Qualifying Up For Grabs In Made In America Whelen 300
Burt Myers and Ryan Preece battle for the lead in 2008.
When qualifying rolls around for the Made In America Whelen 300 Saturday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway, it’s tough to make a prediction on the fastest, because qualifying has always been wide open for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
In the last four Martinsville Modified events there have been four different pole winners and in 33 total races here, there have been 20 different pole winners.
Young Ryan Preece, just 17 last year, won the pole for 2008 race and backed it up with the race win.
Other recent pole winners include Donny Lia in 2007, Mike Stefanik in 2006 and Chuck Hossfield in 2005. Like Preece, Lia backed up his pole win in 2007 with the race victory.
Preece’s pole-winning time last year was 18.877 seconds (100.313 miles per hour). That’s still a bit off the Modified track record of 101.0145 mph, which has stood for over 20 years. It was set by Greg Sackis in the spring of 1986.
It’s even more difficult to pick a pole winner for this weekend’s inaugural NACAR Limited Sportsman race, mainly because it is the first time the division has run at Martinsville.
Both the Modified and Limited Sportsman divisions will practice and time trial on Saturday. The Modifieds practice from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, followed by a two hour Limited Sportsman practice. The Modified cars qualify at 1:30 p.m. with Limited Sportsman time trials to follow. Only the top 26 positions of the 36-car Limited field will be in qualifying. The remaining 10 spots will be filled in two 25-lap heat races that begin at 12:15 p.m. Sunday.
The 200-lap Modified race should take the green flag around 1:30 Sunday followed by the 50-lap Limited race.
NO BREAK: This is the first year since the Mods returned to Martinsville in 2005 that there will not be a halfway break. In the past four years the race was stopped for 10 minutes at the halfway mark allowing teams to do pit work.
SCHOOL DAYS: Area students will be a big part of prerace activities Sunday. Students from the Bassett High School JROTC program will provide the color guard for the national anthem while several members of the Martinsville High School band will perform the national anthem.
A student from the Henry County School system will serve as the race’s honorary starter, waving the green flag to start the race.
GATES OPEN: Fan gates open at 9 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday. Admission to practice and qualifying on Saturday is $5, children 12 and under free. Admission to the Made In America Whelen 300 on Sunday is $25, children 12 and under free.
