RIDGEWAY, Va. — In the span of just a few months, Lee Pulliam went from a retired grassroots racing legend to a rookie leading in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
On Saturday night (March 28), the four-time NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts champion was leading in his NOAPS debut at Martinsville Speedway with less than 30 laps to go. His JR Motorsports No. 9 ultimately finished fifth after leading 40 laps.
“What an incredible experience, man,” Pulliam said. “To drive for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and do this and compete and lead the second-most laps today. It’s pretty special.”
Pulliam, who made his mark in NASCAR with wins across the Late Model Stock Car spectrum, had quit driving following the 2019 season. Instead, he spent the next seven seasons running Lee Pulliam Performance, a LMSC team that helped propel the careers of Corey Heim, Brenden “Butterbean” Queen and more. The North Carolina native was viewed as a racing great at the grassroots level, but there was always the “what if” of what would’ve happened had he ever gotten an opportunity in a NASCAR national series.
A two-time winner of the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville (a crown jewel LMSC event), Pulliam returned to driving the past two seasons for that race, finishing second in a photo-finish last year. Pulliam returned to driving more consistently this year, winning a late model race at South Boston Speedway just a week before his O’Reilly debut.
“I’ve worked really hard on myself physically, mentally to get back into good racing shape,” Pulliam said.
But Saturday, Pulliam finally got to compete at the national level in a one-off for JRM.
“Yeah, I mean, just unbelievable to get to do this and be on the stage like this,” Pulliam said. “It’s something that I’ve wanted to do my entire career.”
Pulliam was fastest in practice but started 12th after qualifying was rained out. After trying to flip track position during a lap 106 caution prior to the end of stage two, Pulliam was hit with a pit road penalty for an uncontrolled tire. Immediately, Pulliam was asking the team if that penalty was for something he did wrong, which they assured him it was not. With the loss of track position, crew chief Phillip Bell got the No. 9 on an alternate strategy.
“Man, I felt like we was going to have a good shot to contend for the win there, and we had that uncontrolled tire,” Pulliam said. “When we got sent to the rear, I didn’t know what was going to happen. But Phillip [Bell, crew chief] gave me a shot. He called an aggressive strategy — we took tires early.”
When the leaders pitted for the final time, Pulliam stayed out and took the lead on lap 184 of the 250-lap race. Had the race stayed green the rest of the way, he may have won in his debut. But Pulliam lost the lead to eventual winner Justin Allgaier on a lap 225 restart.
“Once I got the lead, I set sail,” Pulliam said. “[I] just didn’t have enough rear tire to hold them off right there at the end and just made a couple mistakes on the restarts.”
And the restarts only got worse from there. Pulliam had his worst on lap 234. He missed a shift, and the result was a 19-car pileup behind him.
“I think just lining up beside those guys,” Pulliam said. “They could launch a lot harder than me, and I was trying to be aggressive and just made a mistake. [I] just hate it. Tore up some racecars there.”
Some of the drivers in the wreck were critical of Pulliam’s restart, with Josh Williams saying that it’s more difficult to shift in a late model than a NOAPS car. But Williams did say that nerves probably played a factor.
“It’s probably my inexperience, mostly,” Pulliam said. “I think having older tires and then a combination of me not ever doing this.”
Pulliam seemed upset with himself on the radio after the incident, but Earnhardt coached him back up and reminded him of how good he was doing.
“Man, I just hate it,” Pulliam said. “I needed to do a better job. I was trying to clean them up hard, and I just could not get going from second to third [gear]. Man, [I] just hate to tear up our JR Motorsports teammate with [Carson] Kvapil and anybody else that was involved.”
Pulliam was much better on the final restart and held on for a top five. Afterward, he was overcome with emotions when Earnhardt gave him a hug.
“Enjoy it,” Pulliam said Earnhardt told him. “He was so proud of me. He said everybody makes mistakes. He said, ‘I’ve done it, and don’t dwell on it. Just, you had a killer day, dude.’ And, you know, it meant a lot.”
His former driver, Queen, also gave him encouragement afterward.
It’s unknown if Pulliam will ever get race in a NASCAR national series race again. But on Saturday, he finally got his shot.
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020.
Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.
Takes responsibility for the crash. He needs to get a Presidential Medal of Freedom immediately. Took responsibility when he didn’t have to, since no one saw the race, there is no way for people to know what happened. Hold on, I’m being told the races are televised so anyone can see. In fact they are recorded and can be played back any time. Oh, who would have known that…