LUCAMA, NC – Lee Pulliam has won just about everything there is to win in Late Model Stock Car racing – except the Thanksgiving All-Star Classic. The veteran from Semora, North Carolina intend to change that this weekend.
Pulliam has won three NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championships and has won in three of the four biggest races in Late Model Stock Car racing. In 2011, Pulliam picked up his first win at Martinsville Speedway in the biggest event of the season, the Valley Star Credit Union 300. He won at Martinsville again in 2014. He won what is now called the UNOH Battle at the Beach at Myrtle Beach Speedway in 2013 and, back in July, he won the Hampton Heat 200 at Langley Speedway in Virginia.
However, in three attempts, the Thanksgiving All-Star Classic has eluded him.
“I sure hope it’s my year,” Pulliam said. “We’ve had a good shot to win every year we run it. We got wrecked by lapped car one year, had a Green-White-Checkerd come out when we had it won the next and had transmission failure leading the race last year. One thing after another. We just keep missing out on it. Hopefully our luck will turn in that race and we can finish it off.”
After his victory in the Hampton Heat 200 back in July, Pulliam became only the third driver in Late Model Stock Car racing to win three of the crowned jewel races in Late Model Stock Car racing – joining Frank Deiny, Jr. and Jamey Caudill who have both won the Thanksgiving Classic.
“It means a lot to me personally,” Pulliam remarked. “Sitting in the stands as a kid watching Jamey Caudill and Frank Deiny racing growing up, I just wanted the opportunity to race and my family worked hard to give me the opportunity to get a Limited Sportsman car. Several people started chipping in. To join two guys who won three majors, pretty unbelievable really. I’ve been blessed to do what I love and I love what I do.”
Pulliam has scored 14 career wins at Southern National Motorsports Park with two of those wins coming back in September when he beat Bradley McCaskill and Kate Dallenbach in thrilling twin races. Most of Pulliam’s success at Southern National came in 2014 when he picked up 10 victories.
However, none of those victories have come in the Thanksgiving All-Star Classic. If Pulliam wins the 200 lapper on Sunday, he will become the first driver to complete Late Model Stock Car racing’s “grand slam”.
“It would be pretty special for sure,” Pulliam commented. “We’ve won a lot of races at Kenly. It’s a cool place to race at. You can really race hard there. I think it would be special to be in that list by myself as someone who won all four of them.”
Lee Pulliam enters the Thanksgiving All-Star Classic fresh off a third place finish in this past weekend’s UNOH Battle at the Beach at Myrtle Beach Speedway – finishing behind race winner Myatt Snider and 2014 Southern National track champion Tommy Lemons, Jr. Both Lemons, who has won twice at Martinsville, and Snider are expected to compete in this weekend’s Thanksgiving All-Star Classic.
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