{"id":57056,"date":"2026-03-27T17:45:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T22:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=57056"},"modified":"2026-03-28T15:36:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T20:36:42","slug":"nascar-martinsville-friday-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/27\/nascar-martinsville-friday-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Martinsville Friday Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

O’REILLY POINTS LEADER ALLGAIER CONTINUES PULLING DOUBLE DUTY<\/b><\/p>\n

MARTINSVILLE, Va. \u2013 Justin Allgaier has another busy weekend ahead \u2013 his \u201c9-to-5\u201d job competing for the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series championship on Saturday and then continuing to fill in for the injured Alex Bowman in Sunday\u2019s NASCAR Cup Series race at the famous half-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Justin Allgaier, driver of the #7 BRANDT Chevrolet, looks on during practice for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 11, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

So far, the 2024 NASCAR O\u2019Reilly champ has done admirable work balancing the heavy schedule. He\u2019ll drive the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevy in Saturday\u2019s NFPA 250 (3:30 p.m. ET, CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and then suit up again for Sunday\u2019s Cook Out 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) to steer the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for Bowman, who has been battling vertigo.<\/p>\n

Allgaier earned his second NASCAR O\u2019Reilly series victory of the season \u2013 and 30th of his decorated career – last weekend at Darlington, S.C. and now leads the championship by an impressive 52-point margin over Richard Childress Racing\u2019s Jesse Love.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s finished 25th (Las Vegas) and 24th (Darlington, S.C.) in two NASCAR Cup Series starts in the No. 48 Chevy. The team has said Bowman will be out at least through the April 12 Bristol, Tenn. race.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously the goal is to get Alex back into the car as soon as possible,\u2019\u2019 Allgaier said Friday before NASCAR O\u2019Reilly qualifying at the half-mile Martinsville track. \u201cThat\u2019s the main thought and transitioning from there, how do we strengthen the 48-program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hard part for me, is obviously I want to do the best job I can for both parties and I also don\u2019t want to hold anyone back, whether that be the 48 or the 7. I owe it to both teams to give 100 percent so it\u2019s made for a bit of a challenge over the last two weeks with family time but it\u2019s worth it and you take a team like Hendrick Motorsports and they\u2019ve obviously been successful in the series for so long because of the way they operate, and how much stuff they have and how great they are.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s been a really unique and fun journey to see the back end of that and hope to get Alex back in the car soon. Hopefully we can do a good job until that time comes.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

PRIME OPPORTUNITY FOR LATE MODEL LEGEND PULLIAM<\/b><\/p>\n

Lee Pulliam was equal parts emotional, grateful and motivated Friday afternoon in anticipating his NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series debut driving the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in Saturday\u2019s NFPA 250.<\/p>\n

The 37-year old four-time NASCAR Local Racing Series national champion and longtime late model superstar conceded that only a few years ago, he thought his racing career was finished. But in the months after helping his father overcome a medical health scare, Pulliam promised his dad to seize any racing opportunities that still arise.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s race for the iconic JR Motorsports team is a prime opportunity. And he\u2019s made that very evident \u2013 showing up at the JRM shop to watch film, work on pit stops, get on the simulator. Whatever it takes.<\/p>\n

And the work paid off immediately with Pulliam turning the fastest lap in Friday\u2019s NASCAR O\u2019Reilly practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never wanted to walk away from it [racing],\u2019\u2019 the North Carolina-native reminded. \u201dThis means a lot. A whole lot. This is something I dreamed about ever since I was kid. It\u2019s what I wanted to do. I felt like I was good enough to make it to the upper echelon in the sport, but it just didn\u2019t work out in that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut my flame is just as high as if I was 18,\u2019\u2019 he promised, \u201cand I think that\u2019s a tremendous advantage in one way and I just have to use that to my advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had some special moments here [at Martinsville] and man, I\u2019ve had a long hard journey to get to this spot but it\u2019s been everything I\u2019ve ever dreamed about and more. A lot of hard work and a lot of good people,\u2019\u2019 he added, his voice trailing off in emotion.<\/p>\n

Pulliam\u2019s JR Motorsports teammates were immediately receptive to the idea of Pulliam joining the team and have high expectations for Saturday\u2019s race. He put the No. 9 Chevy on top of the speed chart with just under seven minutes to go in the hour practice session and with qualifying cancelled, will roll off 12th.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you like late model racing, you know who Lee Pulliam is,\u2019\u2019 his JR Motorsports teammate Allgaier said, promising Pulliam\u2019s foray into the series is a hugely positive thing for all involved. \u201cThis is going to be really special. I have no doubt he\u2019s going to be successful.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

NASCAR O\u2019REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES QUALIFYING RAINED OUT<\/b><\/p>\n

Only six of the 40 NASCAR O\u2019Reilly cars entered were able to turn a qualifying lap before rain cancelled the Kennemetal Pole Qualifying Session, putting championship leader Allgaier on pole position in the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevy.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll start on the front row alongside Rajah Caruth in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Brandon Jones and Brent Crews and JRM\u2019s Carson Kvapil round out the top-five on the starting grid. Defending race winner, Richard Childress Racing\u2019s Austin Hill will take the green flag 26th.<\/p>\n

In addition to Pulliam, who will start 12th, two other rookies in Luke Baldwin \u2013 son of Daytona 500 winning crew chief Tommy Baldwin \u2013 and Andrew Patterson will roll off 29th and 19th, respectively.<\/p>\n

Justin Carroll and Dawson Cram did not make the show.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service O’REILLY POINTS LEADER ALLGAIER CONTINUES PULLING DOUBLE DUTY MARTINSVILLE, Va. \u2013 Justin Allgaier has another busy weekend ahead \u2013 his \u201c9-to-5\u201d job competing for the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series championship on Saturday and then continuing to fill in for the injured Alex Bowman in Sunday\u2019s NASCAR Cup Series race […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55234,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[407,16],"class_list":["post-57056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-martinsville-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2240458600-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-eQg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57056"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57058,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57056\/revisions\/57058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}