Just like that, the 2024 CARS Tour season has come to a close.
Way back in March, the series took a trip up to Southern National Motorsports Park to kick off a new era of CARS Tour racing. There were new races, a new title sponsor and new faces in the crowd.
Seven months later, the series has covered 17 races, 13 racetracks and three states, all while crowning a champion.
Since our last power rankings update, the series completed its final five-race stretch at Wake County Speedway, Florence Motor Speedway, South Boston Speedway, Tri County Speedway and North Wilkesboro Speedway. With the year wrapped up, it’s time to roll out our final rankings.
For the final time in 2024, here are the CARS Tour power rankings to put a bow on an incredible season of Late Model Stock racing.
1. Brenden ‘Butterbean’ Queen
Previous Ranking: Third
Hard to argue with this one. He’s the champion, so he’ll end the season No. 1 in our eyes as well.
What an incredible final stretch of races it was for Queen. For a majority of the season, the No. 03 team was down in the point standings, but they were never quite out.
Heading into Wake County, Connor Hall held a sizeable margin over Queen and his Lee Pulliam Performance team. Queen and Co. never found victory lane in the final stretch of races, but the group top-five the field to death as they stormed back to steal the title.
To witness this level of maturity from Queen behind the wheel was truly a sight to see. The Virginian had been a boom-or-bust driver in the CARS Tour up until mid-summer, but he flipped the switch when it mattered most.
There are multiple examples of races where he could have pushed the issue to gain an extra spot or go after a win, but he didn’t. Queen understood the situation at hand and never bit off more than he could chew.
Finishes of third, second, fifth, third and fifth in the final five races made for an incredible average finish of 3.6 in the season’s stretch run.
Congratulations champ, you earned this one.
2. Ryan Millington
Previous Ranking: Fourth
Speaking of guys who peaked at the end of the season, how about Ryan Millington?
Millington is one of the last true pioneers of Late Model Stock racing, running a family-owned team on a smaller budget without all the big name sponsors. They made the most of their situation down the stretch.
After coming so close to multiple wins in the third quarter, Millington finally broke through to victory late at Florence, scoring his first series victory since Ace Speedway in 2020.
Millington followed that up with another stellar performance at South Boston, leading the first 100 laps before losing out to Carson Kvapil on a late restart.
Additionally, Millington scored top 10’s at both Wake County and North Wilkesboro. If not for a fuel problem at Tri County – one that plagued much of the field – he would’ve ended with five-straight top-10 finishes.
The ending to that Tri County race affected many on this list, as the controversial fuel issues fell partially on the fault of the series, not just the teams. But rules are rules, and what looked to be a top-five run wound up with a 16th for Millington.
Nonetheless, it was great season for Flyin’ Ryan and the No. 15 bunch.
3. Mini Tyrrell
Previous Ranking: Fifth
This one was close between Millington and Mini Tyrrell, but the win for Millington ultimately gave him the nod.
The two had the exact same average finish of 6.8 in the final five races, both plagued with similar issues at Tri County. The only difference was that Tyrrell never found victory lane.
Tyrrell survived for a fourth-place finish at Wake County and followed it up with a pair of sixth-place results at Florence and South Boston, leading into the race at Tri County.
However, that 15th place finish at Tri County might haunt Tyrrell for quite some time.
He had one of the best cars all night long, following in Corey Heim’s tire tracks before finally grabbing the lead inside 20 laps to go. Tyrrell seemed to be driving away for a win at the site of his only other win back in 2021.
But a caution with two laps to go derailed it all. After running an exceptional amount of caution laps throughout the night, which don’t count against the lap total in the CARS Tour, Tyrrell ran out of gas while leading under yellow.
Two laps from victory lane, it all fell apart.
Tyrrell ended the year on a high note with a strong podium finish at North Wilkesboro, finishing both his season, and our power rankings in third.
4. Conner Jones
Previous Ranking: Ninth
Unlike the past three guys who made this list based on consistency, Conner Jones is on this list because of wins.
Two of them to be exact.
Jones didn’t even race in the first of these five races at Wake County and was lack-luster at South Boston, finishing 19th. He scored an eighth-place finish at Florence after a quiet, solid night.
What puts Jones on the list his back-to-back wins ending the year at Tri County and North Wilkesboro.
Jones had a top-five car all night long, spending most of the evening inside the top three at Tri County. He found himself in the right place at the right time when others ran out of fuel. The record books may say he led only three laps, but Jones survived multiple restarts to take home the win.
Fast forward a week and Jones took it to one of the best in the business in Kvapil to steal the win late. Kvapil led for a majority of the night, but Jones snuck by the rising star in a fantastic battle after following the No. 8’s tire tracks for much of the stretch run.
The race craft on display from the 18-year old Jones is something we haven’t seen in the past, as he’s been known to get into trouble on the racetrack. With ,ore of what we saw to end the year, he’ll be on his way up the ladder in no time.
5. Carson Kvapil
Previous Ranking: Seventh
One last time, Kvapil makes a power rankings list.
It’s well known Kvapil is on his way to the NASCAR Xfinity Series full-time in 2025, driving the JR Motorsports No. 1. As far as we know, this is the last time we’ll see Kvapil in a Late Model Stock car for quite some time.
If that’s the case, he went out with a bang. Kvapil’s win at South Boston was one of the most impressive we’ve seen from anyone in quite some time, and was a prime example of why he’s Xfinity ready heading into next year.
Kvapil sat out the races at both Florence and Wake County, but put in a solid run at Tri County before coming so close to a walk-off victory at North Wilkesboro. Ending this chapter of his career on a high note nets him into the top five of the fourth quarter.
6. Connor Hall
Previous Ranking: Second
Normally, we only do the top five and the ‘Best of the rest’.
However, this feels as though it needs an explanation. How did the guy who spent nearly the entire season atop the points standings, only to miss out on the title by nine points, drop to sixth?
Pretty simple. Hall and his team didn’t execute.
Hall entered the final five races in control of this championship battle. It seemed as though the title was his to lose. But when it counted most, he and Nelson Motorsports struggled to bring speed to the racetrack.
In a weak field at Wake County, Hall only managed an 11th out of 19 cars and was a non-factor throughout the night.
He and the Nelson Motorsports team rebounded from there with a solid fourth-place showing at Florence, a high tire wear track. But they lost ground to Queen after starting from the pole.
At South Boston, Hall’s No. 22 was terrible to start the night, spending a good portion of the race in the high teens and low 20s. Hall managed to salvage a seventh-place finish, but again lost ground.
Finally at Tri County, Hall and the Nelson crew were way off, running deep in the field before being caught up in a wreck. Multiple other crashes saved them enough to finish 13th.
Hall rebounded with a strong fourth-place run at North Wilkesboro to close out the year, but it just wasn’t enough. The final stretch felt like a collapse from this team – one that ultimately cost them the title at season’s end.
Best of The Rest
7. Treyten Lapcevich (Previously Sixth): Points- Sixth, Best finish this quarter- Second x2, Worst finish this quarter- 21st.
8. Landen Lewis (Previously Unranked): Points- 17th, Best finish this quarter- First, Worst finish this quarter- 16th (Three races).
9. Landon S. Huffman (Previously Unranked): Points- 30th, Best finish this quarter- Fourth, Worst finish this quarter- 28th (Four Races).
10. Brent Crews (Previously First): Points- Fifth, Best finish this quarter- 11th, Worst finish this quarter- 25th.
Up Next: On to 2025!
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.