Dale Jr. revealed all the messages of support he received during Lee Pulliam’s NASCAR debut at Martinsville Speedway. He shared how drivers like Denny Hamlin, Carson Hocevar, and Brenden Queen reached out amidst Pulliam’s late-race mishap.
Pulliam’s NASCAR debut was eventful, to say the least. The Late Model legend began in the sixth row, finished 20th in Stage 1, and went further back in Stage 2.
Thanks for the submission!
Driving the No.9 Chevy, Pulliam battled fellow JR Motorsports driver Rajah Caruth to grab the lead by lap 189. He remained on top for 40 laps before Justin Allgaier passed him for good.
The North Carolina native had one more chance for the lead on a late-race restart, but he missed a shift and bunched up the field behind him. A 26-minute red flag ensued as 19 cars wrecked into each other.
The 37-year-old ultimately came home in fifth. Dale Jr. later spoke to the media and shared the wave of support for Pulliam.
“Denny Hamlin was texting me during the race. He needs to work his tires more. He needs to keep his brakes hotter. I’m like, ‘I’m telling him, I’ll keep telling him’ and Hocevar texting me, ‘he don’t need to worry about that.’ Hocevar, he knows all about making mistakes and he’s like. ‘Oh, man, you need to get over that one fast. And I’m like all right. So I had a lot of lot of additional help on the phone, from other drivers and so forth that are excited,” he said via X/Frontstretch. [1:17 onwards]
Lee Pulliam walked away with 32 points from the 250-lap event, while JRM’s Justin Allgaier claimed victory, his third of the season so far.
Dale Jr. refuses to offer advice for Lee Pulliam
During the press conference, Dale Jr. went over Lee Pulliam’s preparation for Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts NFPA 250. He shared how Pulliam did a lot of sim work and got into good physical shape leading up to the race.
However, Earnhardt also noted that he didn’t provide any personal advice on conquering the short track.
“It was weird because I think Lee at this point in our lives is a better race car driver than I am. So it’s hard to give him any advice…..he’s a hell of a driver and I felt like, you know, I was real reserved about sharing much with him because I didn’t want to,” he said via aforementioned source. [0:24 onwards]
A week before his NASCAR debut, Lee Pulliam won the late-model race at South Boston Speedway. The triumph marked an end to Pulliam’s six-year winless drought. It was also his 53rd career win at the 0.400-mile oval.
The 37-year-old beat teenager Conner “C-Weed” Weddell with a narrow margin of 0.960-seconds.
Edited by Vignesh Kanna
