SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — It was six-and-a-half years ago, September 7, 2019, that Lee Pulliam last drove to victory as a driver.
The victory came at South Boston Speedway on a night on which he staged a dominant performance in winning the pole and sweeping a twin-race event.
The Alton, Virginia resident has not raced at South Boston Speedway since the end of the 2019 season and would relish the experience of winning at the legendary speedway.
He will get that opportunity when he returns to the legendary oval for the 100-lap Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division race that will be part of the Saturday, March 21 season-opening URW Community Federal Credit Union Race Day event.
“I couldn’t be any more excited,” Pulliam said of making his first start at South Boston Speedway as a driver since September 7, 2019.
“It’s the place that started it all for me. As a kid I fell in love with short track racing at South Boston Speedway. Where the grandstand they named after me today is where I used to sit and watch races.
“All of it is surreal,” he continued. “I had so much success there over the years. It’s always great to race in front of your hometown crowd, the people from Roxboro and South Boston, and have a lot of local support.”
Pulliam, a four-time NASCAR Weekly Series National Champion, a six-time winner of the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200, and a two-time winner of the Virginia Late Model Triple Crown, has 52 career NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division wins at South Boston Speedway, which puts him third on the track’s all-time career wins list.
He had not driven a race car for five years when he climbed behind the wheel for the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway last September and finished second.
“We pretty much had that race won and a late caution got us,” Pulliam explained.
Pulliam drove a car out of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s stable to a second-place finish in last fall’s Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park. He also won the pole and finished second in the CARS Tour Late Model race at Southern National Motorsports Park on February 28.
Pulliam is preparing for a lifelong dream opportunity to drive the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Martinsville Speedway on March 28. Competing in the March 21 event at South Boston Speedway is part of his preparation for the Martinsville race.
“I scheduled all of these races before my Martinsville debut just to try to get as sharp as I could before going to do something I always dreamed of in the O’Reilly Series,” Pulliam explained. “I’m going to take the South Boston race on the 21st and use it to get a rep in and be able to race in front of our hometown crowd. I want to put on a good show for everybody at South Boston, and hopefully all of our South Boston fans will come to Martinsville and support us the next weekend.”
