What an exciting summer it’s been for the zMAX CARS Tour.
Since our last power rankings following the race at Dominion Raceway, the series has visited Caraway Speedway, Hickory Motor Speedway, North Wilkesboro Speedway and Ace Speedway.
All four races produced drama throughout, allowing for big shakeups in both the series standings and our power rankings. Following the first four races, it was Carson Kvapil who ranked No. 1. By the halfway point, Brenden Queen had taken over the top spot.
As always, these rankings are based solely on drivers results in the CARS Tour and do not factor in outside endeavors. At the three-quarter mark of the season, there’s a new No. 1 at the top of the mountain.
Let’s take a look at how the field shakes out with just five races left in 2024.
1. Brent Crews
Previous Ranking: Fifth
Much like the weather in North Carolina, Brent Crews and the No. 29 team have been on fire this summer.
Even an average finish of 7.8 in the past four races doesn’t do Crews’ summer justice. He suffered from a mechanical failure at Hickory and was involved in an accident at North Wilkesboro, resulting in finishes of 19th and 10th, respectively.
When Crews hasn’t had the bad luck bug, he’s been in victory lane. After winning a thriller at Caraway, the 16-year-old prospect picked up his series-high third win of the season this past weekend at Ace.
Crews has now climbed to third in the standings, just 15 points behind series leader Connor Hall. If the rookie can stay on this hot streak, we could be calling him ‘CARS Tour Champion’ at season’s end.
2. Connor Hall
Previous Ranking: Third
Connor Hall has been lights-out fast all summer long. Unfortunately for Hall, it’s been open season on the rear bumper of the Nelson Motorsports No. 22.
In an alternate universe, Hall could have won three out of the last four races and we’d be looking ahead to 2025, with this title battle all-but-over. But lady luck has had other plans in recent weeks.
Hall took the white flag as the leader at both Caraway and Hickory. A last corner bump-and-run from Crews put Hall down in third at Caraway, while a last chance dive bomb from Ryan Millington spun Hall at Hickory, resulting in a third-place finish.
That wasn’t the end of the misfortune. Hall was running second at Caraway when contact from Treyten Lapcevich in the final 10 laps sent him spinning to a fifth-place result. Add in a lap 8 accident at North Wilkesboro and an ensuing 18th-place result and the summer has not been Hall’s friend.
Even with all the contact, Hall still boasts an average finish of 7.3 in the past four races and sits atop the series standings. That’s promising for the run to the finish. After all, the bad luck has to end eventually, right?
3. Brenden ‘Butterbean’ Queen
Previous Ranking: First
For Butterbean’s standards, this has been a down summer. Zero wins, zero podiums in this quarter of the season. It hasn’t been the level of performance we’ve gotten used to from the No. 03 team.
That said, three top fives and an average finish of 9.3 in the past four races is nothing to frown upon. After going airborne in a crash that resulted in a finish of 23rd, Queen has rebounded for finishes of fifth, fifth and fourth in the past three races.
The problems for Queen are the ‘what-ifs.’ Queen led the first 68 laps from the pole at North Wilkesboro, before giving up multiple spots on a late restart to fall to fifth.
Again at Ace, Queen was locked in a battle for the lead with Millington before the two allowed Hall and Conner Jones to get by, which led to contact and a penalty for Queen. Had he and the Lee Pulliam Performance team simply finished those races off where they should have, Queen could have retained the top spot on this list.
4. Ryan Millington
Previous Ranking: Fourth
Ryan Millington has been bad fast in his No. 15 this summer. The problem is he has basically nothing to show for it.
In the past four races, Millington has by far the most laps led, combining for 197 circuits out front between Hickory and Ace. But in the end, those two races ended up yielding his worst finishes of the quarter.
After leading 121 laps at Hickory, Millington lost the lead to Hall coming to the white flag. Millington proceeded to spin Hall in turn four coming to the checkered. He was subsequently penalized and relegated to 14th.
Then at Ace, Millington spent 76 laps out front before a battle with Butterbean led to contact and a mechanical failure for Millington. But he managed to save this quarter with two solid top 10s at Caraway and North Wilkesboro, so we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for showing incredible speed in the other two races.
5. Mini Tyrrell
Previous Ranking: Eighth
Mini Tyrrell has been the model of consistency in 2024. That continued to be the case throughout the mid-summer stretch.
After a DNF in a crash at Caraway, Tyrrell has managed to reel off three-consecutive top 10s, with the latter two being podium finishes. Finishes of 22nd, seventh, third and second give Tyrrell an average finish of 8.5 this quarter.
The knock on Tyrrell is that he has yet to find victory lane – not just in 2024, but since his Tri-County Speedway win in 2021. Tyrrell has seen great improvement this season compared to the past two years, but hasn’t broken through to victory lane.
They say every dog has it’s day and sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. The best way to have your day and get lucky is to put yourself in position, and Tyrrell continues to do that.
The win is coming. It’s not a matter of if, but when. But in the meantime, Tyrrell’s been good enough to crack our top five.
The Best of The Rest
6. Treyten Lapcevich (Previously Sixth): Points- Sixth, Best finish this quarter- First, Worst finish this quarter- 11th.
7. Carson Kvapil (Previously Second): Points- Seventh, Best finish this quarter- Fourth, Worst finish this quarter- 17th (3 races).
8. Ronnie Bassett Jr. (Previously Unranked): Points- 10th, Best finish this quarter- First, Worst finish this quarter- 14th.
9. Conner Jones (Previously Unranked): Points- 18th, Best finish this quarter- 10th, Worst finish this quarter- 25th.
10. Kade Brown (Previously Unranked): Points- 12th, Best finish this quarter- Fourth, Worst finish this quarter- 29th.
Up Next: Wake County Speedway, Saturday, August 24. Coverage available live on FloRacing, green flag scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.
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.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.