{"id":31445,"date":"2016-10-17T11:56:58","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T18:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=31445"},"modified":"2016-10-17T11:56:58","modified_gmt":"2016-10-17T18:56:58","slug":"an-underdogs-story-of-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/an-underdogs-story-of-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"An Underdog\u2019s Story of Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

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While many late model race teams across the South run on shoestring budgets, few in the birthplace of NASCAR are able to pull off the kind of win that New Castle, Va. native Mike Looney did on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.<\/p>\n

Looney\u2019s underfunded, never-say-quit team began their dream weekend on Saturday evening after winning the pole for the historic ValleyStar Credit Union 300 with a qualifying time of 20.323, just a few seconds ahead of past winner Lee Pulliam.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe were on cloud nine after finding out that I wouldn\u2019t have to race my way in on Sunday,\u201d said Looney. \u201cWith our team\u2019s limited budget and resources, I really didn\u2019t see this as possible and I just kept praying to the lord that I wouldn\u2019t wake up and it\u2019s all a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the team – which doesn\u2019t even have a race shop, paid crew or crew chief (other than the driver himself) – were sure that history would repeat itself and that the fastest car wouldn\u2019t pick up the checkers on Sunday evening, this couldn\u2019t be further from the truth.<\/p>\n

As the green flag waved on the first attempt of Sunday afternoon\u2019s 200 lap ValleyStar Credit Union 300 feature race, both Looney and outside pole sitter Lee Pulliam pulled away from the 42 car field. In fact, they did so without a scratch despite a six car pile-up in turn one, which left Martinsville Speedway officials scratching their heads and wondering how many attempts it would take for a clean first lap of this prestigious Late Model Stock Car race.<\/p>\n

Following the second attempt to start this race, both the No. 87 of Looney and No. 5 of Pulliam pulled away from the now 36-car field. Both stayed within the top-5 despite several caution flags. One of these flags was thrown after a three car pile-up ended the day for 2015 ValleyStar Credit Union 300 winner Tommy Lemons, Jr. on lap 85.<\/p>\n

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