The zMAX CARS Tour ventured to Sophia, N.C., on Wednesday for a midweek race at Caraway Speedway ahead of the Fourth of July weekend. The Late Model Stock Cars and the Pro Late Model cars took to the track for an exciting night of action.
In the end, Jared Fryar and Brandon Lopez emerged from the facility with race wins. .
Late Model Stock Cars
Fryar benefited from late chaos and cruised to a win after a crash involving three championship contenders.
Mini Tyrrell dominated the race up until 35 laps remained in the 125-lap event, when Landen Lewis attempted a daring pass underneath Tyrrell into turn 3. Lewis made contact with the rear quarter panel of Tyrrell’s car and nearly spun him, giving Lewis the lead. He didn’t look back up until the competition caution at lap 100.
Following the competition caution, the field took the green with 25 laps to go. Lewis maintained his lead while Fryar got around Tyrrell for second place. The green flag run was short lived, however, as an incident involving Max Reaves and Grant Davidson brought out a caution on lap 106.
Chaos struck on the ensuing restart, as Lewis and Tyrrell found themselves on the front row, leading the field to green. Lewis’s car became entangled with Tyrrell’s car at the exit of turn 1 the pair drifted up into the wall near the exit of turn 2. Landon Huffman, who was in the second row, was attempting to get around the accident when he was collected after making contact with Lewis’ car and also went into the wall.
The wreck had significant championship implications. All three drivers involved sat within the top five in LMSC points heading into the race. Points leader Connor Hall had an uneventful night as he skirted by the accident and came home 12th.
Fryar inherited the lead after the accident and cruised through the last laps, with Kaden Honeycutt following in second. Tristan McKee finished in third, with Ronnie Bassett Jr. and Doug Barnes Jr. rounding out the top five. Chase Burrow, Donovan Strauss, Kade Brown, Carson Loftin and Brandon Ward completed the top 10.
Firecracker 265 Results
- Jared Fryar
- Kaden Honeycutt
- Tristan McKee
- Ronnie Bassett Jr.
- Doug Barnes Jr
- Chase Burrow
- Donovan Strauss
- Kade Brown
- Carson Loftin
- Brandon Ward
- Chad McCumbee
- Connor Hall
- Landen Lewis
- Ryan Wilson
- Dylan Ward
- Parker Eatmon
- Andrew Grady
- Lanie Buice
- Brandon Pierce
- Landon Huffman
- Trevor Ward
- Zack Wells
- Conner James
- Mini Tyrrell
- Max Reaves
- Grant Davidson
Pro Late Models
It didn’t happen how anyone would have scripted it. But by keeping his car clean in a chaotic PLM feature, Lopez put himself in position and surged to the lead when it counted for his first CARS Tour win.
Ben Maier led for the early portion of the Pro Late Model race at Caraway Speedway, with Keelan Harvick and Cody Ware trailing close behind but unable to pass him. A pair of cautions came out before the halfway mark which prompted restarts, but Maier held the top spot through each challenge.
He would continue to hold the lead until roughly halfway, when Maier spun off the front bumper of Ware on the backstretch, kicking off a large wreck that affected multiple cars including Harvick and Dylan Garner. The wreck shook up the leaderboard that set the Pro Late Model race up for an exciting finish.
Mason Walters led after the wreck, with Tyler Reif chasing him in the closing laps. The pair started to exchange the lead late when things went awry. Reif had made the pass underneath Walters and was ahead entering turn 3 when the two made contact and Reif spun, shaking up the field again.
Walters and Reif were sent to the back for the following restart, but the chaos of the night wasn’t finished then, either. The next restart was waved off for a slow star from Isaac Kitzmiller restarting too slowly. When the green flag flew again, the cars of Rodney Dowless, Kitzmiller, and Ware became entangled and stopped in turn 1.
That set up the final restart, where Lopez took the lead and never looked back.
Pro Late Model Results
- Brandon Lopez
- Brody Gunter
- Tyler Reif
- Mason Walters
- Cody Ware
- Seth Christensen
- Isaac Kitzmiller
- Trey Burke
- Rodney Dowless
- Conner Jones
- Keelan Harvick
- Ben Maier
- Darren Krantz Jr.
- Dylan Garner
- Jason Kitzmiller
- Tristan McKee
Logan Kendall joined the Frontstretch team in 2025 as the Tuesday News Writer and fills in other roles as needed. He resides in the Finger Lakes region of New York and spends his free time writing as a hobby creatively and is a self published author.
Logan can be found on X @LoganKendall48