Story by: Andy Marquis ~ [email protected]

Ridgeway, VA(October 20, 2012) – CE Falk, Matt Bowling and Nick Smith aren’t just chasing the elusive Martinsville Speedway grandfather clock in Sunday’s Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300.  One of those three drivers will become the winner of the Inaugural Virginia Triple Crown.

Falk kicked off the season and the Virginia Triple Crown with a win in the South Boston 300 at South Boston Speedway and then backed that performance up with a second place finish in the Hampton Heat 200 at Langley Speedway, which was the second leg of the Virginia Triple Crown.  Matt Bowling, who won the track championship at South Boston, won the Hampton Heat 200 and finished fourth in the South Boston opener.  Nick Smith finished second at South Boston and eighth at Langley.

Each of the three contenders sat down and discussed their chances during a press conference on Saturday morning in the infield media center at Martinsville Speedway.

“It’s a big thing to be a part of the triple crown when it first started,” Falk said.  “It’s really cool. There’s a lot of tracks where they sometimes do things where, if you win (three big races), they’ll give you some prizes and cash and stuff.  It always seems impossible.  For (the three tracks) to come together to give us such a great event where there’s going to be a winner, I didn’t even realize we were going have be a crown so that’s awesome.  We need like jesters and stuff.  It’s a cool event.  It’s a chase within a race.  We all want to win that thing over there (looking at the grandfather clock) and if it comes with a crown, that’s cool too.”

“It’s a pretty big deal,” Bowling, a Martinsville native, said.  “It’s the first year that they’ve had it and it means a lot.  To have the last race here at my home track is pretty cool.  It’s going to be tough to beat CE over there but I think we can give our best run at it.  We’re going after that clock over there.  It would be cool to have that to go along with it.”

“It would mean the world to win it all,” Smith said.  “Being that I’m third and I don’t have the pressure that these guys have, I feel like, with no practice, we have to take our time and make the right decisions today and tomorrow.  We have a good shot; we’ve run well here in the past and definitely want to touch that crown over there.  I definitely want to see that clock in my house one day but, for now, it’s about having a good time.  I definitely want to compete with these two guys; they’ve been running well this year.  It will be tough.  It’s definitely about bragging rights.  CE and I are neighbors at home so we can use that and give each other a hard time on who’s the champion.”

“I’m expecting these guys to be top ten guys so, with that said, yeah I do need to win it,” Smith said when asked if he has to win at Martinsville.  “You never know what could happen.  I’m not going to be heartbroken if I don’t win it.  I’m the underdog so I’m going to do the best I can and hope everything works out.  We had a good car at South Boston.  We weren’t as good at Langley.  Here, it’s any man’s race and a guy you don’t think has a chance could be there.  Anything can happen.”

“If we could pull this race off or win the Triple Crown, that would definitely top our season,” Bowling said.  “It’s been a pretty good season, we’ve been very fortunate.  This would be at the top of the list.”

Falk leads the Virginia Triple Crown standings by four points over Matt Bowling and 19 points over Nick Smith entering Sunday’s Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 at Martinsville Speedway.

RACE22.com’s Mark Rogers, Jr. contributed to this report.