For the second time this season, and third in his career, Landen Lewis has found victory lane in the zMAX Cars Tour event Friday (May 16).
Lewis was dominant at North Wilkesboro Speedway, leading the entire race en route to victory, doing so in back-to-back races.
“I’m speechless, this one hits hard,” Lewis told FOX Sports. “The last two weeks, I don’t know what’s going on, but we really have this thing rolling.”
Finishing runner up was 14-year-old Tristan McKee, who ran much of the latter stages of the race in the second position. Mini Tyrell crossed the line in third, holding off Kaden Honeycutt, who finished fourth after working through the entirety of the field after an early wreck. Rounding out the top five, Carson Loftin finished fifth.
The entirety of the top 10 saw Landon Huffman finish sixth — despite missing the left side door — and Conner Jones finishing seventh. Tate Fogleman crossed the line in eighth, Riley Gentry in ninth and Connor Hall in 10th.
On the initial start of the race, Lewis was able to retain the lead as the field worked turn 2, but an early yellow would come out from there. Lanie Buice made contact with Jake Bollman, spinning out the driver of the No. 71. Buice made significant contact with the wall as well, and in an accordion effect, over 10 cars piled in behind them. Amongst those included in the incident were Ronnie Bassett Jr., Sam Butler, Doug Barnes, Landon S. Huffman, and Corey LaJoie.
After a brief red flag period to clean up the wreck, Lewis once again launched out to the lead on the restart. Honeycutt looked as if he was going to work his way to the lead, but as he was working around Carson Kvapil, he got loose, spinning Kvapil out into the outside wall in turn 1. The incident brought out another red-flag period, and Honeycutt was sent to the rear for the subsequent restart. Kvapil’s night was ended due to the damage sustained in the incident.
The third restart of the night was the first that Lewis had to fight for the lead on. McKee restarted on the front row after the early incidents shuffled up the field, and remained side by side with Lewis for a pair of laps. Lewis was able to utilize the outside lane to pull ahead a few laps later, but McKee remained closely behind.
By lap 20, the race remained much of the same up front. Lewis still held McKee and Tyrell in his rear view, and points leader Hall battled behind Loftin for numerous laps for fourth, but wasn’t able to get the pass completed before the lap 25 competition caution.
When the field went green again after the scheduled caution, it was again Lewis who pulled out to the lead. McKee kept pace with the driver of the No. 29 for a lap, but fell into the place shortly as the field worked into turn 1 on lap 27. The caution would fly again quickly after though, as Donovan Strauss spun on the frontstretch after contact with the outside wall. Hall found himself on pit road during this yellow-flag period with exhaust issues. Smoke had been bellowing out of the rear of the car for much of the race to that point.
Lewis continued his restart dominance on lap 30, jumping out to perhaps his best of the evening to date. Lewis cleared the field by the time they worked into turn 1 the first time, and held a half of a second lead a few laps later.
On lap 46, Caden Kvapil showed smoke and fire out of the rear of his No. 8 Chevrolet, losing an engine, ending his night early.
As the field worked the halfway mark on lap 50, Lewis continued to lead, with McKee just under a second behind him. The two had pulled out to a nice breakaway, as the remainder of the field was two seconds or more behind them.
Lewis’ lead over McKee didn’t stay at a second for long, however. As the leader caught lapped traffic, it drew McKee ever closer, within two tenths of a second by lap 60. The gap didn’t stay that way for long, though, as Lewis worked through lapped traffic more efficiently than McKee. Of note, Lewis was able to put fellow championship contender Kade Brown a lap down with 30 laps to go in the race.
After the field worked 45 consecutive green flag laps, the competition caution flew on lap 74, taking away Lewis’ lead, and racking the field back up once again.
The following looked a lot like each of the ones before it. McKee and Lewis entered turn 1 side by side, but after utilizing the outside lane, Lewis pulled ahead down the backstretch. The caution would come out a few laps later, as Mason Diaz slid down the track after contact with Jones, spinning into Ryan Millington and Jonathan Shafer down the backstretch.
On the final restart of the evening, Lewis again jumped out to the lead off into turn 1. Honeycutt, after being sent to the rear, worked his way all the way up into the top five again by lap 80.
With 15 laps to go, Lewis continued his dominance of the race, but McKee certainly didn’t let him get away, keeping the gap to just over a half of a second. Elsewhere, Honeycutt stalled out behind Tyrell in fourth position.
The final 10 laps of the race were largely uneventful upfront, as Lewis cruised to victory in dominating fashion.
The CARS Tour now endures a two-week break, before returning on May 31 at Langley Speedway, televised on FloRacing.
Josh joined Frontstretch in 2023 and currently covers the ARCA Menards Series. Born and raised in Missouri, Josh has been watching motorsports since 2005. He currently is studying for a Mass Communication degree at Lindenwood University