 15th.

“I tell you, everybody still talks about it,” VanDyke said. “It’s never a dull story when you talk about Martinsville 2014. These guys are always like workhorses or like a football team or something, tackling everything. Seems like every time we turned around, something happened to us. We had to fix it. You know, at the end of the day, we still made the race and they did their jobs and did it well.”

There were lessons learned and the 35-year-old from Abingdon, Virginia is returning to Martinsville Speedway with a different game plan – but the same ultimate goal.

“This year, we may do things a little bit different,” VanDyke commented. “We’re looking at just being more patient, watching the other drivers a little bit better, you know, just placement of the car. We’ve got new guys with us. A lot of support coming to this car and it’s my job to make it fast and hopefully we can bring it to the table next week.”

The question for VanDyke is, does he has a target on his back this year following his incidents with Caudill and Crum last year? The 2014 Kingsport Speedway track champion does not think so. He feels what happened last year is in the past and is old news.

“I don’t have beef with them,” VanDyke explained. “I don’t know how they feel. It is what it is. I’m man enough to take care of what I need to take care of. The way I look at it, a lot of it is, it’s easy person to put their weight on their back so, we probably at that time, was very vulnerable and easy to put the weight on. No fault to this person. It is what it is and this year, we’re going to come back here and hopeful win the race. It’s what we’re coming here for. I’m not worried about what happened last year. It is what it is and it’s all in the past.”

The last two seasons have been banner years for VanDyke who earned 19 wins this year and 10 last year along with a track championship at Kingsport Speedway. VanDyke does not take all the credit for that though. He says much of the credit goes to his crew members, the same crew members that put everyone in awe at Martinsville one year ago.

“The last two years, we’ve won 29 races,” VanDyke remarked. “It’s been pretty phenomenal. It seems like, every year we’ve gotten better. The car is the same car we’ve had since 2002. It’s got a lot of races. She still gives it what we need to give. It’s been a great couple years. They keep learning,they’re going at it every single day at the shop. They work. It’s an ongoing process.”

Will VanDyke win number 30 on Sunday?

“Count on it,” VanDyke says.