I would imagine that depends a lot on what the distance is. Release too close and you get blown up by a laser before you can release. Release too far and by the time they get there the ship will have moved away.
I don't mean the big missile, I mean the payload that InclinedPlane's strategy described - a missile shooting out a few thousand mininukes a short distance away. Such small payloads, even if we give them engines (which also makes them shine brightly to anti-missile lasers) are simply too small to outrun a ship - small engines tend to be very inefficient and slow.