Carson Kvapil holds off Mike Looney to win ValleyStar Credit Union 300 late model race at Martinsville Speedway

Saturday's ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway was largely just a slugfest between two drivers.

In one corner was Mike Looney, the 2016 late model race winner at Martinsville and a long-time veteran in the series. In the other was Carson Kvapil, racing a late model at Martinsville for just the third time and less than half Looney's age.

All night the duo drove away from the field, but could never really get away from each other until the final 25 laps. They lined up 1-2 on the restart following the second stage break on Lap 175, and Kvapil drove away to a several second lead as Looney said on the radio his car was tight.

After another caution on Lap 195, Kvapil chose the inside with Looney next to him. Again, the youngster bested the veteran on the restart, and drove away to an overtime win.

Kvapil previously finished second and third in his other races at Martinsville.

"It's awesome," he said of the win. "It's something the last three years I've ran this race I've dreamed of and we've been really close... It's super great."

Looney said he felt like he got "out crew-chiefed" on Saturday. The driver of the No. 87 started the day seventh and drove to the front during the opening stage. He beat Kvapil on a restart following a caution on Lap 46, and drove to a win Stage 1 win.

Teams were allowed to make adjustments at the end of the Lap 100 stage break, and Looney said he felt like that pit stop hurt his car.

"It was pretty rough," Looney told radio reporters. "These cars were really sliding around a lot. We done burned the breaks off, the tires off.

"We weren't aggressive enough. This car, it was good, just not good enough. Pretty strong effort against the competition we were up against, so we'll take it."

Despite the battle up front, Looney and Kvapil raced each other clean, never touching on the track.

"He's really good," Kvapil said of Looney. "We raced really hard there at the beginning of the race. We were side-by-side for probably 30 laps it felt like. I don't even think we barely touched, so it's always a really, really good to race against him.

"He's a clean, but really hard racer. They had really good stuff. I thought he was going to be the best car, and we just got a little better than him again."

Looney is a long-time driver for Billy Martin Racing, a team owned by Billy Martin that is based out of Stuart. He started the feature race seventh after finishing second in the third qualifying race.

Kvapil was driving on Saturday for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports. His crew chief, Bryan Shaffer, was also the crew chief for Josh Berry, the last JR Motorsports driver to win at Martinsville in 2019.

Kvapil praised his team for the adjustments they made during the race.

"These guys are awesome, that's all I've got to say really," he said. "Bryan, he's done this for so long. He's so smart. He just makes such good, good calls throughout the race. Honestly, whenever he told me what he was going to change, I was a little weary about it, but I just kind of sat back and said he knows what he's doing. I'm going to let him call the shots. He did a great job. He steered us in the perfect direction of what we needed. He took us from a top three car to a race winning car at the end of the race. Just can't thank him enough. Got to give all the credit to him and the guys on the crew for putting in the work this weekend and every other weekend to get us here and to be able to win us this Martinsville Cup."

ONE-DAY SHOW

All on-track activities were held on Saturday after two practice sessions and qualifying were postponed due to inclement weather on Friday. The change cut practice for the weekend in half to just one hour on Saturday morning.

Kvapil said he was leery about not getting enough time on the track before the race, but his car was good enough to finish sixth in qualifying and he won the second heat race.

"I was a little bit nervous, honestly," he said. "I thought we were going to be a little bit off, just kind of be behind the 8-ball.

"We just had a really good car all race long, really all day long."

TRIPLE CROWN

With a ninth place finish on Saturday, Danville's Peyton Sellers locked up the Virginia Triple Crown championship, which goes to the driver with the best average finish in three races at South Boston, Langley, and Martinsville Speedways.

Sellers came into Saturday's race with an average finish of 3.5 between two races at South Boston and Langley this summer.

"It feels pretty neat, for sure," Sellers said of the Triple Crown win. "No doubt about it, I'm glad to do it."

Sellers won the third qualifying heat on Saturday and started the feature third behind Kyle Dudley and Kvapil. He stayed in third behind Looney and Kvapil for much of the early goings, but dropped back to fourth on Lap 86, and was passed by Jake Crum after a restart on Lap 130.

From there, he continued to fall further back, getting as far as 14th just before the end of Stage 2.

The driver of the No. 26 was 10th on the final restart and moved up one spot in overtime.

Sellers won the VSCU300 in 2022. This is his fifth Triple Crown victory.

"Overall, solid night," he said. "We had the win in the heat race, qualified well, and we just bolted a set of tires on and faded right there at the halfway break. It was very frustrating, but that's racing for you. So to come out with a top ten, the car's in one piece, I was satisfied with that."

OTHER NOTES

- Connor Hall, driving for Bassett's Nelson Motorsports, was the Triple Crown leader coming into Saturday, but had an overall frustrating night. The No. 22 won the fourth heat race to start the feature fourth.

in the main race, Hall and his team spoke on the radio about battery issues he faced not long after the first green flag. The team hoped they could make it to the first stage break to change the battery, but that didn't ultimately matter. He spun and caused a crash on Lap 86, and never recovered. Hall fell to 31st not long after the stage break, and finished the day 25th.

- Two-time VSCU300 winner Lee Pulliam made his return to Martinsville for the first time in six years on Saturday. He started the day eighth, and never really moved too far up or down, finishing the day 13th.

- Late model veteran, and former VSCU300 winner, Timothy Peters, from Danville, started the day 18th, but was out of the race on Lap 133 due to overheating issues. He finished 33rd.

- Defending race winner Trevor Ward struggled in his heat race, finished seventh to start the feature 27th. Ward was out of the race just before the second stage break due to electrical issue. He finished the night 31st.

Cara Cooper is the sports editor for the Martinsville Bulletin. She can be reached at .