The zMAX CARS Tour was back in action this past Friday night (Aug. 16) at Ace Speedway, located just outside of Greensboro in Altamahaw, Nc. The race was originally scheduled for August 9, but was postponed due to Hurricane Debby.
The delay was unfortunate. But the races that transpire was worth the wait, because the series put on another thrilling night of racing that we’ve become accustomed to. Both the Pro Late Models and Late Model Stock cars were in action at the .4-mile track, with both series providing repeat winners.
While Caden Kvapil earned the season sweep of the Pro Late Models at Ace, it was Brent Crews who picked up a series-best third win of the season.
Here are three takeaways from a wild Friday night in North Carolina.
Brent Crews Rendition of ‘The Closer’
Crews drives for ‘The Closer’ Kevin Harvick, so it’s fitting that Friday’s performance was Closer-esque.
Unlike his previous two victories in 2024, Crews did not seem to have a car capable of winning at Ace. After a sixth-place effort in qualifying, Crews struggled to truly challenge at the front.
Through the first 100 laps, Crews ran as high as fourth on multiple occasions, falling as far back as seventh just before the final 25-lap stretch.
Crews had a front row seat for the battle between Brenden Queen, Ryan Millington, Connor Hall and Conner Jones, and was in position to move forward when Queen spun Millington. The spin sent both drivers to the tail and netted Crews two spots.
Shortly after, another battle between Hall and Treyten Lapcevich sent Hall around while Lapcevich was sent to the tail. Just like that, Crews was set to restart outside the front row.
On the ensuing restart, Crews was once again the beneficiary as Chad McCumbee spun Jones entering turn 3 as the caution flag flew, handing the lead over to Crews.
The 16-year old was able to hold off Mini Tyrrell on the final two restarts, picking up his first CARS win at Ace and his third series win of 2024.
“Super difficult right,” Crews told FloRacing. “I mean you saw everybody just wrecking each other, honestly. I don’t believe that’s how we should race right, I think moving people is fair.
“But I feel like CARS Tour did the right thing penalizing the people and hopefully that will fix it up a little bit. I mean I’m guilty of it myself as well. Just happy to be here, happy the Lord put me in this place and happy to be surrounded by these great people.”
After a subpar couple of weeks for Crews and the No. 29 team, this puts the group squarely back in the championship battle as the season begins to wind down.
Caden Kvapil’s A+ Double-Duty Effort
What a night for the younger Kvapil brother.
Older brother Carson Kvapil was originally scheduled to compete at Ace on August 9. But the postponement conflicted with his NASCAR Xfinity Series commitments at Michigan International Speedway.
This opened the door for Caden to make his CARS Late Model Stock debut driving for JR Motorsports.
But before he could do that, the younger brother first had business to attend to with his regularly-scheduled Pro Late Model duties.
After winning at Ace back in May, the chance at a sweep seemed slim around the halfway point. Kvapil quickly fell from the second spot down through the running order.
Kvapil returned from the pits after a restart with 54 laps to go well behind the rest of the field. But from there, he mounted an incredible charge, taking the lead with nine laps to go and driving away from Kaden Honeycutt to a season sweep at Ace.
Turning his attention to the Late Model Stock portion of his night, Kvapil started down in 13th, running a solid race up until suffering alternator issues on lap 87.
After a quick yellow saved the No. 8 team, Kvapil was able to climb back through the field with some help from the chaos in front of him. With a few great restarts in the closing laps, Kvapil secured a podium in his Late Model Stock debut.
“Yeah it was definitely pretty hard,” Kvapil told FloRacing. “Towards the end it just started getting out of control, everyone was getting into each other and stuff. So, we got a bunch of spots just from avoiding wrecks. We had a pretty good car, there for a while we were pretty quick, one of the fastest cars out there.
“It just got really hard to pass, started getting a little tight. We got dumped early, kind of made a bad call and got in line, got stacked up and turned. But it was a really cool night, to be able to run this Bass Pro Shops JR Motorsports Chevrolet No. 8 car.”
With older brother Carson likely moving on to bigger things at season’s end, the JR Motorsports No. 8 may be in need of a new wheelman come 2025. Time will tell, but a run like he had Friday night may put Caden in prime position to take over his brother’s ride next season.
Millington and Queen’s Never Ending Battle
What a show Millington and Queen put on late in the going at Ace. The two battled hard up front throughout the night, but the intensity went up a notch as the laps begin to wind down.
It all started with a restart with 36 laps to go, when Queen was the leader with Millington alongside.
‘Butterbean’ quickly jumped to the lead on the restart, but it wasn’t long before Millington worked back to the inside of the No. 03 to retake the top spot.
Throughout the run that lasted 26 laps, Millington and Queen traded the lead eight times on track. Millington would execute a bump and run, only for Queen to return the favor.
As the run went on, the bumps began to get a bit more aggressive, with Millington utilizing an impressive crossover move multiple times on the exit of turn 4. Eventually, this drew Hall and Jones into the battle.
Finally, with 11 to go, Millington sent himself and Queen up the track just enough for Hall to narrowly squeeze by. Jones would follow suit on the backstretch, making it three wide.
Off turn 4, Queen attempted to work back to the inside of Millington and made contact entering turn 1, sending Millington’s No. 15 for a spin. Queen was sent to the tail and Millington fell out of the race, bringing an end to a classic short track battle.
While more chaos ensued in the closing laps, this was truly the highlight of the night. It embodied everything that not just the CARS Tour, but short track racing as a whole strives to be.
Fair, hard nose racing, with quite a few bumps and nudges. Testing the limits, but never quite crossing the line to foul. No hard feelings were had between the two, and the fans were given a show. You can’t ask for much more than that.
AcceleratedGFX.com 285 Results
Late Model Stock
- Brent Crews
- Mini Tyrrell
- Caden Kvapil
- Brenden Queen
- Connor Hall
- Chad McCumbee
- Buddy Isles Jr.
- Isabella Robusto
- Treyten Lapcevich
- Conner Jones
- Landen Lewis
- Kade Brown
- Brandon Pierce
- Ryan Millington
- Dillon Harville
- Ronnie Bassett Jr.
- Blake Stallings
- Bobby McCarty
- Heath Causey
- Dean Ward
- Dylan Ward
Pro Late Model
- Caden Kvapil
- Kaden Honeycutt
- Jake Bollman
- Spencer Davis
- Jimmy Renfrew Jr.
- Max Reaves
- T.J. DeCaire
- Brandon Lopez
- Travis Braden
- Logan Jones
- Joshua Horniman
- Tristan McKee
- Jessica Cann
- Luke Baldwin
What’s Next?
The Late Model Stock cars head to the shortest track on their schedule this Saturday, August 24, as the CARS Tour takes on “America’s Favorite Bullring” Wake County Speedway. Meanwhile, the Pro Late Models will take a week off before both series head down to Florence Motor Speedway on August 30.
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.