On what was meant to be a Saturday showcase of motorsports, both Bristol Motor Speedway’s MLB Speedway Classic and Hickory Motor Speedway’s Throwback Classic faced a similar fate: rain.
Hickory had worse luck yet, with a planned 1:30 p.m. ET start time on Sunday also turning into another lengthy weather delay. But for Mini Tyrrell and Spencer Davis, it proved to be worth the wait.
Tyrrell claimed the CARS Tour record-setting purse of $50,000 for winning the Late Model Stock Car feature, while Davis edged out Luke Baldwin in dramatic fashion to claim a series-high Pro Late Model payout of $30,000, making the most of what was a challenging weekend for many at Hickory.
Late Model Stock Cars
Prior to the competition caution, polesitter Tristan McKee took the lead on the initial restart and never looked back. Landen Lewis, driving a No. 97 Ron Hornaday Jr. throwback, battled his way into second place, but was unable to close the gap on McKee’s one-second lead.
Kaden Honeycutt entered the fray after the competition caution, restarting on the outside of the front row and mounting a challenge to McKee. But it proved unsuccessful. McKee quickly reclaimed the lead, while Honeycutt slipped back to third.
Another caution was brought out on lap 88 when Jake Bollman experienced engine trouble, setting up a restart that had the potential to shake things up. McKee, Honeycutt and Lewis went three-wide for the lead, with McKee once again emerging out front.
During the battle, Honeycutt lost a position as Tyrrell crept into third. Hard racing and plenty of contact followed between Tyrrell and Lewis, allowing McKee to pull away from the pack and foreshadowing the drama that would unfold in the laps ahead.
Just as McKee reached lapped traffic, another caution flag came out, setting the stage for a dramatic restart with 10 laps to go. The restart quickly went sideways as Honeycutt jumped early on the outside and drove to the lead. As the field scrambled to catch up, contact between Lewis and McKee triggered a major pileup that took out several contenders up front.
Honeycutt was penalized for jumping the restart and later chose to park his car for the day. With several frontrunners out, a new group of contenders lined up for the next restart with $50,000 on the line.
Tyrrell and Conner Jones, sporting a Jimmie Johnson “White Lightning” Lowe’s throwback scheme, led the field back to green with 10 laps to go. After he prevailed, a battle for the lead quickly developed between Tyrrell and the No. 14 car of Jared Fryar, but just as Fryar began to close the gap, another yellow flag flew with six laps remaining.
For the next restart, Fryar lined up on the outside, sharing the front row with Tyrrell. But Tyrrell was able to fend off his challenge over the final six laps and claim the record-setting purse. Tyrrell left the car ready to celebrate after a long weekend at Hickory.
“You guys have no idea how much this is going to help me and my team,” he said afterward. “I’ve never won this kind of money before, so this is pretty cool.”
Fryar settled for second, with Jones, Landon Huffman and Doug Barnes Jr. completing the top-five. Kade Brown, Caden Kvapil, Lanie Buice, Deac McCaskill and Graham Hollar capped off the top-10.
Points leader Connor Hall came home 14th after a quiet night, with his closest rival, Lewis, relegated to 20th after the late pileup.
Late Model Stock Car Results
- Mini Tyrrell
- Jared Fryar
- Conner Jones
- Landon Huffman
- Doug Barnes Jr
- Kade Brown
- Caden Kvapil
- Lanie Buice
- Deac McCaskill
- Graham Hollar
- Chase Burrow
- Landon S. Huffman
- Ronnie Bassett Jr
- Connor Hall
- Donovan Strauss
- Michael Bumgardner
- Brody Monahan
- Sam Butler
- Mason Diaz
- Landen Lewis
- Trevor Ward
- Tristan McKee
- Kaden Honeycutt
- Carson Loftin
- Chad McCumbee
- Treyten Lapcevich
- Layne Riggs
- Jake Bollman
- Jordan McGregor
Pro Late Models
The Pro Late Model feature got 50 laps in on Saturday night. Davis started on the pole, but it was Honeycutt who jumped out to an early lead. Despite multiple challenges from Davis, Honeycutt held firm through three caution flags.
One of them was triggered by a multi-car incident in the back half of the field that collected at least seven drivers, including Isaac Kitzmiller, Brody Gunter, Brandon Lopez, Rodney Dowless and Dylan Capello. The red flag for rain came out shortly after and the cars remained parked until Sunday night.
When the race resumed roughly 25 hours later, Honeycutt was penalized for an unapproved adjustment and was sent to the back of the field. He worked his way back up to seventh, but the story of the night became the battle between Davis and Baldwin.
With 13 laps to go, Baldwin began cutting into Davis’ lead, closing the gap to just half a second. He made his way to the Georgian’s bumper twice before finally making a pass for the lead with two laps remaining.
With the $30,000 prize in sight, Davis didn’t let Baldwin get away, making contact with the left rear of his No. 51 car and diving back under him. The result was a dramatic finish, with Davis edging out the win by just 0.039 seconds.
Davis praised Baldwin’s talent and the speed he had in his car, calling the win the “number one by far” achievement of his racing career in an interview with FloRacing. Baldwin, however, didn’t share the same sentiment, saying Davis “did not give him the courtesy to race.”
Whether fans viewed it as fair or foul, their patience was rewarded with a thrilling finish.
McKee came home third, with Kvapil and Casey Roderick wrapping up the top five. Making up the back half of the top 10 were Seth Christensen, Honeycutt, Katie Hettinger, Dawson Sutton and TJ DeCaire.
Pro Late Model Results
- Spencer Davis
- Luke Baldwin
- Tristan McKee
- Caden Kvapil
- Casey Roderick
- Seth Christensen
- Kaden Honeycutt
- Katie Hettinger
- Dawson Sutton
- TJ DeCaire
- Ben Maier
- Nick Loden
- Mason Diaz
- Conner Jones
- Justin Crider
- Jace Hale
- Keelan Harvick
- Jeff Batten
- Toro Rodriguez
- Dylan Garner
- Brandon Lopez
- Cameron Clifford
- Brody Gunter
- Austin MacDonald
- Isaac Kitzmiller
- Rodney Dowless
- Dylan Capello
Up Next: The CARS Tour now enters a two-week break before returning Aug. 16th at Anderson Motor Speedway, with coverage on FloRacing.
