All the success veteran Mike Looney has enjoyed in Late Model Stock Car competition over the past several years can be traced back to Oct. 16, 2016.

Looney on that day put together what to that point was his best performance in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway. He earned the pole, dominated the main event and was tasked with fending off Lee Pulliam during the closing laps. He withstood the valiant charge to take home an illustrious grandfather clock.

Considered a major upset at the time, Looney’s Martinsville win helped bring in additional resources that transformed his program into a perennial contender across the southeast. That efficiency is why Looney believes he can earn a second ValleyStar Credit Union 300 win at the age of 47 this year if everything goes according to plan.

“You don’t win that race on talent and equipment alone; you got to have some help from above,” Looney said. “So many circumstances have to fall in place to put it all together. Looking back, that was one of the easiest races I’ve ever run. I ain’t saying I didn’t drive my butt off, but it all fell together like it was meant to be.

“Our team Billy Martin Racing wouldn’t have had as much success if we hadn’t pulled that off.”

In any normal year, Looney would be considered one of the favorites to win the ValleyStar Credit Union 300. But 2025 has been anything but routine for him.

Looney for myriad reason has only competed sporadically in a Late Model Stock this year. The time away from the track has given him an opportunity to step back and analyze an ever-changing industry that now has more committed, full-time operations compared to smaller programs like Martin’s.

Even with the rapid Late Model Stock evolution, Looney has never felt more confident about his ability to win the discipline’s most prestigious event. Keeping himself busy allowed Looney to divert his attention away from constantly being on racing, a much-needed mental reset that has him focused and determined going into Saturday.

“I guess work is trying to kill me now since they got me all the time,” Looney said. “I’ve been working on houses a little bit and working on myself a little bit. I got baptized back in the summertime and been working spiritually on my faith. It’s been a good break, and I feel kind of refreshed. I’m ready to get after it.”

Looney still has the same Late Model Stock from his runner-up finish at Martinsville last year, which has sat idly in the shop since that evening. The only significant change Looney and his team made to the car prior to loading it up for the 2025 ValleyStar Credit Union 300 was installing a new engine.

The reliability of his No. 87 Hopkins Lumber Chevrolet is something Looney will be counting on to maintain the consistent status quo that has followed him at Martinsville recently. Aside from a 36^th place finish in 2023, Looney has not finished outside the top five in a ValleyStar Credit Union 300 this decade, with that stretch including two second-place showings.

Given how intense the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 can be from the heats up until the checkered flag, Looney finds himself surprised by how often he has finished inside the top five. So much can go wrong for any competitor at Martinsville without warning, but one quality has served Looney well during his trips there: staying patient throughout the entire weekend.

“I’ve heard them on TV use the word race craft; I don’t know what that means,” Looney said. “Everybody wants to take at Martinsville, and if you want to finish, you’re going to have to give. When that guy gets into you, you can’t get mad; you’ve just got to let it go. You’ve got to survive the first 150 laps. If that means being 20^th, you can still win once they get crazy.

“That’s how I approach it. Some years it works, some years it don’t.”

Looney’s familiarity around Martinsville is another distinction he possesses for the ValleyStar Credit Union 300, as he has completed nearly 2,000 laps in the event. When Looney made his first Martinsville start in 2001, several competitors he will share the track with this weekend were not even born.

Experience is something Looney knows can cut both ways, especially since he has been out of the car for an extended period while the new generation of drivers absorbed copious resources. Despite this, Looney believes his knowledge about navigating Martinsville will materialize once he re-acclimates himself to the car.

“I feel like you could wake me up at daylight, and I could go out there and qualify,” Looney said. “I’ve generally been pretty good about not getting rusty pretty quick, but I am getting older, too. Between getting old and slow, along with getting a little rusty, I’m sure it will take me a lap or two to knock the rust off.”

Even though he is now one of the more senior competitors on the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 entry list, Looney remains at the top of the Martinsville pedestal, ever determined to join a small-but-prestigious list of names by claiming a second victory.

Throughout the 30-year history of the ValleyStar Credit Union 300, five Late Model Stock drivers have won the event more than once: Tony McGuire, Timothy Peters, Philip Morris, Lee Pulliam and Tommy Lemons Jr. Of that group, Morris is the only one to visit Martinsville’s Victory Lane three times.

Becoming a multi-time ValleyStar Credit Union 300 winner is something Looney believes can cement his legacy as one of the greatest Late Model Stock competitors of all time. If Looney accomplishes that goal this weekend, he will consider it an emotional-but-fitting conclusion to his storied career.

“Honestly, I’d probably retire right there on the stage,” Looney said. “One win [at Martinsville] is amazing, but if you look at the guys who were able to do it twice, they are all absolute legends in the sport. If you can do it twice, it rules out any doubt of it being a fluke or a freak deal. Finishing second twice is pretty darn good.

“We’re probably going to be retiring here pretty soon from full-time racing, so [a win] would be real special, for sure.”

The past decade has been rewarding for Looney in many regards. He won a ValleyStar Credit Union 300 and helped build Billy Martin Racing into a top-tier Late Model Stock program in the southeast.

Now refreshed and refocused, Looney is ready to showcase his veteran expertise once again and go into the Martinsville record books as a two-time ValleyStar Credit Union 300 winner.