RIDGEWAY, VA :: Well one name that we can easily rule out this weekend that will not win at Martinsville is Mother Nature. Friends we will indeed race the Valley Star Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway that will feature nearly 80 Late Model race teams all vowing for the glory, the prestige, the covenant Martinsville Grandfather Clock and its twenty-five thousand dollar purse filled with incentives.
Each year for this big race, everyone comes in on a clean slate. Forget about the seasons track champions, forget about who won what and where and win. Cool thing here at Martinsville in this big Late Model race is that it’s all about the now, it’s all about speed and only one race team will win. No doubt its championship season time in the Whelen All American Late Model series and here’s your first fact in picking a race winner. Come fast out of the hauler and go faster come race day, who can do it, who has done it and who stands to do it again this year.
I’d say that there alone narrows down the choices quite a bit but that was all to easy. Here’s another fact, Martinsville to these thirty-one hundred pound Late Models is a track that demands every bit of its known capabilities. The concrete corners places serious stress on suspension components, brake systems will experience searing heat and engines will stretched to its maximum RPM range putting engine builders on edge. Simply put, all the extremes will need to come together from these race cars but then there’s one more element to winning Martinsville that will not be overlooked.
Big time race car drivers win big time races, its how greatness is achieved. At Martinsville, there’s a little something special from these race car drivers that is needed to win. Some like to call it luck, I like to call it good fortune and knowing what you’re doing. Making good decisions in this race is everything and I’ll assure you every participant will make many decisions. Race experience at this track is huge, especially having quality, competitive race laps around the half mile facility. So in careful consideration of all these attributes, who has the goods, who has the potential and can they get it done? Here are my top five Martinsville picks and my dark horse pick to win this years Valley Star Credit Union 300.
#5 CE Falk…Though Falk’s racing career has taken a back seat in recent years, even if the guy was absent for the next five years from racing wouldn’t keep me from liking his chances at winning this race. CE Falk is big time in big time races and is nearly guaranteed to be at the front. Falk struggled last year at Martinsville and has no intentions of struggling again. He’ll bring a new piece this year and showed really good speed in practice two weeks ago.
#4 Matt Waltz…I think you would be making a mistake not including in your five best Matt Waltz. You might say hey man, that’s two guys you’ve been covering from Langley Speedway on your list and that is certainly true but again, I lean on big race experience and race teams that have laps around Martinsville. But what’s special in Waltz is his ability to make good decisions on the race track and he’ll show us some speed in this race as well. Expect a solid run to the one fifty mark, racing in the top ten or better and after some gutsy adjustments, see if Waltz gets aggressive and wins his first Grandfather Clock.
#3 Timothy Peters…Let me tell you, I’ve had some great conversations with Peters and he takes these Late Model race teams in the Whelen All American Series very seriously. If you know Timothy Peters any you’ll know that he hasn’t ever forgotten where it all began for him and his preparation is as extreme as if it was anything else he’ll ever race. Peters is the recent DHS winner at South Boston Speedway and if you were there you swore he just won Daytona. Factor in his Martinsville experience, factor in his ability to also make sound race decisions and if he’s anything close to where he was in last years race then without question, Timothy Peters is on your list.
#2 Josh Berry…The Valley Star Credit Union 300 would be a huge win and feather in Berry’s cap should he prevail. It’s no secret that Dale Earnhardt Jr would love to ink this guy for a full season in the Xfinity Series and it wouldn’t surprise me that there will be many invited corporate guests in attendance to check out Berry behind the wheel. You can bet that Berry will bring his best bullet for sure for this race. Of all the drivers who will participate in this years race at Martinsville, no one stands to benefit more from winning than Josh Berry. While I’m sure the pressure to perform is deep, driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr is more than most racers could ever bear. So I expect and so should you to see Berry as this years Martinsville potential race winner.
#1 Lee Pulliam…Sooner or later, you know that conversation about Pulliam being the best Late Model racer has got to be discussed. What hasn’t the talented racer not done in Late Models? Well to my understanding, no National Champion in Division One of the NASCAR Whelen All American Series has ever won the title and the race at Martinsville in the same year. Otherwise known as the “National Champions curse”. They said he wouldn’t go to Langley Speedway. Well he did, winning twice including the famed Hampton Heat 200. They said he’ll never return to Kingsport either and so he did, winning there this year as well. None of this means anything at Martinsville but what it can do is give Pulliam a bit of an edge in confidence. Given the attributes I named earlier in the article, the last thing this years competition at Martinsville needs to know is how much Lee Pulliam is confident. I’m going with Lee Pulliam. He has the most momentum coming into this race and his drive is as strong as it was at the beginning of the year.
Dark Horse…Hope you got to check out our own Corey Latham’s picks to the Martinsville race as he choose I guy I like as well in Tyler Ankrum. But I’d hate to be a copy cat so to speak and instead go with a guy that has been really consistent all year in his racing. Leading the CARS Late Model Series tour is Myatt Snider who has seemingly come into his own. Though you can bet he is sporting some of the best equipment, it’s what he’s doing with that equipment that has him leading that race series. Though winless in 2015, cant help but to think to get that first win at a place quite like Martinsville for Snider.
