Presumptive National Champion Pulliam Looks Ahead to Martinsville

SEMORA, NC :: Defending NASCAR Whelen All American Series (NWAAS) National Champion Lee Pulliam is destined for a second consecutive championship – something that the 25-year-old driver considers a blessing.  Pulliam could clinch the championship on Saturday in the 250 lap, $10,000 to win ‘BAIRD Drywall & Acoustic, Inc. BARNBURNER presented by LINE-X of the Blue Ridge’ at Motor Mile Speedway.

“Motor Mile’s been a place that’s been dear to us and our team,” Pulliam said.  “We’ve worked extremely hard trying different packages there over the past few seasons.  We make the car better but the competition gets better and better.  When they get closer, we work harder.  I can’t say enough about our team and the effort they put in to being number one around that place.”

Pulliam will become only the third driver in NASCAR Whelen All American Series history to win multiple championships, joining only Larry Phillips and Philip Morris.  If he wins the 250 lap race at Motor Mile on Saturday night, he will secure the championship with a statistical perfect season, scoring 18 full field wins and locking down 810 points in the NWAAS National Standings.

“It’s pretty special,” Pulliam remarked.  “You get on a very short list being a multi time National Champion.  When you are with names like Philip Morris and Larry Philips, it’s a special feat.  It’ll be pretty cool.  We’ve just got to finish it off.  If we can get one more win and make it a perfect season, that will be special.  To have a lead like we do right now is definitely special for all of us.”

Pulliam will enter Saturday’s race with 808 points, a 42-point lead over Deac McCaskill.  Even if Pulliam cannot score another full field win before the NWAAS points cutoff on September 15^th, he will still win the championship by virtue of the number of full field wins (nine or more) Deac McCaskill, Keith Rocco or Ryan Preece would need – a feat that is now impossible for either of the three to achieve before the September 15^th cutoff.

Pulliam knows the math and he knows that he is destined to win back-to-back NWAAS National Championships.  There is one more thing Pulliam wants to win this season.  On October 6^th, Late Model Stock Car racing’s greatest drivers will congregate at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia for the 19^th running of the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 and the 43^rd Late Model Stock Car spectacle at the half-mile paperclip.

Pulliam says his team has been thinking about Martinsville for the past month and a half and is already experimenting with race packages to arrive at peak performance mode when they drive through the tunnel at Martinsville Speedway in October.

“We’ve been thinking about Martinsville the past month and a half,” Pulliam explained.  “Motor Mile is a place we’re trying a lot of stuff for up there.  We’re trying shock and spring packages.  We’re doing everything we can to figure out some things before we get there and getting some ideas to try.  We’re using Motor Mile as a test session.  We’ll have fun, try to win the race on Saturday and use it as a test session.”

In the 27 previous years that a Late Model Stock Car race has been held at Martinsville Speedway, the NWAAS National Champion has never gone on to win a race at Martinsville in their respective championship-winning season.  It is what has become known as the ‘National Championship curse’.  That is one ‘curse’ Pulliam hopes to put an end to.

“Martinsville’s a tough race to win, period,” Pulliam remarked.   “The odds are stacked up against you pretty bad.  We missed winning the race by one spot last year.  It’s been a good track for us though as far as braking in the corner and keeping it down getting off the corner.  We’re excited about it.  We’ve found some things that will help us.  It’ll take a lot of luck to win that though.  You can’t just have the best car, got to have the best luck as well.”

Pulliam said it would be a special feat to win the NWAAS National Championship and the Martinsville race in the same year – a feat he was only one position away from accomplishing last year.  He does know how to win at Martinsville.  He took home the grandfather clock and the $25,000 check in 2011 with a last lap bump-and-run pass on Matt McCall.

While many fans and enthusiasts have speculated on what the future holds for Pulliam, he was much more restrained on speculating about the future, saying he’s looking at what opportunities become available to him.

“I don’t know what the future holds for us,” Pulliam stated.  “We’re looking at some different things.  We just don’t know what doors will open up.  It’s been a special few years in the Late Model Stock Car division.  I’ve got a lot of memories that will last a life time.  I’m thankful for that.  I’ll be doing a lot of praying and hoping the future will work out for us.”

In addition to the National Championship, Pulliam has already won the South Boston Speedway track championship and is expected to win the NWAAS Virginia State Championship and could also win the Motor Mile Speedway track championship.

For now, Pulliam’s goals are simple – wrap up the NASCAR Whelen All American Series National Championship and score the victory in Late Model Stock Car racing’s most prestigious race at Martinsville in October.