Short Track Scene post breaking down the design<\/a> of the car:<\/p>\nA Late Model Stock chassis is based off a NASCAR national touring car with a steering box, center link and a 51\u2033 truck arm. They weigh anywhere from 3,050 lbs. to 3,100 lbs. Like a traditional Cup Series car prior to the advent of the Next Gen, Late Model Stocks run a truck arm suspension based off a 1964 Chevy pickup. The trailing arms are bolted solid and does not allow for much adjustability. These cars also have a higher roll cage (47\u2033) than their Super Late Model (39\u2033) counterpart.<\/p>\n
Most NASCAR diehards are becoming more familiar with these cars ever since Earnhardt spearheaded a group of major players to purchase the CARS Tour back in 2023. These are the same cars utilized in that division.<\/p>\n
But its biggest race of the year is actually sanctioned by NASCAR as a non-points showdown between everyone who runs these cars across the tour or various weekly tracks like Hickory, South Boston, Dominion, Florence, Wake County and Tri-County.<\/p>\n
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As a result, the race this weekend will draw over 70 entries set to compete for just 40 starting spots, and eventually a $32,500 check that doesn\u2019t even include the world-famous Ridgeway Grandfather Clock. Yes, the winner of the annual Late Model race at Martinsville earns the same prize that any other NASCAR winner receives and this is a point of pride for weekly racers who get treated like Cup stars once a year.<\/p>\n
Three-time CARS Tour champion Bobby McCarty hasn\u2019t won this race yet but also tries to appreciate everything else that comes with walking through that famous tunnel every September.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I\u2019ve gotten older, I\u2019ve learned that we don\u2019t appreciate enough how cool it is that we get to race at Martinsville,\u201d McCarty said. \u201cWe get so fixated on winning it. Like, I\u2019ve ran this race 13 times, won a pole, but never the race and that used to bother me so much that I forgot what a privilege it is that we come here and race where all the legends have.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this point, I\u2019m just going to focus on that every year, and if it happens, great, and if doesn\u2019t, I\u2019ll have enjoyed every minute of trying.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the center of making these weekend warriors feel appreciated and valued is track President Clay Campbell, the grandson of track founder H. Clay Earles, and a loud advocate for short track racing within the offices at Charlotte and Daytona.<\/p>\n
\u201cNASCAR, in general, has taken a harder look at the weekly series and Late Model racing,\u201d Campbell said at a promotional event in Roanoke on Wednesday. \u201cAt one point, I don\u2019t think that commitment was at the level I would have wanted to see it but that has changed a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at this room, and the number of NASCAR people here, and they clearly see the importance of this race. They recognize their future is in this room \u2013 future drivers, officials, media.\u201d<\/p>\n
To his point, this race has been a spring board for national touring careers for drivers like Mark Martin, Timothy Peters, Josh Berry and Carson Kvapil. But it\u2019s a showcase for veteran drivers, good enough to race on Sundays, but limited by their budget.<\/p>\n
Ty Majeski is spending a Truck Series off-weekend to chase another short track crown jewel. Veteran grassroots stars like McCarty, Bubba Pollard, Connor Hall, Landon Huffman and Ronnie Bassett Jr. routinely enter the race.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been won by other grassroots legends like Lee Pullliam, Peyton Sellers, Philip Morris, Mike Looney, Dennis Setzer and current NASCAR crew chief Alex Yontz and spotter Frank Deiny. This is the ultimate racer\u2019s race, and they drive like it too.<\/p>\n
To make the field of 40, you have to survive one of the four 25-lap heat races you are placed into, and only the top-10 of each race advance to main event. They are cutthroat and drivers literally do whatever it takes to make that race.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s must-see television.<\/p>\n
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Huffman is one of the stars on the discipline, likely a racer at 29, who isn\u2019t going Cup Series racing despite all the wins and track championships. This is his Daytona 500.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to see the passion of grassroots racing,\u201d Huffman said. \u201cIt\u2019s strong than it ever has been and if you watch on Saturday, you\u2019re going to see a lot of guys like myself that have battled and clawed for every opportunity at the next level but have found a nice home here in Late Model Stocks.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to see 80 racers that care only about one thing, winning this race, and those heat races are a spectacle because of that. If you like racing, door banging and a bunch of old school grassroots guts going after it at Martinsville, this is a race for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sellers, an eight time champion at South Boston who won this race in 2022, echoed those sentiments.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the stars of tomorrow,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to see way more passion. It\u2019s not about points racing or making the playoffs. It\u2019s about that clock. Write this down: After qualifying there will be 40 cars separated by four tenths. These young guys are hungry.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then you\u2019ve got older guys like myself that have settled into this kind of racing and enjoy doing what we do. This race is kind of a melting pot and you have multiple generations racing for different things.\u201d<\/p>\n
It all culminates with a 200 lap main event at the Commonwealth half-mile and the end of these races have featured no shortage of dramatic moments as well.<\/p>\n
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Campbell is proud of every race he gets to promote at his family\u2019s showcase facility. He has two Cup races, two Xfinity races, a Truck Series race, a Whelen Modified Tour race and the Mazda MX-5 Cup\u2019s only oval event.<\/p>\n
With all of that said, they ValleyStar 300 is his favorite race of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is incredible racing, and for the most part, it\u2019s controlled chaos,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cIt\u2019s expected that you move someone out of the way if they don\u2019t get the point. It\u2019s an exciting race and you get to see talented drivers that we will be talking about in Cup five years from now.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get to come back here, sit in the grandstands and say you saw that guy win before anyone else did, and so for so many reasons, this race is huge.\u201d<\/p>\n
The racing airs live on Saturday on both FloRacing and the free on Tubi NASCAR channel.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The best Stock Car race at Martinsville Speedway is arguably the one that most do not realize exists.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,87054,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-168979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-nascaru2019s-best-race-at-martinsville-is-the-one-you-havenu2019t-heard-of","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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