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Counting CARS: 3 Takeaways From a Night Decided By Fuel Saving, Post-Race Penalty at Tri-County

Granite Falls, N.C. – The zMax CARS Tour visited the 0.4-mile short track Tri-County Motor Speedway on Saturday (Oct. 12) night and the racing lived up to expectation.

Drivers ran out of fuel. Some left with wrecked racecars. The Pro Late Model race ended early due to an 11 p.m. ET track curfew and the original driver who received the confetti bath didn’t end up with the win.

The series’ 10th trip to Tri-County was my first time attending a CARS event. Conner Jones saved enough fuel to win the Late Model Stock race, with Kaden Honeycutt emerging victorious on the Pro Late Model side.

Through it all, there were three prevailing storylines. Here are our takeaways from the CARS Tour’s penultimate race weekend.

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Fuel Saving on a Short Track

In all my years attending races, both as a fan and media, I’ve never seen a driver run out of gas, climb out of their racecar, take off their helmet, speak to the media, climb back in the car after their pit crew filled it with gas and return to the race – all while still on the lead lap.

Until Saturday night, that is. Because that’s exactly what happened to Mini Tyrrell.

After qualifying second, Tyrrell ran inside the top three for nearly the whole evening. He snatched the lead late and was in position to snag Saturday’s victory. But with the myriad of cautions, misfortune struck him with two laps to go.

Tyrrell’s team refueled his No. 81 and he indeed stayed on the lead lap, but couldn’t rally to a finish symbolic of his performance. The Virginian wound up relegated to a 15th-place result.

He entered Tri-County with an outside chance at the title – one he could have bolstered with the win. Instead his championship hopes are gone, because he was one of several drivers who ran out of fuel late.

“Utter heartbreak,” Tyrrell told Frontstretch post-race. “I don’t know, I must be allergic to victory lane or something this year cause I have done nothing but run second. Had this one in the bag by a mile and cautions come out when some guys racing out back for, you know, 20-something. Why they’re wrecking, God only knows. But yeah, we just ran out of gas.

“I was coasting and saving fuel and cutting the car off from the first yellow, which was at [lap] 24. I came over the radio and said, ‘Should I just save fuel to just to be safe?’

“‘Yeah, save fuel.’ Brandon coached me through that. So I started doing it. Every caution religiously. When you have cautions and people who wreck and you do 100 caution laps waiting for the cleanup crew to finish instead of just red-flagging the race, it makes no sense.

“If you’re going to make us run caution laps, that’s fine. But you need to let us come in to get fuel. There was me, the No. 44 ran out of gas and he couldn’t even make it to victory lane. … The No. 55 out of gas, the No. 77 out of gas, the No. 15. … It’s just ridiculous.”

I concur. Series officials ought to reexamine its procedures for Tri-County.

My suggestion: throw the caution flag at or around the halfway point. Allow drivers to come down pit road, if they choose to do so, for fuel. If a driver wants to stay out and stretch it like race winner Jones, OK. If not, the finish should not be determined and cars should not be wrecked due to drivers running out of gas. Especially when drivers did not pit other than to repair their racecars.

But even if series officials implement a procedural change moving forward, it doesn’t help Tyrrell, Ryan Millington or any of the other drivers who suffered due to running out of fuel.

When the caution flag flew and Tyrrell’s team heard he was out of gas, one of his team members said a phrase that summarized his disappointment.

Hopefully series officials can make changes to ensure others aren’t left feeling the same way moving forward.

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Championship Implications

Connor Hall entered the night with a precarious one-point lead over longtime rival Brenden “Butterbean” Queen. When the checkered flag flew, Queen finished 10 spots ahead of Hall, taking the points lead as the series heads to its season finale at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

The change at the top of the standings started early in the night. Hall qualified a distant 16th, while Queen rolled off fourth. Hall lacked top-10 speed all day and his championship hopes momentarily were cast into doubt after he was involved in a crash.

The future JR Motorsports made the most of his difficult day from there. He soldiered onto a 13th-place finish, gaining three spots late as others ran out of fuel.

Queen meanwhile competed for the victory throughout the night, ultimately coming home third. He’ll control his own destiny in the season finale at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

“Same as it was tonight,” Queen said post-race about his strategy for North Wilkesboro. “You know, just, what happened to him can happen to us so it’s not over ‘til it’s over.

“We just got to go to Wilkesboro and get the pole. Try to lead laps, try to get the points that are available and keep the No. 22 behind us or in sight.”

Given his advantage and the remaining track, Queen is the favorite on paper. In the first race at Wilkesboro this season, Hall finished three laps down in 22nd. He has one top five and one top 10 with a best finish of fourth there. Queen led 46 laps en route to winning that race. He has one win, two top fives, two top 10s and two poles in his three races there.

Word in the garage pre-race is that the champion will have to win the season finale too. While mathematically that’s not a prerequisite, Hall certainly could use all the points he can get based on Queen’s successes there.

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Pro Lates End Early with the Confetti Not Showered Upon the Winner

The Pro Late Model race was shortened to 85 of a scheduled 100 laps due to the curfew, but it didn’t end without a bit of controversy.

Tristan McKee took the lead on the final restart and crossed the finish line first ahead of Honeycutt. But that was only the beginning of the drama.

As McKee delighted in receiving the celebratory confetti and photography with the check, series officials announced the final restart was under review.

Per a track official, race control was split on who was the control car for the final restart. McKee had led the first 73 laps of the race. So when he took off first, some did not question it, especially because everyone was under pressure due to the time crunch.

But Honeycutt was the control driver at the moment of truth, having taken he lead from McKee on the preceding restart. McKee was deemed to have jumped the restart and subsequently penalize.

Honeycutt did not receive the confetti celebration, but he took home the win, even though his name was not the one initially listed on the race-winning check.

Spencer Davis, who entered with an 11-point championship lead, was irate after climbing out of his racecar. Davis remarked that Honeycutt brake checked the field, McKee went and yet series officials ruled otherwise.

Davis had a vested interest in the outcome. Honeycutt cut into Davis’ points lead, though Davis still finished fifth.

What does this mean for pro late season finale, also at North Wilkesboro?

My recommendation: win the race.

Regardless, it is going to be an exciting battle for the title.

Results from Tri-County

Late Model Stock

  1. Conner Jones
  2. Jared Fryar
  3. Brenden Queen
  4. Landon S. Huffman
  5. Chase Burrow
  6. Carson Kvapil
  7. Ryan Wilson
  8. Charlie Watson
  9. Andrew Grady
  10. Max Reaves
  11. Cody Dempster
  12. Treyten Lapcevich
  13. Connor Hall
  14. Buddy Isles Jr.
  15. Mini Tyrrell
  16. Ryan Millington
  17. Aaron Donnelly
  18. Corey Heim
  19. Brandon Pierce
  20. Ronnie Bassett Jr.
  21. William Sawalich
  22. Brody Monahan
  23. Kaden Honeycutt
  24. Deac McCaskill
  25. Brent Crews
  26. Blayne Harrison
  27. Parker Eatmon
  28. Dylan Ward
  29. Kade Brown
  30. Andrew Patterson

Pro Late Model

  1. Kaden Honeycutt
  2. Tristan McKee
  3. Ashton Higgins
  4. Caden Kvapil
  5. Spencer Davis
  6. Jimmy Renfrew Jr.
  7. T.J. DeCaire
  8. Kyle Campbell
  9. Cameron Bolin
  10. Dylan Garner
  11. Travis Braden
  12. Brandon Lopez
  13. Max Reaves
  14. Justin Crider
  15. Joshua Horniman
  16. Tyler Church
  17. Cameron Clifford
  18. Jaydn Daniels
  19. Dusty Garus
  20. Lanie Buice

What’s Next?

The CARS Tour field ends its season next Saturday (Oct. 19) at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The event will take place at 7 p.m. ET, with live coverage provided by FloRacing.

About the author

Frontstretch.com

Mark Kristl joined Frontstretch at the beginning of the 2019 NASCAR season. He is the site's ARCA Menards Series editor. Kristl is also an Eagle Scout and a proud University of Dayton alum.

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DoninAjax

Sounds like the Oxford 250! 250 green flag laps.