Lee Pulliam’s Dream Comes True
NWA-AS National Champion Earns K&N East Ride
Lee Pulliam of Semora, NC will be moving up to the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East this season, driving the #11 Toyota for Hattori Racing Enterprises. As a rookie in NASCAR’s top development series, Pulliam will have veterans working on his team in team manager Bruce Cook and crew chief Randy Goss. The team will also be fielding a second car for David Garbo, Jr. of Stonington, CT. Brett Moffitt drove the car for the past two seasons. He won twice and finished third in points in 2012. Despite a winless season, Moffitt finished second in points last year.
Pulliam won his second consecutive NASCAR Whelen All-American Series championship season. He joined the late Larry Phillips and Philip Morris as the only drivers to win the championship more than once. He also captured track titles at Motor Mile and South Boston.
“I got a phone call from Bruce Cook … he said he had an opportunity and wanted to know if I’d be interested in driving a K&N car for Shigeaki Hattori Racing this year,” Pulliam said. “Of course, I was thrilled about it and I knew they had really good equipment and a nice operation down in Mooresville. And we got an appointment together and come down and talked with one another and his expectations and my expectations were on the same page and I met all of the guys at the shop, all of them are really good guys with a lot of experience. It just looked like the perfect situation to get a chance at it. It’s something I’m really extremely thankful for and extremely excited about.”
“I can’t say enough of how thankful I am for this opportunity,” Pulliam said. “I worked extremely hard, put a lot of hours in, and won a ton of races and I just never had that chance, never had the funds to do it. And here I am the guy here with Shigeaki Hattori, Bruce Cook, Randy Goss and all the guys here at the shop. It’s a true dream come true for me. They’ve got a heck of an organization here, really good equipment here. I think it may be my one shot. I’m going to give 200 percent and try to make the most out of it. It’s just one of those things where you get so disappointed sometimes because you win so many races. You work so hard. You don’t get the chance nor get the opportunity and I’ve been in that position for years now. To finally get that phone call, to get that break, it means more to me than those guys will ever know. I hope I can repay them by getting up on the wheel and winning some races for them.”
Pulliam is optimistic about his new team and their potential. “I’m going to do everything I can as a driver to help them realize this championship,” Pulliam said. “There’s no reason that we can’t get the job done. We’ve just got to be smart and make the right choices on race day. … Everybody’s goal from the start is to win races and finish races. The points will fall where they do.”
While sponsorship is to be announced, Pulliam will be working with veteran crew chief Randy Goss, who first worked with Joe Ruttman in 1996 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck series. After a five-win season in 1997, Goss moved to Roush Racing to work with rookie driver Greg Biffle. The combination of Biffle and Goss saw them ascend to the NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series together. Championship hardware in the Camping World Truck Series (2000) and the Nationwide Series (2002) followed. The Pepsi 400 victory was the highlight of Biffle’s rookie campaign in 2003. However, after 24 wins together, the pairing dissolved.
Goss returned to the Camping World Truck Series for 2004, working for Morgan Dollar and Darrell Waltrip before working with Max Papis in 2011. 2012 was a return to championship form as Goss led rookie Kyle Larson to the K&N Pro Series East title.
Another addition to HRE’s staff has many years of experience. Team manager Bruce Cook was a member of Matt Kenseth’s 2003 Sprint Cup championship team. Cook has worked as a crew chief in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, winning at Daytona with Tony Stewart. During his stint with Kevin Harvick, Inc., Cook won six races in 2011 with Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Ron Hornaday, Jr. en route to the owner’s championship. He has also worked with the likes of Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Elliott Sadler and Cole Whitt.
“It’s a lot of experience there,” Pulliam said. “They’ve worked with a lot of the top names in the sport. I’m really excited about it. I think it’s going to be a fun year.”
Pulliam will also have a teammate next season: David Garbo, Jr. Pulliam has raced with Garbo at Martinsville, Motor Mile and Southern National. “David has got a lot of talent,” Pulliam said. “It will be neat working with him. Hopefully it will benefit both of us working together. I think he really has his head on his shoulders and seems to be a really great person. I’m looking forward to forming that relationship with him as a teammate. Hopefully I can help him progress along the way too.”
With two rookie drivers at HRE, the team will have fresh perspectives behind the wheel. “It’s going to be beneficial for everyone involved,” Pulliam said. “Brett (Moffitt) he’s done a really good job of racing these cars for these guys the last couple of seasons. To come out second and third in points the last two years, so I honestly feel we can step up a couple of notches there and it would be really cool to get both cars running up front every week. I can’t say enough about the program. It was already strong before and that they added really good people.”
NASCAR announced changes last month to the points system for the Whelen All-American Series. Starting this season, two points will be awarded to a driver for every car they finish in front of, with a limit of 18. Perhaps the bigger impact is in bonus points, as a race winner will receive three points for a starting position one to nine. If a race winner starts tenth or worse, they will receive two additional bonus points.
“I think it’s going to be some exciting changes,” Pulliam said. “It’s should make for some really good races at different places. I think guys (will) go hard and go all out. Those extra two points at the end of the year are going to be big. A guy can accumulate a bunch of them with full car count wins so I’m excited about that too. NASCAR is always working to keep things fresh and change it up. I think it’s good for the sport in some ways. It should make for great races for the fans. Hopefully it will give some incentive to start tenth or worse, get back to the front and get the checkered flag.”
Pulliam will continue to race a NASCAR Late Model this season for Kiker Motorsports. He will focus on tracks that have the best car count. While Pulliam will miss races due to conflicts with the K&N schedule, he cited his 2012 championship season as proof that it could be done. Despite missing eight weeks, Pulliam was able to win the championship
“I’m excited about it,” Pulliam said. “It’s extremely good equipment. They brought all the stuff to my shop so I’m working on it keeping it all up. It’s definitely been a stress reliever on me. … I always keep up my own stuff. I just like knowing everything about the car working on them. The more you’re involved with that kind of stuff the more successful that you’re going to be.”
“We’re planning on racing the Late Model quite a bit,” Pulliam said. “I’m not sure how much we’re going to do it. The K&N deal is going to be my primary focus. That is what I’m going to put all of my effort and work towards as a goal at the end of the year. But we’re going to dig hard, got a good opportunity in the Late Model series driving for Travis Kiker and I’m going to work extremely hard for those guys too. … It’s going to be hard; it will be a lot of work. We might get started and find out, hey this is too much; I’m going to focus more on the K&N deal. If that’s the case, then we’ll back off it. The goal right now is to run every weekend and see what happens.”
Pulliam joined Kiker Motorsports of Indian Trail, NC in November. In his first start at Myrtle Beach Speedway, Pulliam won the 50-lap Dash for Cash to claim the Myrtle Beach 400 pole. He piloted the #5 Kiker Tree Service car to victory lane in his debut. He followed that up with another pole and a third place finish at Southern National’s Thanksgiving Classic.
“That was really neat getting our first win at Myrtle Beach,” Pulliam said. “To come back and actually win two races down there,.. Sat on the pole for the big race. We come back the following week, sit on the pole at Southern National, a place that I had ups and downs with my car there, and a place that Deac McCaskill seemed to get a lot of points at in the national bid. And I feel really good about how I drive down there. I think we found some stuff that will help us this year, gain some points at that place I hope. We ended up finishing third in the race. We were leading with like two to go and had a little bump and run deal on the restart. Got beat so it started off really good for us.”
Pulliam substituted for Rusty Skewes in his first three X-1R Pro Cup Series starts last year. Pulliam won the season finale from the pole at Southern National for Top Gun Motorsports.
“That was big for us,” Pulliam said. “I think that deal opened some doors. To be able to win in three totally different cars within a month and a half of time. To be new to that series, those cars got a lot of horsepower, heavy race cars. They drive a lot different than the Late Model stock cars. Just a totally different animal. To be able to go down there, sit on the pole and win, it was pretty big for my career. A lot of people took notice of that. (I’ve) got to thank Rusty Skewes and everybody at Top Gun Motorsports for giving me that opportunity and it was a lot of fun working with those guys. It was something (where) we both brought something to the table – my driving experience, and their equipment – we all put it together, and it was a lot of fun. And I hope that happens with this K&N car – very similar motors, the Pro Cup cars are actually a little bit heavier, so hopefully that will help me get adjusted to this K&N car quickly.”
While Pulliam did not rule out a return to Pro Cup, he cited his priorities with the K&N and Late Model cars as the reason he may not run this season.
Pulliam won 27 races last year, including 18 against a full field, to lock up his second consecutive NASCAR Whelen All-American Series championship. The fourth driver to score maximum points, he joined the late Larry Phillips and Philip Morris as the only drivers to win the championship more than once. He also captured track titles at Motor Mile and South Boston.
“We dug and clawed all the way to the end,” Pulliam said. “I think we ended up with 32 races on the year, 27 of the weeks for the national deal. Right there at the end we were digging hard. We had pretty good competition from Deac McCaskill. He was pretty close on us there from halfway of the season on to the end. We were able to distance ourselves the last few races and get some wins. I was able to beat him and keep him finishing second, not gaining points and me in victory lane getting those bonus points. We got to end I think we won our 18th perfect car count race at Motor Mile Speedway in the big $10,000 race they had there with one week remaining in the season. It was really neat for all the guys to pull it off. … It was really gratifying for me and my team to know what we had accomplished.”
“It’s pretty mindboggling to be in the same sentence as Larry Phillips or Philip Morris,” Pulliam said. “That means a lot to me to see my banner hung up on that wall in Charlotte with two years on it and to know out of all those banners there’s only two other guys that have multiple years. I’m just really proud of everybody’s hard work and dedication, all the tracks for all they do, providing us a place to race. We’ve got some pretty good competition down here and a lot of those wins were very very hard fought. It didn’t come easy. It’s a big statement to my guys everybody volunteering on the crew always give two hundred percent. I put a lot of effort into my own stuff but there (are) countless hours in the shop building stuff and trying stuff at the track so it’s just a statement to everyone’s desire to win and I’m just really happy we could pull it off for everyone involved.”
Pulliam was the fourth driver to score maximum points, with 18 wins against a full field. “That was pretty special for us to get that 810 and have that perfect season,” Pulliam said. “Everybody put a lot of effort into it. We were just blessed. Everything went right for us. (We) won a lot of key races and able to get car counts at the right time.”
“It was extremely busy last year jumping around (to) different places,” Pulliam said. “It keeps me motivated, keep me working hard every weekend. I just don’t quit, don’t give up, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be on the weekend than at a short track or at a race track, period. It shows that when it’s in your blood, you just don’t want to get away from it. It’s all you want to do. That’s what you eat, sleep and breathe and hopefully we’ll have more of that last year.”
Pulliam, 25, is determined to go as far as he can in his racing career. Pulliam began his career in 2007 in the Limited Sportsman division at South Boston, VA. After capturing Rookie of the Year honors, Pulliam was crowned track champion in 2008. Pulliam moved up to Late Models in 2009 and again won Rookie of the Year. At South Boston in 2010, Pulliam finished second in Late Model points, led the most laps and won eight poles. He also won the pole for the 300-lap race at Martinsvile. 2011 was the breakthrough season for Pulliam. He won 16 races at Motor Mile en route to the track title. He also won once at Caraway, Martinsville and South Boston.
“I aspire as a racer to be the best at the biggest series that there is,” Pulliam said. “Always the goal is to make that next step be successful. You just got to take one-step at a time and take the opportunities you get, whatever road happens, happens. Nothing would be cooler than to race on Sundays every week. That’s just the goal. You got to have that mind set to never stop until you get to the top and then don’t stop then. Jimmie Johnson made a very key point there. He made it to the top, was very successful and just never backed down. I think that’s pretty neat. Whether you like him or not, it just shows his passion about what he does.“
You never know what doors may open up, but I feel like I’m in the prime of my career and I get better and better every year. I feel like I’ve never been better than what I am now.”
Pulliam has continued to improve since his third place finish in the 2011 national points. Pulliam was the 2012 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series champion with 22 victories. As the defending champion, Pulliam pushed the win total to 27 to repeat as champion.
“I’m just a small town guy that’s got a passion for racing,” Pulliam said. “To be as successful as we have has been really neat. (It’s) something that I’ll always cherish. I had no idea if I would ever get the opportunity race. … I really worked hard to just get a shot at getting started. It’s something that I’ll treasure, cherish and no matter what, it’s been a lot of fun for me. And I’ll have memories that will last me the rest of my life. Just really neat to open the next chapter in the book. I don’t know what story will be written, but hopefully it will be a good one and it will be an exciting one.”
Sources:Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com; Racing-Reference.info; LeePulliam.com
Photos by Brad Newman