Here's the drivers that are pre-entered:

The rest of the race went green. Here's the unofficial top 10:

Kenna Mitchell   (she's the 2x track champ @ All American in CA, but this was her 1st win @ Kern & the CARS Tour)

Branden Ruzbarsky

Skylar Schoppe

Christian Bazen   (I still love seeing the Spears scheme on a car, but it needs to be #75 not 43)

Chris Monez

Tanner Huddleston  (led the first third of the race, but he was overheating. They cooled it under the red flag)

Kellen Keller

Donald Witkowski

Chris Jackson

First name? Dozhier   (driver wasn't listed on the entry list)

As said in the qualifying post below, Case James started 12th, nice Job!! They said that it was his 3rd CARS Tour Pro race. By lap 50 he was running 11th. By lap 30 he was running 8th, and catching Ware

Taylor Hull started 17th, but dropped back to 20th by lap 50. He also went down at least 1 lap toward the end.

About lap 33, Connor Jones was running 3rd, but got caught up getting around a lapped car. Shortly after, Jones parked it. I don't know what happened to the car, but I didn't see any external damage. Too bad too, as he was fast today.

Max Reaves started on the pole, and led to lap 22, where Keelan Harvick snatched the lead from him. Keelan also won the Ice Breaker last week at Florence Speedway in SC.

There were 2 solo spins, with wall contact yellows, and 1 that had an oil down, when Landon Huffman had an oil line come loose. Amazingly, nobody ever spun or crashed. They fixed it and he continued to the end.

With 3 laps to go, Mason Walters drove past Keelan, and kept going out to a 1 second lead in those 3 laps. Ben Maier drove the Dennis Setzer last season to a driver's title. Maybe that bodes well for Walters for this year.

Here's the unofficial top 10:

Mason Walters. (He was fast, steady, and kept his car in the right places. I don't recall him never not being in the top 5 all race)

Keelan Harvick   (looked unbeatable until 10 lap to go. He got slowed up by lapped traffic, allowing Walters to catch and pass)

London Mckenzie

Max Reaves

CASE JAMES!!   (He ran a very solid/steady race, and only had 1 close call with Carson Ware. Both continued. That was the only time I saw his car in a precarious position, and that was because of Ware. He had a Very Good drive all race. I hope that he's able to run the entire season

Evan McKenzie.  (very smooth & steady all night)

Carson Ware   (he had some minor damage from a get together early in the race, but the car never seemed as fast)

Cole Robie   (this guy was bad fast at New Smyrna, and doesn't look like he'll slow down anytime soon.

Jaydon Johnson   (Looks like he's got that New Smyrna monkey off his back, for tonight at least.

This was an enjoyable race to watch, as guys were driving pretty respectfully

Up next is the LMSC 125 lap main event. I'm betting on the old guy Lee Pulliam

Here was another surprise for me. Jared Fryar they said was running for a new team today, but it was wrapped just like his old Ford Mustang. Today it was a Dodge, and he qualified 25th and got in on time. I don't think that he even sniffed the top 10 until late. The car never seemed that fast.

Lee Pulliam was the pole sitter, and led until lap 98.

Carson Kvapil, who started 29th, made contact with Air Doug Barnes late in the going, shoving Doug into the front stretch wall below the flag stand. Carson then snatched the lead from Lee while in traffic a couple of laps later. Barnes wanted to fight Kvapil at the start/finish line.

There were some spins, but only a couple got heavy damage. 

Here's the top 10:

Caden Kvapil   (they don't think that there has ever been a race winner from that deep of a starting spot before.

Lee Pulliam   (I don't think Kvapil would have won it without Lee being held up by a lapped car)

Air Doug Barnes Jr

Chad McCumbee 

Carson Loftin

Jared Fryar  (Dodge)

Clay Jones

Landon Huffman

Treyton Lapcevich

Carson Brown

This was a fun to watch race.

. 

Case James will start 12th!! Nice job. 
 

Here’s a shock for the LMSC pole, Lee Pulliam gets it. That man can still wheel a car!   Chad McCumbee will start 2nd. 
 

The LMSCs will have 28 cars in on time, and there will be some provisionals, but I don’t know how many. 
 

I didn’t get to see all of the qualifying, as I popped in after it was completed. I’ll try and do race rundowns after I get home. My twins come first these days. 

Here's the entry list so far:

CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car Entry List

CARS Tour Pro Late Model Entry List

I see that Case James, son of Colt, and grandson of Terry is entered. I don't know if this is Case's first CARS Tour race, and I hope he has a good, clean run. He's had some good role models growing up.

Taylor Hull, from Dallas is also entered in the Pro LMs, and I wish for him the same. I love the name of the racing team, Asphalt Anarchy.

It's also good to see that some west coast Tour drivers are making the trip, as there will be 3 from Ca in the Pro LMs, and 2 in the LMSCs. I am very much a believer that the ownership of the CARS Tour is the reason. Jace Hale was the West Pro LM champion in 2025, and Jake Bollman is a consistently good racer, but wasn't always in the field. I'm only guessing that's because of money, and hope that him going to NC to race is a good sign of things to come. Both Jace and Jake are pulling double duty, and will run both races. Dylan Garner will also make the trip. I don't know a lot about Dylan, but I'm sure I've seen him race before. 

Connor Jones will be running a Carrol's Speed Shop LMSC, but his family's own car in the Pro LMs.

LMSC drivers Parker Eatmon #4, and Chase Burrow #5, will be in Hettinger race cars. I'm not sure if that's for the whole season, or a one off for Burrow, as he usually drives the family owned car. I'm hopeful that it's for the whole season. 

Carson Brown will be full-time in the second Lee Pullium car. Lee will be running I think 6 races this season, and will have a part time driver when he doesn't race. I know that I've read who that driver is, I just can't remember the name right now. It sucks getting old!

Brandon Lopez is only entered in the LMSC division. I hope that he only concentrates on them this year. I think that he's a bit over his head in them, but concentrating on only 1 car should accelerate his leaning curve. I know that nothing beats seat time, but I think it would help him get better, faster. He's already proved he can win at the Pro level, and run towards the front regularly. 

I was very happy to see Jared Fryar's name on the entry list in the LMSCs! I truly hope that he has funding for a full-time run for the CARS Tour. When he's in the show, he's nearly always in the mix for the win. I love watching him race, and wish I could see him more often.

I was surprised to see only 1 car (Chad McCumbee #16), entered for McCumbee-Elliot racing. There's usually 2, and sometimes 3 cars from that race shop. Usually Sam Yarbrough in the 95, and Cox in the 51 (can't remember his first name), running the other cars. All 3 cars are usually very fast, and they will be missed. 

I can't wait!!

Lap 3 had a car stop on track, causing a yellow. On the restart, Jeffrey Peterson wasn't the control car, and jumped the start, and they called off the start. Unfortunately Kaden Cordova didn't checkup for the slowing field, climbing up on top (on the roof on top), of Bryon Borneman, then both pounded the infield wall at the start/finish line. Both cars are done for the night.

Over the next 30 laps, there were at least 5 more cautions, taking the field down to 21 cars. There was also 3-4 cars with different degrees of damage.

The Bullring sits right next to the big track, and the 4 wide Vegas drag strip. There was a special event at the strip, and part of that was a huge 15+ minute fireworks show. Now that was awesome!! The highlight from that was a massive American Flag, all done with pyrotechnics, and white bomb bursts all around the flag. Very Sweet!!! The fire works show just happened to start during one of those caution flags between lap 4 and lap 20. The Bullring didn't try to restart the race during the fire works, and that was cool. Also they took the track to a red/yellow flag, so that some of the damaged cars could work on them, while everybody else was parked on the front stretch. 

The second half of the race only had 3 cautions, and didn't take any cars out.

After the second from last of the cautions, Kenna Mitchell got turned by Jeffrey Peterson coming off turn 2, she was running 3rd. She had already started from near the rear, and had to go back there again. For some reason they didn't post Peterson, and the video showed him clearly getting into her.

Here's the Top 10 minus 1. The car finishing in 9th, had their transponder quit working. The announcers didn't go farther than naming the top 5. With several cars being down a lap, I couldn't sort it out. Oh well.

Jeffrey Peterson

Tanner Huddleston   (he led 80% of the race, in a borrowed car. They didn't think that they were going to make the show on Tuesday, picked up the car on Wed, inserted his seat, and set it up on Thursday)

Skylar Schoppe   (new to the LLMs, I think they said he usually drives Legends. Nice drive young man. He also had Derek Thorn working on the car, and spotting. That's some pretty good help)

Kenna Mitchell   (she gave the fans something to cheer about on this cold windy night in Vegas)

Cody Brown   (he too started at the back again, as he got turned trying to miss Kenna. Another great drive)

Christen Bazen   (ran top 5 until about lap 87)

Jay Juleson   (he started pretty deep in the field, got dumped while running 7th, and did a good job of getting back there)

Brendan Rubarski   (he's a regular in the Legends cars, and also ran one at Tucson last month)

?????

Kellen Keller   (he got turned in one of the cautions early in the race, then spun on his own later. Did a good job of getting his 10 place finish)

Next up is the Super Late Models!!

Here's the article from FloRacing:

2026 CARS TOUR WEST/NORTHWEST COMBINED SCHEDULE

DATE TRACK TRACK LENGTH SERIES & LAP COUNT

1/17 TUCSON SPEEDWAY .375 MI PLM 125

2/21 LAS VEGAS BULLRING .375 MI LEG 30, LLM 100, SLM 150

3/14 KEVIN HARVICK'S KERN RACEWAY .500 MI LEG 30, LLM 75, SLM 125

3/28 LAS VEGAS BULLRING .375 MI LEG 30, LLM 100, PLM 125

4/11 TRI CITY RACEWAY .500 MI LEG TBD, PLM 125

4/18 STOCKTON 99 SPEEDWAY .250 MI LEG 30, LLM 100, PLM 125

4/25 WENATCHEE VALLEY SUPER OVAL .250 MI LEG 30, PLM 150

5/2 COLORADO NATIONAL SPEEDWAY .333 MI LEG 30, SLM 150

5/16 KEVIN HARVICK'S KERN RACEWAY .500 MI LEG 30, LLM 75, PLM 125

5/30 WENATCHEE VALLEY SUPER OVAL .250 MI LEG 30, SLM 200

6/13 STATELINE SPEEDWAY .250 MI LEG 30, PLM 150

6/27 EVERGREEN SPEEDWAY* .625 MI LEG 30, PLM 150

7/4 TRI CITY RACEWAY .500 MI LEG TBD, SLM 150

7/18 STATELINE SPEEDWAY .250 MI LEG 30**, PLM 200

7/31 - 8/2 COLORADO NATIONAL SPEEDWAY* .333 MI LEG 30**, PLM 125

8/15 EVERGREEN SPEEDWAY* .625 MI LEG 30, PLM 100, SLM 200

8/29 ALL AMERICAN SPEEDWAY .333 MI LEG 30, LLM 100, PLM 125

9/5 TRI CITY RACEWAY .500 MI LEG TBD, PLM 125

9/12 ORANGE SHOW SPEEDWAY .250 MI LEG 30, LLM 100, PLM 150

9/19 WENATCHEE VALLEY SUPER OVAL .250 MI LEG 30, PLM 125

10/2 LAS VEGAS BULLRING .375 MI LEG 30, LLM 100, PLM 125

10/17 KEVIN HARVICK'S KERN RACEWAY .500 MI LEG 30, LLM 75, PLM 150

11/14 LAS VEGAS BULLRING .375 MI LEG 30, LLM 100, SLM 200

** Evergreen & Colorado are combination PLM events **National Legend Event at Colorado

**CARS Legends will run Friday 7/16, during the Idaho 200 Event **Schedule Tentative, Subject to Change

The opening race for the season is at Tucson Raceway. They were scheduled to be the opener last year, buy that didn't happen, as it was canceled at the last minute. Hopefully they will make the trip this year. Also, the LMSC division has more shows than the Supers, and the Pro LMs have the most dates.

The second new track is located in the Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, & Seiverville area. This track had been closed for several years, but was bought back in April, and a massive renovation began. It's a 4/10 mile, high banked, to the tune of 26 degrees. Oh yeah, the straights are nearly flat. Without a doubt, you will go uphill in turns 1 & 3. With an equally abrupt downhill run off turns 2 & 4. It used to carry the nickname of Little Bristol, but I disagree. Yes the degree banking in the turns are close (Bristol 24-28 degrees), but Bristol's straights have banking. This reminds me much more of Winchester in Indiana. This should be a blast, and really good racing. I can't wait!

There's another change to the schedule, and that's the season ender. That nod goes the SoBo!! What a great facility to have their season finale. That track never fails at having great racing. SoBo does everything first class, as everything is well maintained. Even their weekly shows are great They have more cameras, and better lighting, than nearly every track that I have watched racing from across America. SoBo and Berlin Speedways have set the mark in how to stream racing from their facilities.

Here's the schedule:

My only disappointment on the schedule, is that Hickory is still on there. Everything that SoBo is, Hickory isn't. I'm glad that Florence, SC is on the schedule, as they have really good racing there. Anyone can click on the FloRacing website, and read the announcement story. There's a lot of content that can be seen/read there, with subscribing to Flo. My 2026 subscription breaks down to $13.34 a month. You can only subscribe annually though. Just by subscribing to the racing portion of FloSports, you get A Lot of dirt and asphalt racing. You can also watch drag racing, snowmobile racing, wrestling, and a few other types of competition. 

But this race was not without its drama. Both Kevin & Keelan were in hot pursuit the whole race! First it was Kevin, and then Keelan, taking it to Hanson. But only Keelan was able to lead a whole lap at the point. Also, Keelan had not one, but two huge saves going into turn 3. Both times, Hanson crowed Keelan low on the back stretch, which at Kern, because of the banking, usually puts the car into the inside wall. The first time, Keelan was running 2nd, with Kevin in 3rd, and all 3 were in very close proximity. Kevin never lifted, but Keelan retained 2nd. The second time was on the last lap, and Hanson ran him down the track again. This time Keelan saved it, but lost 3 positions. Kevin got on Hanson's right quarter panel off turn 4, but lost by a half of a car length. That was great racing!!

Top 10:

Hanson

Kevin Harvick

Jason Kitzmiller

Buddy Sheppard

Keelan Harvick

Vito Cancilla

Cody Dempster

Linny White

Holly Clark   (one of the spins)

Wulfenstein   (don't remember his first name)

Jace Hanson is the new champ!

Top 10:

Harvick

Baldwin

Connor Jones

Ben Maier

Brandon Lopez   (2nd top 5 of the night)

McKnight   (don't remember his first name)

Potter   (same for him)

TJ DeCaire

Johnson   (missed his name too)

Lapcevich   (Treyton's little brother)

Ben Maier won the championship, with Lopez finishing second.

Top 10:

Kvapil

Huffman

Parker Eatmon   (very good run in the Hettinger car)

Connor Hall

Brandon Lopez   (great run in I think his 3rd LMSC race, and he didn't luck into either)

Landon Lewis

Trevor Ward

Cade Brown

Lainey Buice   (best run of her short LMSC career)

Carson Loftin

Also, the Smart Mod championship will be decided there too.

Top 10:

Chad McCumbee  (it's been a minute since Chad won his last pole)

Trevor Ward  (driving the Nelson Motorsports backup car, teammate to Caden Kvapil)

Landon Lewis  (current points leader by 18 over Connor Hall)

Matt Leitch  (I didn't catch his name, and he wasn't pre-entered)

Thomas Beane

Doug Barnes Jr

Parker Eatmon

Mini Tyrell

Aiden King

Ronnie Bassett Jr

Connor Hall   (qualified 15th)

Dale Jr qualified 24th

I'm not sure yet if they will start all that qualified.

Pro Late Models had 20 cars take time, which is 2 more than were on the pre-entry list. However, Jade Avedisian was pre-entered but didn't take time.

Top 10:

Ben Maier  (points leader)

Bailey Curry   (from Driftwood, driving a Connor Jones car)

Brandon Lopez   (second in points 34 points behind)

TJ DeCaire   (driving a Bryson-Lopez car)

Luke Baldwin   (also driving a Bryson-Lopez car)

Mason Walters

Case James

Vito Cancilla   (a regular CARS Tour West driver)

Dylan Garner

Jason Kitzmiller

All 3 BLR cars were within .05 seconds of each other.

Taylor Hull of Dallas timed in at 15th, and Trey Burke of Alvin was 18th.

Carson Ware  (Cody's little brother was 11th driving the Ware car #51. I think that car is still leading the owners points)

The Pros are supposed to start their main at 6pm TX time, with the LMSCs to follow. LMSCs will run 125 laps, and the Pros 100 laps.

Lap 90 we had the second Comp Caution: McKee; Tyrell; Barnes Jr; Honeycutt; Connor Hall top 5 for the restart.

On lap 102, Kyle Dudley broke something on the right front, and pounded the turn 1 wall. Dudley is a regular at SoBo, and had been running quite well in the top 8 for many laps. This was his first race back, since his car got destroyed about 7 weeks ago at a SoBo weekly show.

On the restart, Tyrell and McKee were throwing haymakers at each other, and at each end of the track. I guess Mini had enough, and he punted McKee in turn 2 on lap 112. McKee to the pits for repairs, and Tyrell to the rear for the punt. New Leader: Kaden Honeycutt; Hall; Eatmon; Barnes Jr; and Ryan Millington.

Here's where things get crazy. On the lap 112 restart, Connor Jones, from his 2nd restart position via the choose cone. Honeycutt gets clear of Jones, but in the process, Jones squeezed Barnes Jr into the front stretch wall. That shot him back down the track, Parker Eatmon (driving the Hettinger #71). Eatmon gets airborne over Air Doug Barnes Jr's front end. He got high enough, that I thought he was going to clear the inside wall, and end up in the pit road crowd. Thankfully for the infield crowd, it hooked off the inside wall and hammered the outside wall head-on. Here's just some of the cars involved: Eatmon (done); Barnes Jr (done); Landon Huffman (will continue for now); Landon S Huffman (will continue); Connor Hall (will continue, but the front looks like a modified, and the backend isn't much better. 

On lap 124, another big crash. This one gets started when Ronnie Bassett Jr got turned into the front stretch wall. Pierce; Lopez; McCaskill. Brandon Lopez's car hit Brandon Pierce's car on the driver's door/roof halo area.

Green/white/checkers restart: Honeycutt; Carson Loftin; Landon Lewis; Connor Jones; McKee in front. They finally made it to the Checkers.

Here's your top 10:

Kaden Honeycutt  (In the Tom Usry racer)

Connor Jones

Carson Loftin

Landon Lewis   (He restarted 24th after his spat with McKee.

Mason Diaz

Lanie Buice    (she managed to miss all of the carnage of those 2 late crashes. Oh, and she started shotgun on the field)

Tristen McKee   (Yeah his driving style still hasn't gotten any better. One has to try really hard to make Mini Tyrell want to wreck you)

Kade Brown   (He started 26th I think, but his car doesn't have any speed. He gained spots due to the process of elimination of the cars in     front of him.

Trevor Ward.  (His night mirrors Kade Brown's. He was driving the Autos by Nelson spare care of Carson Loftin

Landon Huffman did a good job of getting back to the top 10, after being involved in the first big crash

Landon Lewis enters the night with a 1 point lead over Connor Hall, in his Jr Motorsports entry. In 3rd place is Kade Brown, but he's 25 points behind. Kade has been consistent, but not a frontrunner this season. Lewis and Hall would really need to have some bad luck, and Kade run much better, if he's to have any chance at the title. They have 3 races left, to finish out the 2025 season.

Unfortunately, there are only 13 on the pre-entry list for the Pros. That must be the magic number for the them, as that's the number they've had over several races this season. Several of the SoBo limited late models destroyed their cars last Sunday, so I doubt that there will be locals trying to fill out the field. 

It's 5 days out, but AccuWeather is saying it should be sunny. After the weather this past weekend at SoBo, hopefully the fans will show too.

Here's the Top 5: Keelan Harvick; Dusty Garus; Tyler Rief (double duty); Connor Jones (double duty); Cody Ware. I think that Cody Ware would have been better, but he was the first car out, but I could be wrong.

There were 27 LMSCs that took time, and boy was it fast. The top 7 cars all broke the track record!

Here's the top 7:

Casey Kelly (defending Florence track champ & regular weekly racer)

Matt Cox (multi-time track champ & a regular weekly racer)

Chad McCumbee

Connor Hall (current points leader +4 points)

Carson Loftin

Landon Lewis (second in points)

Laine Buice

There was one driver missing, that normally pulls double duty, Tristen McKee. Not sure what's going on there, but he's had several incidents across both series' this season. Plus he's had Chevy as his primary sponsor for both series'. He has really good talent, so I wonder if the money has dried up? I hope not. In the Pros, Tyler Reif is driving the Bryson-Lopez #47, and it's got the Chevy logo on it. I don't remember them sponsoring the Bryson-Lopez team except when Honeycutt drove it earlier this season. 

The Pros will run 100 laps, and the LMSCs will run 125. I love that track there in Timmonsville, SC (Cale Yarborough's hometown). It has 2 groves that are very raceable. I'm glad to see Ryan Glenski running in the LMSC race. There's only one guy that will run as high as he does, and that's Dale Jr. Last year, Dale said that he waited too long to go up to the Glenski line, and it cost him. When he went from 40th to second in the spring, he was bad fast. Too bad his fuel pump took a dump. Unfortunately, Florence isn't being shown on Flo, except for tonight. I was bummed about it, and emailed the track to ask why. They didn't give a reason, and it's not like they needed to, but I told them I sure would miss seeing them run. I sure hope that changes for next season, as they have great racing, and car counts.

The Pro race is supposed to start about 6:45, with the LMSCs shortly afterwards. Hopefully both races will be really good, and devoid of what happened at Hickory.

Landon Lewis, driving the Harvick #29, led the most laps, and was the leader for the restart. Mini Tyrell, who led the second most laps, to the outside. Coming off turn 2, they got together, with Lewis climbing onto Mini's car, then into the wall. Landon Huffman got caught up in it too. Tyrell was the only car that dropped out, but Lewis & Huffman's were hurt pretty good. Lewis came into the night with a 6 point lead over Connor Hall. I'm not sure what was wrong with Hall's car all night, as he ran simply awful the whole race. He finished farther up in the race results, but because Lewis led the most laps, he still holds a 6 point lead over Hall. That's unofficial of course. 

That restart crash caused a pretty big shakeup in the top 15, but not that much in the top 5. For the 3rd time in his career, Jared Fryar wins a CARS Tour race at Caraway Speedway. He was restarting 3rd, and was able to pass below the crash. It's his home track. He hasn't run a full schedule with the CARS Tour, since his 2020 championship. I sure would like to see him run the full season again. I loved the logo on his driver's suit, FF 1935-2020. I'm pretty sure that's for Freddy.

Second place was Kaden Honeycutt!!! Kaden restarted 5th, and he too was able to pass below the crash. He ran a great race, but just didn't have enough car to get by Jared. Kaden's car was all black, so I'm not sure. But I couldn't see a mark on that car. Nice Run!!

The 3rd place car kind of surprised me. On the lap 10 caution, Tristen McKee was involved in it. They had to cut a chunk of the left front fender off, and he just seemed to be toward the back on the field for most of the race. I know that he pitted once, under the second comp caution. But the racing up front was really good, so I never paid much attention to him. That kid really wheeled that car the last 30+ laps! He's turning into a real good driver, and can't wait to see what team snaps him up to be their next development driver.

Fourth was Ronnie Bassett Jr. He has looked so much stronger on a weekly basis this season. He ran top 10 all night.

Doug "Air" Barnes was 5th. He too ran the top 10 all night. I think he got shuffled back on 1 restart, but got back quickly. 

6-10:

Chase Burrow

Donovan Strauss. (I think this is the second time I've given Donovan a new first name. Sorry buddy!)

Kade Brown

Carson Loftin

Brandon Ward. (He normally races modifieds on the SMART Tour, and at Bowman-Gray)

Trevor Ward got torn up so badly at the SoBo 200 on Sat, he wasn't running his own car. He was driving as a team mate to Carson Loftin, running the #12 car. Landon Huffman also got torn up at SoBo, but they got it fixed. Too bad he ended up in the Lewis-Tyrell crash.

Now onto the Pro LM race. I could have cheated, and just watched the highlights of each of these races, but where's the fun in that??

They were scheduled to have a comp caution lap 60 (40 laps of green flag racing), but Taylor Hull nullified that. I think that he blew a right front, and tagged the turn 4 wall on exit. 

On the restart, Maier wrestled the lead away from Keelan, but just for a couple of laps. They did have a comp caution on lap 32, then went green to the end. Compared to the last Pro race, this one was docile. Aside from Hull's crash, and the lap 32 comp caution, there wasn't another incident. As Hickory hasn't fixed anything with the track surface, I'm surprised, but in a good way. Nice job drivers!

Top 10:

Keelan Harvick

Caden Kvapil

Kevin Harvick

Jade Avedisian   (Great Run! She started outside of the top 10)

Ben Maier

McKnight  (I can't remember his first name. Sorry)

Nick Loden

Carson Ware

Rodney Dowless

Kaden Honeycutt  (He qualified 11th, but that car never looked happy. He made it up to 6th, but on that lap 32 restart, he got shuffled back to 10th)

Jace Hale, who runs the CARS Tour West, made the trip to Hickory. He finished 11th.

Dylan Cappello ran 12th. He's the crew chief for Layne Riggs' truck team. I started watching him race modifieds in the old SRL Series. He moved to NC, to try and get a ride there. He's run some west coast late models, but not a lot of them. He always ran in them though. I think that was his first race at Hickory.

If you've never seen Evergreen Speedway before, it is a very fast 5/8 mile, with big sweeping corners. You can get yourself into big trouble in a hurry there. You should see a race there, when they run the supers late models! There were a few crashes/spins, but nothing major. When they go down the back stretch to turn 3, it looks like they're going to run off into the woods. If the cars are starting/restarting, it's hectic. But then it takes an awhile for them to get back to the start line. It's kinda like watching a race at COTA. Once they get spread out, it's not so bad.

Here's the top 10:

Haden Plybon

Keelan Harvick

Thomas Stanford

Kevin Harvick

Buddy Sheppard

Jan Evans  (The announcers kept saying Garrett Evans, and this absolutely looked like Garrett's car. But the results listing said Jan, so I'm not sure. But Garrett is getting up there in age. Plus, he taught master classes in how to get around Evergreen for many many years)

Wyatt Gardner

Jacob Gomes

Zach Riehl

Doni Wanat

On the opening lap

So it was great to see that Mini Tyrell win the pole. He had a bad fast hotrod tonight, and led all but 4 laps. But it wasn't easy, as there were a lot of restarts, especially in the late going. Chad McCumbee was the only other leader, and he did it in the outside lane. But he was never able to clear Mini, and he retook the lead for the rest of the way, for win #2 of the season. Connor Hall, in Dale Jr's #88 got by Chad to finish second, with McCumbee third, Tristen McKee forth, and Lainey Buice fifth (qualified 3rd). She was good all night, never dropping below 9th.  

On the opening lap, coming off turn 2 Tate Fogelman got into the left front of Landon Pemblton, after Fogelman bounced it off the outside wall. Also involved was Kade Brown. He went to the pits to repair some damage, and lost a lap. Both Fogelman & Pemblton were done for the night, before lap 1 was completed. Kade Brown finished about 20th.

On lap 80, after completing 35 green flag laps, they threw a comp yellow. On the restart we had a 5 car crash coming off turn 2. Here are the cars involved: Donovan Strauss; Carson Loftin; Caden Kvapil; and a guy named Connor Weddell (the guilty party for causing the wreck). Loftin and Weddell were done for the night, or so they thought. Both did get back on track, but weren't fast anymore, and laps down.

The yellow came back out with 24 laps to go. That involved the other 2 Hettinger race cars, driven by Parker Eatmon & Donovan Strauss. I didn't see them running after that.

With 22 laps to go, Tristen McKee decided to take Landon Lewis and Connor Jones 3 wide. Jones was the outsider, and he spun. On the restart, we ran to lap 7, but there was a lot of bumping & pushing. That cut down a tire on Brendan Pierce. 

Kaden Honeycutt got the start in a 3rd Hettinger car #5. He qualified 13th, but with 7 to go, he was running 5th. He got moved, and ended up in 8th. On the next lap, Landon Huffman ran him into the turn 2 wall, he finished, but in 14th.

It was a good race, at a great track. They raised several thousand dollars for Mini's foundation for children's cancer. And if he does his usually, Mini's prize money will be donated too. Tonight was all about the kids.

Here's the top 10: Tyrell; Connor Hall; Chad McCumbee; Tristen McKee; Lainey Buice; Doug "Air Barnes"; #15 Silvestri; Arron Donnelly; and Landon Lewis. I don't think Landon Lewis is still the points leader, as Connor Hall should have it now. This of course is pending tech.

It was a good race, and I throughly enjoyed it!! No damaged cars looked to be badly damaged.

The limited Pro Late Models raced for 75 lap, and they started with 18 cars.On lap 29, there was a 9 car pileup off turn 2, and the track went red. Three cars were lost from that. Things went pretty smooth until lap 71. That's when the leaders took each other out. Here's the top 3, because they didn't give a final rundown. Your winner is: Juston Philpott; Dylan Zampa; and Linny white.

The CARS Tour didn't run the Super LMS this weekend.

Landon Lewis, driving Harvick's #29, Started on the pole, led the most laps, as he led up to the short rain delay. When they went back to green, the car developed some sort of electrical/ignition issue and fell out. He was the points leader. Connor Hall, second in points looked to be able to take the points lead from Lewis. He led several laps, but it looked like he might have used up his tires too soon. Matt Waltz started on the front row, led some laps, but it wasn't to be tonight. 

Here's the top 10: Burrow; Jared Fryar; Mark Waltz; Tristan McKee; Chad McCumbe; Ronnie Bassett Jr; Connor Hall; Eatmon (I can't remember his first name); Buddy Isles Jr; Kade Brown. I will say that those 8-10 positions might shuffle a bit, as there was bumping and dumping, as there was a restart with 5 laps to go. Connor Jones had been running in 8th, but fell out of it. I'm guessing that it had something to do with Eatmon, as Jones was doing his best to get at him pit side. 

Jared Fryar was involved in a solo spin, and spun to avoid. But his car was not good. They took the chance of pitting, and they changed the rear shocks. Wow, that really worked, as he climbed through the field fairly quickly. He said after the finish, that he had nothing left for Burrow, because of that charge. 

I didn't hear the announcers make a guess about the points situation, so I won't either. Of course all of these results are pending tech.

One the opening green flag, Issac Kitzmiller missed a shift, damaging at least 12 cars before the entrance to turn 1. But from that start, some drivers and teams made some magic, getting good finishes even after getting some pretty good damage done to their cars. 

Luke Baldwin, driving the #51, lost an engine in practice. Got that changed, and qualified 3 on lap 1 of qualifying, then hit the wall on lap 2. So he started last after they fixed all of the damage, and didn't get ti keep their starting spot. In the initial green, he got more damage, this time to the nose splitter, after the Kitzmiller shifting deal on the green flag. After all of that carnage, he restarted near the end of the line & finished 7th. Nice drive!! I think there was 4 cars that went straight to the garage from that crash

Brandon Lopez was the car starting right behind the Kitzmiller(25 car). He actually didn't hit him, but several cars hit Lopez. Lopez saw what happened to Kitzmiller, and got whoa'd up enough. Unfortunately many others didn't. There were 5 cars that made it only to the start/finish line, before their days were done. That Pepsi Blue #7 Chevy really started to look like a Pepsi soda machine, with all of the white tape holding the body on. He restarted 34th I think, ran a great race, with a hurt car, and still got 10th. Nice drive Brandon Lopez!!

Here's the top 1-10;1) Kaden Honeycutt; (2nd); Dawson Sutton; (3rd) Twelve year old Keelan Harvick (He drove a heck of the race, without a scratch on the car. Quite a difference from the last couple of races., and it helps to have a good teacher too; 4th) Spenser Davis; 5) Josh Berry; 6th) Wood Brothers #21 Cup driver; 7th) Tristan McKee; 8th) Connor Jones; 9th) A guy named Maier;  10th) Brandan Lopez is the team car #47 (teammate to Honeycutt).  He started 6th I believe.

Sorry I wasn't here to cover the CARS Tour live from the 10th-18th. Momma wanted a cruise for our anniversary. How could I turn down my beautiful Lady?? I will try to get a race synopsis for the Whelen Modified race from Wilkes as time permits.

Really happy for Kaden Honeycutt, But I still miss seeing him run these cars. I also believe what Harvick & JR said, "Kaden has what it takes to succeed in the top tiers of NASCAR. 

Then on the ensuing restart, Kaden Honeycutt restarted in 4th. , and after a couple of laps got into  Carson Kvapil going into turn 1. Honeycutt to the rear for causing that. Carson's night was ruined after that bit, Honeycutt was much better. His night ended with a 4th place finish!

Here's the top 10: Landon Lewis gets his second I  a row. This was the second race with Ron Hornaday Jr and NASCAR crew chief Rodney Childers was helping with the car at the shop. 2: Tristen McKee; 3rd: Mini Tyrell; 4th Kaden Koneycutt: Carson Loftrin: 6th; Connor Jones: 7th: Tata Fogelmn: 9th was Connor Hall: 10 was Cade Brown from Fulshear, TX.

Several of these cars inmacted, were out with those issues acquired during the lap 1 crash.        

Lainey ran a great race, and stayed in the top 5 the whole race. 

They're going to try and get the 100 lapper in for the Pro LMs. We'll see

This was a good show, but I only watched these 2 mains. I'll try to se the rest of the divisions at a later time this week.

Now on th the LMSC race. I sure hope Honeycutt has a better race there.

That's great, but not what caught my eye. Kaden Honeycutt will be there doing the double!! He will run the Pro race, driving for Bryson Lopez Racing. That's the team that he won the championship for last year. He will running the #31 car. Tyler Reif is listed as the driver for the #47, and has run it already this season for them. Kaden will be driving the #71 Hettinger Racing car in the LMSC division. That car has been fast, but hasn't had good finishes. With Katie taking a year off, it's had a couple of drivers driving it, if I remember correctly. 

Layne Riggs will also be there for the LMSC race. He'll be driving Tom Usry's #17. Riggs has won there before, but it's been a minute since the last one. So far, there are 32 cars entered for the LMSC race, and only 28 will start the main.

So far, there are only 12 Pros on the entry list on Flo, I sure hope that there will be more. But there are some good drivers that are on the list. Luke Baldwin (#51 Rick Ware Racing), Keelan Harvick (#62 Rackley WAR Racing), Jade Avedisian (#24 Donnie Wilson Racing), and Issac Kitzmiller (#25 Rackley WAR Racing). The Setzer Racing #6, and Ben Maier has been fast when I've seen them run this season. 

Next up, the LMSCs with 27 cars, if all roll out.

I have no idea how Connor Hall drove to second. He bounced it off the wall at the exit of turn 2 about 30 laps in, and kept going. Later on he went airborne over Cade Brown's car, and restarted at the tail. At the end, that right front was toed out easily an inch. There was a couple of hard crashes, but all cars look to be able to roll into their trailers. A local guy named Haislip took the hardest hit (probably a rear clip will be needed), backing into the turn 1 wall. He was leading Lainie Buice, and turned down on her, putting them both in the wall, but he got the worst of it. He spent a good amount of track & pit time flipping her off. She gave him plenty of room, and think once he sees the replay, he just might be a bit embarrassed, or should be anyway. Buice is driving the Lee Pulliam #03, that Butterbean drove to the championship last year. I've seen her run several weekly shows at both Hickory & Florence, and has gotten much better over the last 2 years.  

Doug Barnes was really pissed at Tyrell in his 3rd place interview. They got together a couple of times door to door, but nothing that I thought was egregious. Both times were on restarts, and he chose the outside via the choose cone. If your car isn't really good, it's hard to get around a fast car on the outside at Wake County. But he got spun out by Landon Huffman, and both had to restart in the rear. He drove the snot out of that thing to get to 3rd. He didn't seem to be as mad about that, and Huffman used up his right front fender on Barnes. Go Figure!! 

Wake Co is a high banked 1/4 mile track, and it is very narrow, especially down the front stretch. Tyrell nearly got into the 11 second bracket on his qualifying lap. So there's no riding at that track. We'll see how many grudges will get carried into the next race at Cordele, Ga. 

The Limited LMs ran for 75 laps. The winner was Parker Malone. I'd love to tell you that this was a good race, but it truly was a boring race. Malone lead every lap, and other than on the start or restarts, nobody had anything for him. And it wasn't boring because he lead every lap, it just looks like the series got the package wrong for these Limiteds. They struggled to be able to pass, the cars are really choked down in the HP department. I'm not sure if they run a different package for the PRO LMs on the East coast, but those cars sure look faster and are able to pass. The Bullring is a 1/2 mile track, and it's a pretty fast track, but these cars looked so slow. Here's the remainder of the top 10; Jeff Peterson; Dylan Zampa; Chase Burgeon; Aubree Christiani; Ryan Pannone; Ethan Cheek; Viti Cancilla; Taylor Mayhew; & Jace Hale.

The LMSC race was a 125 laps or the 30 cars that started. They had 2 major crashes before lap 5 was completed. There were several more, as there was 5 red flag periods. Not their cleanest race for sure. Here's the top 10: Connor Hall, in his first drive for JR Motorsports won; Bobby McCarty; Ronnie Bassett Jr; Carson Lofton, yeah the modified driver; Ryan Millington; Caden Kvapil, also in a JR Motorsports car; Texan Kade Brown, this year driving the R&S Racecars house car; Don Strauss; Lainey Buice, in Brendan Queen's old ride; Landon lewis, drive for Kevin Harvick. Kaden Honeycutt was in this race too, and with about 10 laps to go, something happened to the car, and he finished 3 laps down. He was running 5th when that happened. No video of what may have happened. Bummer!

As for the Pro LMs 100 lapper, they shamed the LMSC drivers for awhile, as they ran the first 2 stages with no yellows. But they had like 5 cautions with 10 laps to go. Tristen McKee and Jade Advedision were the class of the field for the first 90 laps, with good clean racing. But in that final 10 laps DeCaire got around them but cleanly for the win. That is until he failed tech for a left side weight issue. So Jade Avedision wins her first CARS Tour race in her first try, and looked like she had been racing asphalt stock cars for years. Here's the rest of the top 10: McKee; Issac Kitzmiller; Ben Maier; Tyler Reif; Garner Dyan;Rodney Dowless; Brandon Lopez; Logan Jones; Brady Monahan. Tyler Reif was driving the #47 that Honeycutt drove to the championship last season. With 4 laps to go, he got spun, and restarted 11th. He did a nice job getting back to 5th. Reif was the ARCA West champ, and is going to try and run 8-9 races with the Lopez team this year. Keelan Harvick was supposed to run this race, but the entry was pulled due to a stomach flu. So with that withdrawal, they only had 14 cars that started. I was a bit surprised at the short field for it being the opener. I will try to watch the CARS Tour West races later tonight or tomorrow. 

It wasn't that long ago, I said on this site, that I thought that between the CARS Tour & the SRL Series, we could end up with at least a Pro series that could connect the east to the west. The SRL's main division is their super late models, with Pros and modifieds as undercard divisions. Well, either shame on me for not ever hearing about the West series, or for them not saying anything about it. There was no info saying whether there will be a 2025 season for the West series yet. I would love to say that I'm a genius and can see the future, but no, unfortunately. Still, I'm ecstatic!!

I'll say it again, the new CARS Tour ownership seems intent on trying to save asphalt stock car racing, and I'm hoping that they succeed. I wonder if the West series was waiting to get a contract with Flo before announcing, or was it something else. As I had stated in that earlier topic, the SRL series Pro LM rules were nearly identical to the CARS Tour's. I don't know if the 2 series are working together, or if the CARS Tour is trying to squeeze them out. My hope is that there are working together.   

I read another article on Flo, stated that the Harvicks will be partnering with Rackley WAR next year. Kevin and Keeland will be running their cars. The article made me feel that Keelan will be running a Pro LM, and dad a super LM. I don't think the Rackley WAR has anything on the west coast, so I'm guessing that they will run the east coast stuff, with maybe a a race or 2 on the west coast. Stay Tuned, film at 11.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CARS Tour West Announces Schedule and Competition Updates
2025 Season Kicks off January 25 at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway

Bakersfield, Calif. (November 15, 2024) – Following a successful first year of the CARS Tour West, the series is set for growth adding two new divisions to include Super Late Models and Limited Pro Late Models in 2025.

The CARS Tour West will continue to run its 602 Pro Late Model division but will be rebranded as the Limited Pro Late Model (LPL) division with minimal changes to the rules package switching from Hoosier’s 970 treaded racing tire to the 980 slick. The Limited Pro Late Models will run 11 events with the 10 best races counting toward the year-end championship.

“The 602 division is very important to West Coast racing,” said Tim Huddleston, CARS Tour West co-owner. “It is the staple division for many local tracks, and adding the slick tire provides a great steppingstone for our competitors who look to move up the ranks in the ladder system we are building.”

The Pro Late Model Series will run 11 events with the best 10 races counting toward the championship. The series will compete on 10-inch slick ST1, ST2 and ST3 Hoosier tires and follow the 2025 United Late Model Rules Alliance (ULRA) Pro Late Model rule book. This shift in the new Pro Late Model division on the West Coast will align the CARS Tour Pro Late Model series in the East and West.

The Super Late Model division will compete on 10-inch slick ST1, ST2 and ST3 Hoosier tires and follow the 2025 ULRA rule book with five events in 2025.

“The realignment of the West Coast divisions and rules is intended to create a clear ladder system from Legend cars to Super Late Models for the competitors under one series umbrella,” said Kevin Harvick, CARS Tour West co-owner. “With the collaboration from the competitors and local tracks, we feel like we have put West Coast racing in the most structured position for our competitors to succeed.”

The Legend cars will compete in conjunction with the CARS Tour West at every event in 2025. Fifteen of the 16 races will make up the CARS Tour West Legend Car championship based on the 12 best finishes. Not included in the CARS Tour West Legend Car championship will be the INEX Summer Nationals multi-day event at Colorado National Speedway on the weekend of August 16.

With the expansion of competition, the CARS Tour West has assembled a stellar team to oversee the operation and growth of the series.

Will Kozak continues with the organization and moves into the new role as Series Director. Kozak brings experience from most recently overseeing Irwindale Speedway and Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway.

Joey Mancari enters his second year as with the CARS Tour West as the race director. Mancari brings a plethora of experience to the organization after serving tenures with NASCAR, Red Bull Global Rally Cross and AMA Pro Racing American Flat Track.

The team has appointed NASCAR veteran Cal Northrop as the Super Late Models tech director.

West Coast Stock Car Hall of Famer and former NASCAR driver Bill Sedgwick continues his role as the tech director for the Pro and Limited Pro Late Model divisions.

2025 Schedule
January 25, 2025 – Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway (Super, LPL, Legend)
February 8, 2025 – Havasu Speedway (LPL, Legend)
February 22, 2025 – Tucson Speedway (Pro, Legend)
March 1, 2025 – Las Vegas Bullring (Super, LPL, Legend)
March 22, 2025 – Las Vegas Bullring (Pro, LPL, Legend)
April 12, 2025 – All American Speedway (Pro, LPL, Legend)
May 10, 2025 – All American Speedway (Pro, LPL, Legend)
May 31, 2025 – Kevin Harvick’s Kern Speedway (Pro, LPL, Legend)
June 7, 2025 – Stockton 99 Speedway (Pro, LPL, Legend)
June 28, 2025 – Madera Speedway (Pro, LPL, Legend)
July 19, 2025 – Colorado National Speedway (Super, Legend)
August 16, 2025 – Colorado National Speedway (Pro, INEX Legend Summer Nationals)
September 6, 2025 – Orange Show Speedway (Pro, LPL, Legend)
September 27, 2025 – Madera Speedway (Super, Legend)
October TBD – Track and Date TBD
November 14 – 16, 2025 – Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway (Super, Pro, LPL, Legend)

The only SRL races I've seen this season, were those from Berlin Raceway, that were shown on FloRacing. But I had noticed a drop in car counts, & the fields were missing some of the big name drivers. As I've said on here a few times, I was hopeful that the CARS Tour & the SRL could somehow get asphalt racing stronger, and maybe be conjoined at some point. That's not going to happen now. But there is still hope.

Spears is moving their sponsorship over to the CARS Tour West Series. In their release "Thirty years after they sponsored Harvick, they are joining together with him again, with the CARS Tour West Series". So the East coast CARS Tour has ZMax, and the West has Spears, and Harvick connected to it all. Harvick has made it clear over the last decade, he wants to help asphalt racing in America. It looks like he means business, and in a grand fashion! I'm betting/hoping that this will get the West races on FloRacing. With Flo carrying the last West race from Vegas this year, that's a good possibility. I've sent in that question to Flo here in Austin, with no answer yet. After the press release yesterday, I would not be shocked if at some point the CARS Tour brings back their shuttered Super Latemodel series. If that were to happen, they would  have the Supers & Pro LMs to co-promote. Wouldn't that be something? Spears has carried west coast racing over the last 30 years, so their financial commitment is there. If ZMax's commitment is there, that would be a great way for asphalt racing to grow. 

The ZMax CARS Tour also announced that they have expanded their footprint along the eastern seaboard. They will be racing at Cordele Motor Speedway, in Cordele, GA. This will be their first race ever in GA. This will give those Super/Pro LM teams/drivers that run FL, MS, & AL, a chance to get their feet wet with the CARS Tour, with a shorter tow. That is good news for all of them in the southeast. I'm hoping that the West Series, will venture away from their base (CA etc), like the SRL Series did. If that happens, there are a lot of good tracks in the western part of the country, TX included. 

As Chris Davidson has raced the SRL series for a while now, maybe he might know more info, or has contacts with some of the west coast teams to ask. Most of the people that I knew from there have left racing or died unfortunately, so I don't have any contacts anymore. 

Positions 1-5: Lewis; Lapsovich; Queen; Tyrell; Millington. Positions 6-10: Bailey (Local), Haislip (L); Brown; Huffman; Haddock (L). 11-15: Hall; Jones (L); Pierce; Crews (led the most laps); Robusto. 16-19: Isles Jr; Caden Kvapil; Vuncannon (L); McCaskill. McCaskill blew a right front going into turn 3 about 10 laps into the race, and tried to knock down the wall. Man what a bad season that guy has had. 

Here's a night where qualifying didn't equate to a good/bad finish. Hall qualified 3rd, and nearly crashed the whole field coming to green, as it looked like he missed a shift. Amazingly nobody crashed. He then dropped back to 6th, and ran in that area for a while. Then he dropped back, running 8th to 14th for a while. When Crews crashed near the end, he had gotten bak up to 6th. Over the last few laps, he got moved, and dropped back to 11th, where he finished. Queen, on the other hand qualified 14th. By lap 40 he was running 6th. He slowly worked his was up to second, but on the restart for Crews' crash, he opted for the outside pole. He finally got bank into the lower preferred groove in 4th. He was only able to get third at the checkers. I thought he would have won it if he'd restarted 3rd, as his car wasn't that good in the outside lane all night. He's won a lot more races than me, but I bet he would like to have the restart over again. There was only 1 car that could start on the outside pole, and hold onto second, and that was Isabella Robusto, and she did it 3 times. Her car a really good out there, and she was spot on, on her restarts.

This race only had 3 yellows that weren't comp cautions. It was a very fast race, on a banked 1/4 mile track. It's also really narrow. They only had 19 cars show. I don't know if that's because of some getting wadded up last week, or teams figured they they'd get wadded up this week at that bullring. Deak McCaskill's car was the only one that looks to need extensive work, as it looks like he'll need a front clip.

Hall came into the night leading Queen by 11 points. Neither ever led a lap. I don't remember how many points are awarded for each position, but Queen finished 8 positions better. So I think that Queen should be the new points leader next week. The only time Hall's car looked good was in qualifying. That's not like him.

The Pro LMSs didn't race tonight, but they did announce that Honeycutt & Davis are tied for the points lead. The are running at Florence Speedway In Timmonsville, SC, Cale Yarborough hometown. That race is on Friday night, so hopefully R&S Race Cars can get Deak's car fixed in time.

The CARS Tour held a meeting between owners; drivers, and Hoosier Tire. But this has more to do with the serial numbers that don't match up. They're working on that, trying to make sure all the teams can get sets that do match up. I think the bigger issue of these ST2 tires isn't going to be addressed until after the season, as they only have 4 races to go. I think a new tire for the series will come next season, as they didn't address that at the meeting today.

As tight as Wake Co is, there was a lot less bumping, banging & moving guys tonight. I kind of expected more because of the track being so tight in the turns and the straights. And how rough everyone was to each other last week. The top 2 qualifying cars were local driver.