Story by: Andy Marquis

Ridgeway, VA(October 20, 2012) – Lee Pulliam and Matt McCall tied for the fastest qualifying lap during Martinsville’s qualifier practice session on Saturday evening.  Pulliam won the tie-breaker by virtue of winning the NASCAR Whelen All American Series National Championship.  Both drivers timed laps at 20.301 seconds.  Mike Darne and Garrett Campbell will also start on the pole in their respective heat races in Sunday’s Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 at Martinsville Speedway.

“It’s been a pretty crazy day,” Pulliam said.  “The racecar’s been really good all day.  We’ve tried a lot of different things, different combinations and the car’s working really well.  It seems to pick up the longer we run.  It’s pretty wild to be tied with Matt McCall for the pole here.  It’s going to be a pretty interesting show.”

“I’m sort of disappointed (Pulliam and I) ended in a tie,” McCall said.  “”It sucks that we’re not in the same heat race as him.”

“I was in the third group and I was the fastest car in that group overall,” Campbell said.  “Well, McCall’s fast.  I thought they were going to take the top ten cars out so we know who’s fast so we don’t have a 20th place car.  They said I had the fastest time passing somebody and that might be good in the race.”

“That was exciting,” Darne said.  “We really weren’t good in practice.  We threw everything we could throw at it so I didn’t know what I had.  My spotter kind of tricked me and told me they were going to take the average speeds so I went early.  It stuck the first lap and I was surprised.  I know I’ve surprised a lot of people today because I’m not normally one who’s in the Martinsville media center after qualifying.  This is exciting though.  I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve worked very hard.”

Pulliam will lead the first heat race to the green flag on Sunday, while McCall leads the second field, Darne the third field and Campbell the fourth.

For a complete list of qualifying results and the starting lineup for Sunday’s Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 qualifying heats, visit: http://race22.com/2012/10/qualifying-results-and-heat-race-lineups-for-virginia-is-for-racing-lovers-300/