MARTINSVILLE, Va. — It’s been nearly two years since Philip Morris climbed aboard a race car to compete, but that changes Saturday at Martinsville Speedway.
Morris, a five-time NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion and three-time winner of Martinsville’s ValleyStar Credit Union 300, made a surprise return Friday thanks to a partnership with Billy Martin Racing that was arranged by his former crew chief, Forrest Reynolds.
“Forrest Reynolds, that’s the nuts and bolts of why I’m here,” Morris said late Friday evening. “I’ve been away for a little while and I’ve wanted to race, but it just didn’t feel right until now.
“For him to come up with this kind of arrangement is really, really cool. It’s really honoring and humbling to me.”
Morris is one of the most decorated short-track racers in the Southeast, having won nearly everything there is to win in the region. However, following the passing of his son Blake last April, Morris took an indefinite leave of absence from racing.
At the time of his passing, Blake Morris had just begun racing late models alongside his father at tracks in Virginia. Now more than a year after his son’s death, the 56-year-old Morris wanted to get back in a race car to honor his son.
Doing it at Martinsville just seemed like the right fit.
“One of the things that I liked when my son was racing was trying to teach him how to do the lines and how to get him through the corner,” Morris recalled. “You know how kids are, they usually don’t listen to whatever dad says. I always wanted to have a seat in the car with him beside me so I could show him the line and show him why the car would do what it would do with him.
“When he passed away in April a year ago, that was pretty devastating,” Morris continued. “I didn’t know if I ever would come back to do even a one-off like this right here (at Martinsville). I was steady on the fact he could be riding with me now. I didn’t want to miss that chance.
“I’ve always loved driving late models, it’s where my heart is. But it’s been too raw for me to do it up until now.”
Morris acknowledged it was difficult keeping his emotions in check Friday. Martinsville was a place his son wanted to race, which makes it even more challenging for Morris.
“It’s been tough all day. This is the place my son wanted to come. He wanted to come here and he wanted to come right away. He wasn’t scared,” Morris said. “I hate that he missed that chance.”
The deal for Morris to drive for Billy Martin Racing, which is also fielding a car for 2016 ValleyStar Credit Union 300 winner Mike Looney, wasn’t finalized until about a week before the race. Very few were aware of the deal until his car appeared in the pits for inspection Friday morning.
“Billy Martin’s cars have always been pretty good. That’s pretty gracious of them to let us use it,” Morris said. “It’s an opportunity you couldn’t turn down pretty much. Forrest’s heart was all the way in it and I thought it would be great for all the guys to get back together.
“Forrest hasn’t really told me how it happened,” Morris added. “I feel pretty confident coming here that I can just get in the car and go.”
If Morris hopes to win the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 for the fourth time on Saturday, he’ll have to race his way into the field via one of four 25-lap heat races. A disappointing qualifying effort Friday evening means he will start 14th in the second of the four heats.
Daniel Silvestri and Bobby McCarty are the only two competitors locked into the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 field. The remainder will have to come from the four heat races and Morris knows how difficult that can be.
“Obviously I had higher expectations for how we would perform here,” Morris said. “You don’t lay off of this series for as long as I have and expect…it’s kind of lofty to expect something that big. This is the qualifying part of it. I feel pretty good about the racing side of it for what we have. We’ll just keep pressing on. My ultimate goal is happening, so we’ll see how that works out and where it takes me from here.”