In what serves as late model stock car racing’s Daytona 500, the 2025 ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway did not disappoint, with Landon Pembelton scoring his second victory in the prestigious event.
Standing as the final leg of a three-race Virginia Triple Crown series, the race fittingly ended in a photo finish, with Pembelton edging the creator of a feel-good story in Lee Pulliam by inches to claim the illustrious grandfather clock.
Pembelton, who previously won the race in 2021, gutted his way to victory on a green-white-checkered restart after restarting on the outside of Pulliam, who was the control car. After Pulliam cleared to the lead, Pembelton laid a bumper to the back of Pulliam’s No. 1B entering turn 3 on the penultimate lap, creating enough of an opening to drive to the inside.
The Virginian cleared Pulliam exiting turn 2, but Pulliam wasn’t done yet. Once Pembelton took a defensive line entering turns 3 and 4 for the final time, his car washed up slightly, allowing Pulliam to return the favor with a bump of his own. The two cars came onto the frontstretch side-by-side and proceeded to drag race to the checkered flag. Pembelton ultimately had just enough of an advantage to eke out the victory.
During a pause in the action late in the race due to rain, the 20-year-old revealed that his maiden grandfather clock sits in the living room at his home. Now, he will have to clear space to make room for a second.
“It feels amazing,” Pembelton said to Frontstretch after the win. “This one is soaking in a lot more than the first one did. An incredible feat to add to the resume.”
The 20-year-old had nothing but high praise for the veteran Pulliam, who is a two-time winner of this event himself.
“If you look at his statistics, he is the GOAT (greatest of all-time),” Pembelton said. “The amount of times that he’s raced, and what he’s done; it is unbelievable. To be able to go toe-to-toe with that guy is something that I would have never dreamed of.”
In a Virginia Triple Crown series full of both jubilation and heartbreak, the victory was a true comeback story for Pembelton, who began the three-race clash with a scary fire in the opening leg at South Boston. Now, Pembelton closes out what is the most lucrative Triple Crown in its history with both a clock and over $30,000 in prize money.
Jared Fryer, Andrew Grady and Parker Eatmon rounded out the top five, with Ty Majeski, Landon S. Huffman, Cody Kelley, Doug Barnes Jr. and Carson Loftin wrapping up the top-10.
While Pembelton celebrated his second triumph on the sport’s biggest stage, it was Connor Hall soaking in his first Triple Crown title. The JR Motorsports driver kicked off the series with a win in the Thunder Road Harley Davidson 200 at South Boston, and he carried a 1.5 average finish into the finale. Despite Hall finishing just 11th in Martinsville, no other competitor was able to threaten him for the crown, adding another valued accomplishment to an already-outstanding resume in short rack racing.
“Obviously, the clock was the goal,” Hall told Frontstretch. “You come to Martinsville for the Ridgeway clock. But to capitalize enough tonight to solidly our Triple Crown effort is pretty cool.”
The title added more significance considering that Hall is a Hampton, Va. native.
“There’s special wins as far as races, and there’s special wins as far as championships. Obviously, this has to take place on the championship side to the nationals. I hope maybe I can sneak another championship in there this year, but if this is what it comes down to, then I’m really happy.”
Hall’s title pursuit was greatly bolstered by the early exit of Ronnie Bassett Jr., the next-closest competitor in the average finish-based standings with a mark of 6.5. However, issues resulting from a lap 1 stack-up led to Bassett’s dismissal from the race 30 laps in.
“Something with the exhaust broke or came off,” Bassett said. “[It was] shooting carbon monoxide into the right side of the car — couldn’t breathe. Had to come down and park it.”
As a result, Hall receives the benefit of an increased purse for the champion, increasing to $20,000 after NASCAR and FloSports added $50,000 to the Triple Crown this season.
While Hall celebrated his title, Pulliam exited his car after a heart-wrenching defeat, walked to the frontstretch, and congratulated Pembelton and his team on the victory. It was the first time since the 2024 running of this race that the car owner of Lee Pulliam Performance strapped in for a race.
Returning last year as a promise to his ailing father to race again if he recovered (which he did), Pulliam left last year’s 13th-place showing disappointed and hungry for more. A year later, he not only improved upon that finish, but nearly left The Paperclip with some extra living room furniture.
What led to the Pembelton-Pulliam cinema was a mass domino effect that characterized a night full of attrition, beginning on lap 1. A missed shift in the field led to a stack-up, involving drivers such as former race winner Mike Looney and Daniel Silvestri along with several others.
The crash set the tone for a race that featured 14 cautions, 10 of them due to incidents.
On lap 39, several other key contenders were wrapped up in a wreck resembling ‘The Big One’ of a Daytona 500 when Brandon Pierce got turned in front of the field, gobbling up drivers such as Majeski and Landon Huffman. The latter driver’s fan-favorite No. 57 Sheetz machine was destroyed, leading to an early exit.
“Pretty early in the race to be running people over, I guess,” a frustrated Huffman told Frontstretch. “Everybody checked up, and especially at Martinsville, everybody’s down on the curb, and I was tucked in behind Connor [Hall], and when all of that happened I couldn’t see him. He checked up really hard, and I just drove into the back of him and knocked the radiator out of it.”
Weather was a threat throughout the entire weekend, making its first wrinkle with 128 laps to go when rain forced a red flag, pausing the battle up front between Trevor Ward and the polesitter, Loftin.
Loftin led the opening 10 laps before being passed by Ward, who appeared to have the best car of the night. But once the race resumed and the two jockeyed for the lead on following restarts, the event was turned on its head when Ward was hit with a restart violation with roughly 80 laps remaining, virtually ending the 2023 VSCU winner’s chances at a second victory.
In between the first delay for rain and Ward’s penalty was one of the other major storylines of the race.
Sam Yarbrough and Tristan McKee were battling inside the top 10 with 100 laps to go when Yarbrough executed a routine bump-and-run pass on the 15-year-old. However, as McKee went to slide in behind Yarbrough, he misjudged the spacing, hooking Yarbrough into the outside wall and igniting a vicious crash.
A clearly incensed Yarbrough gestured angrily at McKee after exiting his car, and took the frustration to the pits, where he confronted McKee’s team. The incident adds to a growing list of on-track controversies that McKee has been involved in this season.
“I don’t follow it, I’m not on social media, I don’t do any of that stuff, but I see it on the track all the time,” Yarbrough told Frontstretch about McKee’s aggression. “I’m not surprised, just look at how he ran Mini [Tyrell] two weeks ago at South Boston. Doored him running up the track, zero respect. You have to earn respect to be looked at as a quality driver. You’ve got to keep a level head and try to do smart things, and he doesn’t do anything smart. Maybe once he hits the fence a couple of hard times he’ll start doing some smart things.”
McKee, who exited later due to a motor issue, admitted he made a judgment mistake.
“I heard clear down, and obviously, no matter what the spotter said, it was my bad, and I misjudged it,” the Spire Motorsports driver told Frontstretch. “Everyone’s trying to get down, and when you’re stuck on the top here at Martinsville, it’s just huge to be on the bottom. Everyone’s trying to get down and clear of someone, and [Yarbrough] had just passed me, and ultimately, I just got into his right rear. It was nothing intentional at all, and I didn’t mean to do it.”
The intensity opened the door for Pembelton and Pulliam to run through, passing Loftin and setting up a duel over the final 70 laps. Pulliam passed Pembelton with 50 laps remaining, holding the lead through additional restarts before a second rain shower halted the race.
Once the race resumed, Pembelton worked his way around Pulliam again before another caution struck with 15 laps to go. This time, Pulliam got the jump, clearing to the lead and seemingly driving his way to victory before another spin by Pierce set up the two-lap dash to the finish that saw Pembelton get the final word.
Once again, late model stock car racing’s biggest night proved why it holds that distinction, capping off a weekend that saw over 70 of the country’s top late model drivers vie for a spot in the race.
Surprisingly void from the event was the defending Triple Crown champion Peyton Sellers, who failed to advance from his heat race in a new system of setting the field. It just goes to show how difficult this race – and the Virginia Triple Crown in general – can be.
When the dust settled, one of the sport’s top faces in Hall emerged as the champion, with the rising star of Pembelton shining brightly yet again.
Entering his fifth year with Frontstretch, Luken Glover is the author of The Underdog House, shedding light on the motivation and performance of NASCAR's dark horse teams as they strive to fight to the top. Additionally, Glover reports for the site at various events, and he contributes in the video editing department.
A 2023 graduate of the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is a middle school math and PE teacher, as well as a basketball coach. He is passionate about serving in his church, playing/coaching a wide variety of sports, and researching motorsports history.