Story by: Langley Austin ~ [email protected]

Kingsport, TN(May 31, 2012) — Close your eyes …. think of the last time that you saw Lee Pulliam struggling to find speed in his car at any race track … think about the last time you saw him qualify as poorly as tenth in any race …. think about the last time you saw him run poorly and park his car.

Open your eyes …. No, you’re not having a dream, but Lee Pulliam had a nightmare debut at Kingsport Speedway last Friday night. Going from running and winning regularly at tracks like Motor Mile Speedway and South Boston Speedway or even going from being the Martinsville, Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 winner to running outside the top ten at Kingsport Speedway.

Pulliam’s debut at Kingsport Speedway is one that he’d likely soon like to forget. The over four hour trip from his Semora, NC home to Kingsport, TN seemed to take forever, but the ride home was likely the longest trip back from a race that Pulliam has ever made. It had to be devastating to a driver of Pulliam’s caliber to pull all that way, test for nearly a full day on Thursday, finally find a little speed on Friday and still only qualify 10th. Then worse to run outside the top ten for most of the race before parking around lap 32 of 60.

The regulars at Kingsport laughed, rumblings all night through the pit area were of Pulliam’s struggles and the question of whether he’d come back for ‘another butt kicking’. Those questions will likely be answered sooner than many of the tracks regulars, who schooled Pulliam in his debut expected. Pulliam has said that he would return this Friday night, just seven days after a humiliating performance.

When he returns, he’ll be riding a four race losing streak, the longest of his Late Model Stock Car career dating back to his first win of 2010 on June 19th. In 2011, the young driver set the world on fire winning at Motor Mile Speedway, South Boston Speedway, Caraway Speedway and the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 at Martinsville Speedway, never losing more than one race in a row all season long. After a season ending suspension in October after a post-race fracas with Philip Morris, Pulliam returned this season at South Boston Speedway, winning two races in a row, before breaking in his Motor Mile debut two weeks ago while leading.

Then he made the trip to Kingsport Speedway, which was his second loss in a row and on the very next day he headed to South Boston Speedway, looking to get back on track and could only muster a second place finish in twin races on the track he got started at. Momentum is certainly not on Pulliam’s side as he readies to return to Kingsport Speedway on Friday night.

However, Pulliam is up to the task and feels that he is ready to make a much better run and will be on an even playing field in his return.

“When you come in here the first time, you have to buy two tires out of a scuff pile and all these guys have sixty laps on the right side of the car tires,” said Pulliam following the race at Kingsport. “We got some that’s got at least 120 laps, that we had to race tonight so, you know we weren’t looking forward to that. We knew that’d be a downfall.”

“The car was coming up pretty good, we were following Adam Long up through the pack. We got the toe knocked out and we stayed out a little bit and tried to run. But, we got some good tires and we won’t have any excuses next week and we’ll come up here and run with “Nate (Monteith) the Great”. We’ll be on the same slate on tires next week and we’ll go at it hard.”

Nate Monteith, who won the race on Friday night and has been the dominant car at Kingsport Speedway for the last two seasons since the track reopened said that he expected Pulliam to run about like he did.

“This place is a different animal, this isn’t Motor Mile, Martinsville or SoBo(South Boston) or on Hoosiers(tires) either,” said Monteith after his win. “This is a little bullring and you gotta stop and you gotta turn, I mean this is a whole different combination than anything he was used to and I know that. I know Lee’s a good racer, I know he ain’t going to give up, he’ll be back. He’s going to come back and keep trying and see if he can perform and we’re going to be coming to his house to contend.”

Despite all the reasons and excuses that Pulliam could make to not go back, from the long travel, to the different rules, the different tires and everything else that makes Kingsport nothing like Motor Mile or South Boston, in the end, Pulliam is a racer. He in every way will remind you of an old school, Barry Beggarly type racer, who will go anywhere at any time trying to chase those valuable NASCAR Whelen All-American Series points.

So, people can say what they will about Pulliam. You can say that he should be embarrassed of his performance at Kingsport or you can be one of his supporters, who will make excuses, but Pulliam is a racer and the fact that he’s willing to return after the way things went at Kingsport shows that no matter the outcome of the twin races this week, that he’s True Racer and you can’t keep one of those down for long.