SOPHIA, N.C.- The zMAX CARS Tour made its lone stop at Caraway Speedway this past Wednesday night in what turned out to be an action-packed midweek special. Both the Pro Late Models and Late Model Stock cars were in action for the 47th annual Firecracker 265.
While Tristan McKee made the Pro Late Model feature a snoozer, leading 99 of 100 laps, the Late Model Stock feature was anything but. It provided action throughout the field, multiple airborne cars airborne, and a quintessential short track ending for the ages.
Connor Hall, Carson Kvapil and William Byron seemed to be in position to win in the closing laps. But it was Brent Crews who crossed under the checkered flag to score his second win of the season.
Here are three takeaways from a wild Wednesday night at Caraway.
Brent Crews Steals One
Crews must be paying attention to his boss Kevin Harvick, because Wednesday’s late rally was very reminiscent of ‘The Closer’ – featuring the same No. 29 and the same “where did he come from?” performance.
After qualifying ninth, Crews was a non-factor for a good portion of the night at Caraway. Even when he clawed his way to third with 55 laps to go, it never truly felt like he was part of the battle for the win.
When the final caution flew with eight laps to go, Crews was scored fourth. Coming to the final restart, the No. 29 lined up fifth, third on the inside lane.
Then Kvapil and Hall came to blows and the seas parted.
Crews made his move to the inside of Kvapil with six laps to go and cleared his No. 8 entering turn 1 on the ensuing lap. The two traded crossovers for the following two laps, allowing Hall to rejoin the battle.
Hall retook the lead with a shove to Crews’ back bumper with three laps to go, setting Crews up to take the final swing.
Swing he did. Crews laid the bumper to Hall in the final set of corners, powering off turn 4 to claim his second CARS Tour win of the season. When asked about the racing post race, Crews claimed the others around him set the tone for the finish.
“One thousand percent,” Crews told Frontstretch. “They set the principle of what the night’s going to be like. If nobody is touching each other then I don’t think that ever happens in three and four. I would normally not do something like that, but my back bumper is destroyed to. Kind of how the night was, kind of how it was at Langley.”
“You just see these short tracks like this that get such good drivers that get all amped up. You just see them start moving each other with a couple laps to go, so happy to be the one that ended up on top, and excited to keep it that way.”
The win puts Crews firmly back inside the championship battle, within ten points of championship leader Hall before the series heads to Hickory Motor Speedway at the end of the month.
Hall Vs. Kvapil Comes to Blows
No David to be found here. This was Goliath vs. Goliath.
Defending NASCAR Advanced Auto Parts Weekly Series champion Hall vs. the two-time defending zMAX CARS Tour champion Kvapil.
Both drivers are having fantastic seasons thus far in 2024. Hall currently leads the CARS Tour points with a win at Langley Speedway and six top fives, along with a win in the Thunder Road Harley Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway. Kvapil entered Caraway with two CARS Tour wins on the season at Southern National Motorsports Park and Ace Speedway, along with three top fives in five NASCAR Xfinity Series starts.
Wednesday night at Caraway, the two short track stars went to war. Kvapil started outside the front row, taking the lead on lap 11. Kvapil led without much challenge from that point until a restart with 52 laps to go.
It was then that Hall arrived on the back bumper of Kvapil’s No. 8. Hall wasted no time from there, laying the bumper to Kvapil several times to knock his No. 8 out of the grove. It took time to bear fruit, but Hall made the move around Kvapil for the lead with 39 to go.
The final restart gave Kvapil the opportunity for retaliation – and he took full advantage.
A bump in turn 3 allowed Kvapil to pull alongside Hall down the front straightaway with eight laps to go. Kvapil drove the No. 22 up the racetrack on the entrance of turn 1, and chaos broke out in the closing laps from there.
Following the checkered flag, Kvapil and Hall had a brief conversation next to Hall’s No. 22 about the closing laps. When asked about that conversation, Hall didn’t have much to say.
“Just chatting about the race,” Hall said. “Just hanging out, chatting about the finish.”
Kvapil on the other hand, was more vocal about his displeasure with the way he was raced.
“I was just wondering why was (Hall) doing that,” Kvapil said. “I feel like he’s not in the position to do that. He’s the points leader right now. He was having a good points day over the No. 03 car, there was really no need for him to chance getting DNF’d there at the end of the race.”
“I just asked him basically why he’s gotta be like that, I told him if he probably didn’t drive me like that, he probably would’ve won the race. Just letting off some steam, I guess.”
This certainly will not be the last we see of these two at the front. They’ve had plenty of run-ins in the past, too. Whether the rivalry continues to be physical at the front of the field remains to be seen, but Wednesday night certainly added fuel to the fire.
One Spot Short For Byron
One year ago, NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson made his CARS Tour debut on a Wednesday night at Caraway, coming home seventh.
This year, it was Byron’s turn to try and one-up his Hendrick Motorsports teammate. The Daytona 500 champion arrived decked out in HendrickCars.com colors for his CARS Tour debut.
Byron started the day fast in practice but qualified mid-pack in 15th. But the deep starting spot didn’t stop Byron, who quickly began picking his way through the field at the drop of the green.
Following the physical battle for the lead between Hall and Kvapil, Byron was able to get around Kvapil for second and had a shot at running down the No. 22. It seemed as though Byron would be forced to settle for second as the laps wound down.
The caution with eight to go gave Byron new life. Unfortunately the No. 24 didn’t get the restart he needed from the outside lane, and Byron fell to fourth.
From there, it was a brawl to the end. Byron stormed forward and stole second in the final corner.
“It got to rooting and gouging there at the end,” Byron told Frontstretch. “Just wasn’t used to where to position my car to perfect that. So we just got used up a little bit and hit in the left rear a couple times. Just felt like if I could’ve stuck to the bottom and had some better exits and had position, we could’ve won just by being on the bottom.”
When asked by Frontstretch if he would be open to coming back in the near future, Byron was fully on board.
“Oh absolutely,” Byron said. “I’d love to do it again, it was a blast. They’ve got good cars and good people. Enjoyed working with them over a couple days, working on the car and just kind of figuring out what I needed. These guys definitely know what they’re doing, so it was a lot of fun.”
Two years in a row we’ve seen massive fan turnouts on a Wednesday night at Caraway, and both years featured a Cup Series star in the field.
Having Larson and Byron in the field is great for the image of the sport, drawing in NASCAR fans that may be attending a CARS event for the first time. Cup drivers have a platform to promote the sport that others don’t always have access to.
The impact goes beyond those drivers themselves, because when a larger audience is tuned it, it also allows the series regulars to showcase their own talents. It speaks volumes to have drivers like Larson and Byron – two of the best in the business – come in and get outraced by series regulars.
The more we see of Cup drivers stacking up against the late model greats, the more the series will continue to grow on a large scale. Hopefully Byron and others join the CARS Tour again sometime down the road.
Firecracker 265 Results
Late Model Stock
- Brent Crews
- William Byron
- Connor Hall
- Jared Fryar
- Carson Kvapil
- Layne Riggs
- Connor Zilisch
- Dylan Ward
- Ronnie Bassett Jr.
- Ryan Millington
- Treyten Lapcevich
- Conner Jones
- Andrew Grady
- Jacob Heafner
- Deac McCaskill
- Bobby McCarty
- Chad McCumbee
- Brandon Pierce
- Bryce Applegate
- Katie Hettinger
- Jason Kitzmiller
- Mini Tyrrell
- Brenden Queen
- Corey Heim
- Kade Brown
- Heath Causey
Pro Late Model
- Tristan McKee
- Conner Jones
- Caden Kvapil
- Jimmy Renfrew Jr.
- T.J. DeCaire
- Spencer Davis
- Kaden Honeycutt
- Jake Bollman
- Jonathan Shafer
- Ashton Higgins
- Tim Sozio
- Kyle Campbell
- Brandon Lopez
- Max Reeves
- Joshua Horniman
- Amber Lynn
- Dylan Garner
What’s Next?
Both the Late Model Stock cars and Pro Late Models have some time off after a long stretch of races to begin the summer.
The series will be back in action for the highly-anticipated Throwback event at Hickory Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 27, live on FloRacing.
About the author
Chase began working with Frontstretch in the spring of 2023 as a news writer, while also helping fill in for other columns as needed. Chase is now the main writer and reporter for Frontstretch.com's CARS Tour coverage, a role which began late in 2023. Aside from racing, some of Chase's other hobbies include time in the outdoors hunting and fishing, and keeping up with all things Philadelphia sports related.
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