Mike Marlar was sitting pretty ahead of Saturday’s night feature at Central Arizona Raceway for the fifth night of the Wild West Shootout after pulling the outside pole in the redraw. However, it all went wrong before the green flag even flew.

After the cars got out and ran some hot laps before the feature, Marlar came to a stop at the bottom of the track. He then took another hot lap before pulling it into the hot pit and the attention of his crew.

FloRacing’s Trenton Berry reported at the time that it might have been a problem with something in the valvetrain, “So they said it sounds like something in the valvetrain broke. Rattling sounds. Kind of unsettling, but he’s going to go out here and gas on it for a second.”

Marlar never made it back on the track. As for what the issue was, DirtonDirt.com reported in a post on Facebook that he had “an apparent battery issue [that] prevented him taking the green flag Saturday.”

And he appears to have gotten it all squared away as he qualified fourth in Group 1 only behind Jonathan Davenport, Bobby Pierce, and Tyler Erb for tonight’s finale.

He posted to Facebook, “Tough luck last night… but we don’t quit. Last night in the west starts now.”

Marlar currently sits 9th in the miniseries points. He’s 138 points behind current leader Hudson O’Neal. He’s only 3 points behind Dustin Sorensen, who sits in 8th, and only has a 3 point advantage over Kyle Beard, who is currently in 10th.

NEXT: Garrett Alberson Dominates Night 5 Of The Wild West Shootout