MYRTLE BEACH, SC :: Two-time defending NASCAR Whelen All American Series National Champion Lee Pulliam padded his impressive resume with his 30th Late Model Stock Car victory of the 2013 season, scoring the victory in Sunday’s wild Myrtle Beach 400 Late Model feature race at Myrtle Beach Speedway. Pulliam started on the pole after winning Saturday night’s Dash for Cash race and capped off a near-perfect season with the win.
“God has been really good to me,” Pulliam said. “I have been extremely blessed. Just thankful for the opportunity Travis and Eddie gave me to drive their car. I’m really looking forward to next year. We put a lot of effort in to that thing this week and Don Kowalsky put a lot of effort in it. Everyone gave it their 100 percent. We didn’t unload the best. We tried different setups and my crew never gave up. I couldn’t do it without my team. We changed a billion springs, sway bars, shocks, track bar, lead… there’s nothing we didn’t try. That’s just a statement to my team and what they do.”
Pulliam took the lead from Ben Rhodes during the second Green-White-Checkered attempt. Pulliam drove away from Rhodes coming to the white flag. Rhodes got wrecked off the front bumper of Garrett Campbell on the final lap, triggering a caution to end the race which secured the victory for Pulliam.
“I sailed her on in there (in turn one) because I knew it would get exciting behind me and I wanted to be clear,” Pulliam stated. “I knew things were getting big and I just drove as hard as I could. We took the white and that was an incredible feeling.”
Pulliam’s victory came in his first start for Kiker Motorsports and his first appearance at Myrtle Beach Speedway.
“It didn’t take long to win. We worked our tails off as a team this weekend,” Travis Kiker explained. “We didn’t know what was going to happen. We went out blind in qualifying. This deal was phenomenal. It was just great. I can’t explain how happy I am to have Lee drive our cars. Hopefully we can stay together and do it all next year – every race.”
Garrett Campbell was penalized to the rear of the field after the incident with Ben Rhodes which mirrored the final lap incident in the 2012 race (run in March 2013) when Justin Milliken spun off the front bumper of Rhodes. When Rhodes wrecked, Milliken’s crew erupted in applause.
“White flag lap,” Campbell explained. “We were trying to get what we could. Ben came down on me or I got in to him, you know it’s going to be two different sides of the story, whichever way you look at it, I didn’t mean for his car to end up like that but I’m sure they can replace it. It’s just a racing deal. We had a good car … Everyone tried to go too hard too early and they finished towards the back. It’s Myrtle Beach, eventually everyone will figure it out.”
Ben Rhodes declined to comment.
Kaz Grala finished in second while Daniel Hemric, David Ragan and Martinsville winner Tommy Lemons, Jr. rounded out the top five.
Race Results
1. #5 Lee Pulliam
2. #3 Kaz Grala
3. #66 Daniel Hemric
4. #77 David Ragan
5. #27 Tommy Lemons, Jr.
6. #89 Robert Tyler
7. #07 Trey Marcham
8. #00 Shane Lee
9. #20 Sam Yarbrough
10. #71 CJ Hulsey
11. #61 Matt McCall
12. #17 Alex Pacheco
13. #79 Blake Stallings
14. #10 Matt Waltz
15. #2 Michael Faulk
16. #25 Matt Piercy
17. #9 Justin Sorrow
18. #7 Justin Cider
19. #11 Austin McDaniel
20. #06 Lucas Ransone
21. #41 Ben Rhodes
22. #12 Garrett Campbell
23. #8 Rusty Skewes
24. #03 Brenden Queen
25. #51 Matt Cox
26. #58 Scott Turlington
27. #13 Stacy Compton
28. #29 Brandon Baker
29. #99 Peyton Sellers
30. #02 Justin Milliken
31. #81 Harrison Rhodes
32. #1 Jeremy Burns
33. #34 Greg Edwards
34. #55 Brian Vause
35. #59 Jamie Weatherford
36. #47 Timothy Peters
37. #84 Shane Huffman
38. #50 Jamey Caudill
39. #82 Will Burns
40. #98 Kevin PArsons
41. #88 Garrett Jones
42. #04 Ronnie Bassett, Jr.
