The t-shirts sold out before the green flag dropped.
Lee Pulliam — 37 years old, one of the most decorated short track racers in the country, a man who has never run a single lap in a NASCAR national series — had a merch tent with a line outside it at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday afternoon. The late model superstar from North Carolina showed up to the famous half-mile paperclip in a JR Motorsports Chevrolet, the No. 9, and drove it like he'd been doing this his entire life.
Because in a way, he has. Just not at this level. Not until Saturday.
"Man, that was super cool driving away," Pulliam said after the race, and folks, he meant it literally. He led 40 laps. Forty. Second only to race winner Justin Allgaier, who led 114. The man who has spent his career beating the doors off everybody on the bullrings of the Carolinas and Virginia went out and ran the front at Martinsville — a track that eats series veterans for lunch — like it was a Saturday night show at the local speedway.
And here's the thing — he wasn't hanging around in twentieth. He wasn't surviving. He was THERE. Leading. Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s handpicked ringer doing exactly what the Hall of Famer thought he could do.
Pulliam sitting on the front row for a late restart. Older tires underneath him. The car wouldn't go when he asked it to. He missed a shift. The car bogged. And NINETEEN cars piled into each other behind him, bringing out a red flag that stopped the race for 26 minutes.
Twenty-six minutes. Nineteen wrecked cars cooling in the Virginia afternoon. And Lee Pulliam sitting in the cockpit of the No. 9 — the ride he'd dreamed about his entire life — with Dale Earnhardt's son in his earpiece.
"I know you didn't want that to happen, and you'll handle it like a pro," Dale Jr. told him on the radio. "We all make mistakes."
When the race went back green, Pulliam brought the car home fifth. After causing the biggest wreck of the day at the most unforgiving short track in NASCAR, Lee Pulliam finished P5.
"Just first off real quick, I'd like to apologize to everyone we tore up there," he said afterward. No excuses. No deflection. "I just couldn't get going with the older tires and it was just a little bit of inexperience."
Inexperience. A guy who's won more late model races than most of us can count calling himself inexperienced. That's what this level does to you. That's the gap between regional legend and national series.
After the race, Earnhardt had his driver's back: "All in all, incredible to come in, run a race, lead laps, and run the car up front and get a great result in a tough place. He survived. He's a helluva driver."
"Just so thankful to be here and do this. What a dream come true to drive for Dale Earnhardt Junior," Pulliam said. "The whole experience has been pretty special for me, something I've wanted to do my entire life. Just thankful for everybody that led to this moment, and I hope I made all you fans proud leading all those laps."
He did. Forty laps of proof, one mistake he'll learn from, and a merch tent that ran dry before the race started.
Let me tell you something — Saturday's race had fourteen cautions, 153 laps under yellow, and an average speed of 55 miles per hour. Martinsville ground down the entire field. And it was Justin Allgaier who walked out of the wreckage with the trophy. The 2024 series champion started from pole, won Stage 1, and closed the thing out with 26 laps of clean air after the chaos Pulliam created. His third win in eight races this season. His second in as many weeks. The JR Motorsports organization has now won five consecutive races — one shy of the all-time record Joe Gibbs Racing set in 2008. Allgaier's points lead over Jesse Love has ballooned to 92.
"You get later on in your career, and you never know if you'll win another one," the 39-year-old said. "This year has been pretty special."
Corey Day brought the Hendrick Motorsports No. 17 home second — a career-best for the 20-year-old and his sixth consecutive top 10. Sammy Smith finished third. Sheldon Creed fourth. Tyler Reddick won at Darlington last week with precision and surgical control. Saturday at Martinsville was the opposite — this was survival, and the survivors earned every inch of it.
The O'Reilly Auto Parts Series heads to Rockingham next Saturday for the North Carolina Education Lottery 250. Sammy Smith is the defending winner. But I'll be thinking about Lee Pulliam all week — the merch tent, the apology, and a 37-year-old who led 40 laps before Martinsville reminded him there's still more to learn.
The fastest apology in NASCAR.