HICKORY, N.C- After nearly a month off, the zMAX CARS Tour returned to action Saturday night at Hickory Motor Speedway – and boy was there drama. The annual Throwback 276 event that has become a staple on the Tour’s schedule was one we’ll remember for quite some time.
On a night that brought incredible throwback paint schemes and a hard-fought late battle in the Pro Late Model portion of the event, the events that transpired late in the Late Model Stock car feature stole the show.
Ronnie Bassett Jr. wasn’t first to the checkered flag, but scored his first series win after a crash ahead before a post-race brawl that overshadowed it all.
Here are three takeaways from a controversial night at Hickory.
Huffman Vs. Grady Leads to Post-Race Brawl
It all started with a battle for 12th on lap 61.
Andrew Grady had the spot, Mason Diaz took it off turn 2 with Landon Huffman just behind the pair. Diaz slid up, checking up the No. 1 of Grady and Huffman had no where to go, spinning Grady into the inside wall.
Just a racing deal – only Grady didn’t see it that way.
As Huffman came back around under caution, Grady walked towards the No. 37 and threw his Hans device at the car’s right-front fender. When Grady arrived back to pit road, he had some strong words for Huffman that included shots at Huffman’s race craft as a driver.
“In the words of Denny Hamlin: Landon Huffman, you’re a hack,” Grady said. “It’s no wonder you lost your ride with the No. 22 [Nelson Motorsports]. You’re a trash panda bud.”
After going into further detail about the incident, Grady reiterated that he was not happy with Huffman whatsoever.
“But it’s okay,” Grady said. “Because before he leaves, he will know I’m pissed, I promise you. Oh yeah, me and him are talking. I don’t care if its here, the parking lot or a Waffle House at 3:00 a.m., him and I are gonna have a conversation before we leave this racetrack, because that was bulls**t.”
Huffman was able to recover from the incident and survive the late chaos, securing a top-10 finish in his CARS Tour return. He then had his own choice words in response to Grady’s comments.
“He’s gonna call me a hack,” Huffman said. “I’ve watched that dude race for 15 years. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him win one race. I’ve seen him crash more race cars than I think races he’s finished, and they spend a hell of a lot of money, probably more than anybody out here.
“He wants to call me a hack? That’s fine. I’ve got a couple championships and about 40 Late Model Stock wins he can suck on.”
While Huffman was giving a quote of the year candidate, Grady and his crew were in an all-out brawl at the entrance of pit road. Punches were thrown between members of Grady’s crew and surrounding crew members, with series officials also involved.
It was an absolute mess – one the series will have to dig through to hand out the proper punishment.
Hall and Millington Take the White, Neither Take the Checkered
Ryan Millington seemed to be on his way to his first CARS win since Ace Speedway in 2020. Connor Hall had a surefire extension to his points lead in his back pocket.
Neither came to fruition.
Millington took the lead from polesitter Hall on lap three and never looked back, maintaining the top spot through all the restarts and chaos. Late in the running, Millington had set sail and it seemed as though series win No. 2 was in the cards.
But the story changed as the laps wound down. Driving a throwback No. 17 rather than his typical No. 22, Hall began to reel in Millington. Lapped traffic helped him close ground. By the time the race hit 10 laps to go, Hall was there.
The two battled hard through lap traffic over the ensuing laps, being held up multiple times by Brent Crews‘ off-pace No. 29. After being patient, Hall made his move coming to the white flag, The series points leader drove to the inside into turn 3, knocking Millington up the racetrack.
Millington attempted to return the favor in turn 1 on the white flag lap but missed. At that point, the race seemed to be in Hall’s hands. But Millington wasn’t about to settle for that. He instead sent a dive-bomb from two counties over and hit the bullseye.
With his desperation move, Millington made contact with the rear bumper of Hall, sending him in turn 4. Millington dodged the spinning machine and crossed under the checkered flag, but the call was quickly made to black flag him for the crash, giving the race to Bassett Jr.
As the yellow flew, Hall was originally credited with third, but was later also sent to the tail of the lead lap after being deemed the cause of the caution by series officials.
At night’s end, the two were classified 13th and 14th.
“I felt like I just got used up,” Millington said. “I wasn’t taking it, I just wasn’t. So I was making sure he wasn’t going to win that race, don’t really have much else to say besides that.”
Hall conversely seemed to have no hard feelings towards Millington, stating that the two had always raced well in the past.
“I tried to save it, just couldn’t drive out of it,” Hall told Frontstretch. “Really no hard feelings, you know. I’m getting used to finding a way to come out on the short end of the stick. But I just keep saying it’s just hard racing.”
The decision to black flag Millington was not an unprecedented one. Pro Late Model events in both 2022 and 2023 at Tri-County Speedway had similar incidents that ended with the same decision from officials.
Ronnie Bassett Jr. Finally Breaks Through
It had been a long time coming for Bassett.
Just over a month ago, Bassett failed to qualify on speed at Dominion Raceway, adding to what had been an abysmal season for the second year Tour driver. He came into Hickory without a single top-five on the season.
That all changed Saturday night at Hickory.
After qualifying fifth earlier in the day, Bassett never ran a single lap of the 125 outside the top five. That race-long success paid off when he found himself in the right place at the right time in the closing seconds.
It was an unorthodox way to win a race, as Bassett crossed the line nearly four seconds behind former race leader Millington. But at the end of the day, he and his family – all in attendance for the race – didn’t seem to care.
“It’s awesome,” Bassett said. “I mean my kids, every Monday morning or every night we get done racing and they’re like ‘Why didn’t you win? Why didn’t you win?
“Well they were here (today, I) can finally tell them we won. I love it, I’m glad they were here to be able to enjoy it with me.”
Saturday’s result was one of the biggest feel good stories of the season. Bassett is one of the most well-respected racers in the garage, a family man that keeps his nose clean and stays out of trouble.
He and his team have been struck with tons of bad luck throughout the 2024 season, but lady luck came out on their side on a night where she bit so many others.
Throwback 276 Results
Late Mode Stock Results
- Ronnie Bassett Jr.
- Bobby McCarty
- Kade Brown
- Brenden Queen
- Treyten Lapcevich
- Mini Tyrrell
- Connor Zilisch
- Josh Berry
- Katie Hettinger
- Landon Huffman
- Jacob Heafner
- Brandon Jones
- Connor Hall
- Ryan Millington
- Cody Dempster
- Isabella Robusto
- Carson Kvapil
- Michael Fose
- Brent Crews
- Mason Diaz
- Buddy Isles Jr.
- Brandon Pierce
- Andrew Grady
- Graham Hollar
- Conner Jones
- Deac McCaskill
Pro Late Model Results
- Jimmy Renfrew Jr.
- Conner Jones
- Jonathan Shafer
- Caden Kvapil
- Jake Bollman
- George Phillips
- T.J. DeCaire
- Kaden Honeycutt
- Cameron Clifford
- Brett Suggs
- Hudson Bulger
- Spencer Davis
- Aiden King
- Dylan Garner
- Tristan McKee
- Tyler Johnson
- Michael Toner
- Nick Loden
- Joshua Horniman
What’s Next?
The zMAX CARS Tour is back in action this Saturday, Aug. 3 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The event serves as the make-up date for the rained out event back in May. Both the Pro Late Models and Late Model Stock cars will be in action for a stacked doubleheader at the series’ biggest track.
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.
Glad to hear there is at least one sanctioning body out there that has the cajones to disqualify drivers for this garbage racing at the end of races. I don’t think I’m the only one that is getting tired of seeing the leader wrecked because the other driver doesn’t have the car or talent to pass them cleanly. So I commend the tour for this.
If that was the case, the 17 should have been disqualified for initially racing him dirty to begin with. 🤔🤷🏼♂️
They were both penalized to 13th and 14th, so what’s your point? It seems like every CARS race involves the drivers crashing each other out and then fighting in the pits.
I only saw the clip attached in the article, but didn’t see anything I would consider “dirty” from the 17. He got inside and they ran side by side for a while, until the 17 just lost it a bit in the turn. I’d label that as hard racing – he could have easily dumped the 15 long before he got up beside him but didn’t. I think he tried to pass clean but just lost a little grip in that one turn. The 15 dive bombing 17 with no other intent than to wreck him was uncalled for. Again, just going by the clip above – perhaps there were other instigating moves prior to this I didn’t see?