Point Battles Will Rage Saturday In Made In America Whelen 300
Martinsville, VA — When the Made In America Whelen 300 takes the green flag Saturday night at Martinsville Speedway there will be at least three races going on.
Of course, there’s the race to the checkered flag and the storied Martinsville Speedway trophy – the grandfather clock that goes to the winner.
And then there will be the other two races: the race for the championship of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Southern Tour.
Saturday’s race, set for 8:30 p.m., is the only combination Modified race of the season, when both tours combine to run in the same race. And while they are racing for the same purse, drivers will be racing for points in their respective divisions.
And there is a pretty good battle being waged on both tours.
Burt Myers holds an eight-point lead over veteran Junior Miller coming into Martinsville and L.W. Miller is just another 10 points back.
L.W. Miller, a former Martinsville winner, has the most wins of the season on the Whelen Modified Southern Tour with three. Myers and Junior Miller, the two-time defending southern champion, have one win each.
The two Millers, who are not related, have four top five finishes each while Myers had three top fives. Myers, though, had six top 10s while the Millers have five top 10s each.
Donny Lia has ridden a five-win season to a 131-point lead over Todd Szegedy on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, which primarily runs events in the New England area.
Young Matt Hirschman is another eight points back in third while perennial favorite Ted Christopher is in fourth, 255 points out of first.
James Civali is second to Lia in wins this season with three, but is 268 points behind the leader in fifth place.
In addition to the five wins in 11 starts, Lia has nine top-five finishes. Szegedy has six top fives.
UNDER THE LIGHTS, AGAIN: This will be the third consecutive year the Made In America Whelen 300 has been run under the lights and, like the first two years, MUSCO Lighting will furnish the brightness.
There will be five light towers, each mounted atop a truck, and each providing 15 6,000-watt lights. The trucks are positioned to accommodate camera locations while at the same time making sure good quality lighting is provided for competitors.
More than 45,000,000 lumens of lights will cover the speedway, and that is as much light as would be produced by 7,500 60-watt household lamps.
MUSCO, based in Oskaloosa, Iowa, is no stranger to lighting race tracks. In 1986 they first used temporary lighting systems at Bristol Motor Speedway, and then later at Richmond International Raceway. Since then MUSCO has lighted 14 major NASCAR tracks with permanent lighting systems.
MODIFIEDS AND MUSIC: While the powerful Modifieds won’t be on the track until next Saturday, they will be rolling through the streets of Uptown Martinsville on Friday.
Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville Uptown and its TGIF sponsors have combined to bring a parade of Modified race cars Uptown during Friday’s big TGIF concert featuring the Band of Oz.
The sleek, powerful open-wheel Modifieds will weave their way through uptown, winding up adjacent to the adjacent to the TGIF concert on Church Street, where the legendary Band of Oz will be serving up their own special brand of beach music all evening.
The race cars will leave the Broad St. parking lot at roughly 7:45 p.m., head up Church St. then take a left on Lester St. and a left on Main St. They will continue on Main until it dead ends at Moss St., take a left on Moss, then a left on Church St. The cars will follow Church St, to the site of the TGIF concert and park on the left side of the street.
Organizers expect at least 25 race cars to be involved in the parade.
Admission price to TGIF is $7 with children under 12 admitted free. Beverages and food will be sold onsite.
SCHEDULE AND TICKETS: Gates will open Saturday at noon for the Made In America Whelen 300 with practice set for 1 p.m. Qualifying is scheduled for 5 p.m. with an autograph session in the infield at 6:30. The Made In America Whelen 300 will take the green flag at 8:30 p.m.
Tickets are $20 for adults, $5 for children 6-12 and children 5 and under free.