CARS Tour races at Caraway Speedway, NC

[ron.brown11]

Some interesting things from the starting line up for the CARS tour late models. Jeremy Mayfield is in it, starting 31st. I can't remember the last time I saw his name in a race. Kyle Larson is making his CARS debut, starting 16th. Kaden Honeycutt didn't have a good qualifying run, clocking in 17th. Lanye Riggs qualified 3rd in Kevin Harvick's #62 car. This is only the second time that car has been on track, as Harvick ran it at the North Wilksboro race. Fryar will start 4th, and Brendan Queen starts 6th. Should be a good race!

Kayden Kvapil won the Pro Late model race earlier, and Katie Hettinger finished second in the opening night 100 lapper. Hettinger was holding the series point lead prior to the start of the race. I don't know if Kvapil passed her tonight, but it is a very tight points race. I'm telling you, Katie Hettinger is a name to keep your eye on. She's a driver!

Edited June 29, 2023 by ron.brown11

[ron.brown11]

Mayfield didn't last long, dropped off the track after just 15 laps. Kaden is up to 12th, 18 laps in. Larson is now 15th, as they are under yellow for a single car spin. 

[ron.brown11]

40 laps in, Kaden is up to 8th. Riggs is really strong, running 2nd in Harvick's car.

 

[ron.brown11]

At lap 75 under yellow, Kaden is 5th. Fryar is running a strong 3rd, Larson is 11th. Queen is 4th. 

[ron.brown11]

Riggs took the lead with 57 laps to go. Kaden drops to 6th, and Larson is 10th. He's driving the same car that Dale Jr drove at Wilksboro. Riggs' crew chief stated that Layne says that this is the best car he's ever driven. I guess, Rodney Childers spent a year building it for Harvick. They're under a comp yellow with 27 laps to go. Queen is 4th.

 

[ron.brown11]

Here is the top the top 10 as I caught them. First: Car 63 Layne Riggs in Harvick's #62 Ford Mustang; Second: Car #14 Jared Fryar in his Ford Mustang; Third: car #8 Carson Kvapil in his JR Motorsports Camaro; Forth: Car 24 Mason Diaz in his Ford Mustang; With: Car 10 Kaden Honeycutt in his Ford Mustang; Sixth: Bobby McCorty in his #6 Ford Mustang; Seventh: Car 03 Brendan Queen in his Toyota: Eighth is #77 Connor Hall in his Toyota Ninth; Is Kyle Larson in his JR Motorsports car # 5 Camaro. Chad McCumby finished 10th in his #16 Ford Mustang.

Three cars that really impressed me: Riggs driving a new car to him, and winning the race. Mason Diaz started in 24th, and drove it to finish 4th. That's a lot of passing.. Bobby McCarty started about 8th, but was sent to the rear (30th) for spinning a car out (and that was a questionable call by the officials). Bobby passed the most cars (25), to get to 6th. And he did it cleanly.

It was a really good showing for the Ford drivers tonight, as they finished 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th & 10th. Thankfully nobody got hurt in the 2-3 spins that happened. The whole night was a good show of all involved. 

 

Edited June 29, 2023 by ron.brown11

[RodneyRodriguez]

Ron did you see there may be some sway bar questions on that racing winning car? Could get interesting. 

[ron.brown11]

I don't know Rodney, but I'll try and find out.

[ron.brown11]

I went to the CARS Tour website, and they're still saying that Riggs won. I googled again, simply asking to see if he had been disqualified. There were no articles/conversations stating so. So my guess is the he did win the race. Plus, I think that it would be terribly embarrassing for Harvick & Childers to do so. What does that say when  a part owner in the series, who is a NASCAR Cup championship driver & championship crew chief, having to cheat to win in a single A racing series?? I know that it would really piss me off as a fan, and can't see what they would think the positives would be from cheating. It would also cancel out all the good that has come to asphalt short track racing. I sure hope that they didn't do that. They're my last/best hope for asphalt racing in TX. If I find out anything else I will post it.

[ron.brown11]

Caraway's website also says that Riggs was the winner.

[ron.brown11]

You were right Rodney. He was DQ'd for an oversized sway bar, at the mounting point. I couldn't find it anywhere else, until I went to the start of the story, FloRacing. I read Rodney Childers comments to admitting that is was a mistake. He said he owns that, but went into why there was no advantage. The diameter of the sway bar determines the amount of twist it can/can't make. The size of the end mounts won't change that. The bar will twist at its weakest portion, regardless of the diameter of the mount. The question that I have is, did they run the same sway bar mounts when Harvick ran the car at Wilksboro? If they did, why did they not catch it then? If it was the same mount, were they afraid to DQ Harvick? I'm certain that they pre-race teched all cars, and would be surprised that Childers would bother changing out the entire sway bar mounts. I hope that Harvick lets Riggs run the car again. I want to know if that car is as good with the correct mounts installed. That car was on rails last night, all night.

On a brighter note, Jared Fryar wins!!

[ron.brown11]

Landon Huffman, a pretty damn good racer in his own right, made a really smart observation about last night's race. And it didn't have anything to do with the #62 car that Riggs drove. He said "The best racecar driver of this generation had to race his tail off to run inside the top 10 last night at Caraway in solid equipment". His comment was talking about how stout the fields are now for the CARS Tour series in general. He was also referring to Kyle Larson's run. I agree, up to a point. Larson drove the crap out of that car, the same car that Dale Jr drove at Wilksboro. Unfortunately Kyle really smacked the wall hard with the right rear tire, very early in the race. I don't think Landon saw that, as he was ahead of Kyle at the time. I honestly didn't think that car would make the whole race because of that hit. Since the CARS Tour was bought out by the NASCAR guys, the fields have gotten bigger, and the competition has gotten stiffer. Both are good for the sport.

[MikePeters95]

Jeremy Mayfield has been running the Grand National Super Series quite often.  Pretty cool series growing.  Funded by the ECC guys that were very active in Trans Am for a while, basically Gen 4 pre COT cup cars on short tracks.  Pretty cool. 

https://www.grandnationalsuperseries.com/

I was excited to see him on the CARS roster but those are completely different than what he's been racing and was just a field filler team.  Still cool to see him out there.