This Saturday (Oct. 18) night at North Wilkesboro Speedway, the zMAX CARS Tour will once again crown a Late Model Stock car champion, wrapping up the 11th season of competition for the the most competitive Late Model Stock tour in the nation.
Since 2015, the CARS Tour has been home to some of the best late model racers in the country. Some have gone on to make a career out of late model racing, while others have continued to climb the ladder. In 11 seasons, the Tour has crowned seven champions in Late Model Stock competition, with an eighth to be added this weekend in Wilkes County.
Saturday also will mark the conclusion of the fourth season for the CARS Pro Late Models, with a fourth champion set to be crowned on that side of the Tour.
Heading into North Wilkesboro, Ben Maier all-but has the Pro Late Model championship locked up and – barring any unforeseen circumstances – will celebrate Saturday afternoon as the champion. The battle on the LMSC side is much closer, with Landen Lewis holding a slim 12-point margin over Connor Hall. Kade Brown is still mathematically eligible, but would require extreme circumstances to win the title.
Hall has been in this position before, including a year ago. What will it mean for his career to become a CARS champion?
To get a better idea, let’s take a look back at those who have taken the CARS Tour crowns and where they are now.
Brenden Queen
2024 Late Model Stock Champion
A fan favorite known as ‘Butterbean’, Queen took the short track world by storm in 2022, winning the South Carolina 400 in his first ever start with Lee Pulliam Performance. That night began his rise from Langley Speedway regular to where he is now: a rising national star.
Queen ran full-time with the CARS Tour in 2023 and 2024, narrowly missing out on the 2023 title by just five points. The revenge tour in 2024 was a sight to behold, as Queen stormed back from an early points deficit to win the title in the final few races of the season, all on the back of eight top-five finishes to close out the year.
The Virginian won seven races in his time with the CARS Tour, including one as a local driver at Langley back in 2022.
This season, Queen was full-time in the ARCA Menards Series with Pinnacle Racing Group. As a rookie, he picked up six wins on the season, including one at Daytona International Speedway, and the series championship at season’s end.
Queen made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut with Kaulig Racing at Kansas Speedway on Sept. 27 and has just been announced as the first full-time driver for Kaulig’s new RAM NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series program for 2026.
Kaden Honeycutt
2024 Pro Late Model Champion
Winning races for two different race teams, Honeycutt picked up the 2024 Pro Late Model championship last season by a narrow margin over Spencer Davis in the final race of the season.
Honeycutt had been a CARS Tour veteran, nearly picking up the Late Model Stock championship in 2021. He made the move to Pro Late Model racing in 2024 and it paid off, with three wins on the season propelling Honeycutt to the championship.
The Texas native did all this amidst a part-time schedule in the Truck Series with Niece Motorsports before closing out his 2024 season with a win in short track racing’s Super Bowl, the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway.
The success earned Honeycutt a full-time spot with Niece Motorsports for 2025, where he pointed his way into the playoffs before it was announced he would not be back with the team in 2026.
Honeycutt has now taken over the Halmar Friesen Racing No. 52 for the injured Stewart Friesen. He’s currently fighting for a spot in the Championship 4. Looking ahead, Honeycutt has been tied to rumors surrounding TRICON Garage for 2026, although nothing has been made public or official.
Carson Kvapil
2022, 2023 Late Model Stock Champion
The son of former Truck Series champion Travis Kvapil, Carson built his own legacy at JR Motorsports with the CARS Tour. Starting as a shop guy, Kvapil earned his way to a full-time ride with JRM through hard work and a Super Late Model championship in 2021.
Kvapil is one of the most successful drivers in the Tour to date, easily building himself a top-three all-time resume with the series. In full-time efforts in 2022 and 2023 along with a part-time effort in 2024, Kvapil racked up 12 wins, good enough for a tie at second all-time on the Tour wins list.
On the back of four wins in 2022, including the revival of North Wilkesboro Speedway and the Old North State Nationals, Kvapil claimed the first of his two titles handily over Hall. He returned in 2023 to win five races, narrowly securing the championship over a hard-charging Queen in the final event.
The success earned Kvapil a NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Martinsville in 2024, where he finished fourth. That race led to a slate of others, and shortly after a major ValleyStar Credit Union 300 win at Martinsville Speedway, it was announced Kvapil would race full-time for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series in 2025. Kvapil is currently in the Xfinity Series Round of 8, battling for a spot in the Championship 4.
Caden Kvapil
2023 Pro Late Model Champion
The younger brother to Carson, Caden has found his fair share of CARS Tour success for himself. After a season-long battle with Katie Hettinger and three wins on the season, Kvapil won the Pro Late Model title, sweeping the series titles with brother Carson for 2023.
Caden bounced around in 2024 between Pro Late Model racing and Super Late Models before moving to Late Model Stock competition in 2025. Kvapil ran a part-time schedule for JR Motorsports in 2025, picking up three top 10s so far ahead of North Wilkesboro.
While nothing has been announced, the pending departure of Hall and Kvapil’s relationship with the team suggests Kvapil could follow in his brother’s footsteps as the next driver of the JR Motorsports No. 8 in 2026.
Luke Fenhaus
2022 Pro Late Model Champion
Wisconsin’s Fenhaus won the inaugural CARS Pro Late Model championship in 2022, driving the No. 96 for Highlands Motorsports that Kvapil would pilot to the championship the next year.
Despite not winning a race, Fenhaus won the title with top fives in 11 of the 12 races that season, including six second-place finishes. In the only race Fenhaus didn’t score a top-five finish in, he was just one spot back in sixth in the final race of the season.
Fenhaus moved to the ARCA Menards Series East in 2023, winning two races including an ARCA national win at Iowa Speedway with Pinnacle Racing Group. Fenhaus ultimately finished second in the championship battle to William Sawalich.
This season, Fenhaus has started 11 races in the Craftsman Truck Series for ThorSport Racing, including a third-place finish at Michigan International Speedway.
Bobby McCarty
2018, 2019, 2021 Late Model Stock Champion
The only three-time champion in series history, McCarty is one of the greats not only of the CARS Tour, but from this Late Model Stock generation. McCarty claimed all three titles driving the famed Nelson Motorsports No. 22 for Barry Nelson.
The first of his three titles came back in 2018, when McCarty beat Lee Pulliam by 17 points with four wins and eight top fives in 12 races. The next year’s title fight came down to the final lap, as McCarty held on to win the championship by one point over Josh Berry. McCarty won his third and final title by 13 points over Honeycutt in 2021.
McCarty has been a staple of the CARS Tour for years, never afraid to speak his mind but almost always fair on the racetrack. He was one half of arguably the greatest and most exciting rivalry in series history with Berry.
Unlike some of the other drivers on the list, McCarty is a late model guy through and through, dedicating his time to Late Model Stock racing rather than climbing the ladder. His 12 wins are tied with Kvapil for second all-time in series history but McCarty has just a single NASCAR start, 31st at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2022 driving for the now-defunct Johnny Davis operation in the Xfinity Series.
McCarty recently stepped away from the CARS Tour and has now started his own team, McCarty Motorsports, to compete at the NASCAR Regional level.
Jared Fryar
2020 Late Model Stock Champion
Many wouldn’t know it based on his success in 2025, but Fryar actually picked up his lone CARS Late Model Stock championship in 2020.
The 2020 season was a strange one, as teams and series officials worked around government regulations during the COVID-19 outbreak. Despite the hurdles, the season produced arguably the most exciting championship battle the Tour has ever seen, with three drivers separated by just five points at season’s end.
Fryar came out on top, beating Layne Riggs by one point and Corey Heim by five to claim his only CARS LMSC championship to date, adding to a CARS Super Late Model title from 2018. That championship gets more impressive with each passing year, considering both Riggs and Heim are NASCAR Truck Series winners fighting tooth-and-nail for the 2025 championship.
Like McCarty, Fryar is a late model guy, and one of the great ones. The Trinity, N.C. native is having a career year in 2025, having already claimed three CARS LMSC races this season – the first time he’s ever won multiple CARS races in a single year.
Josh Berry
2017 Late Model Stock Champion
The man who paved the way for success from the CARS Tour, Berry won his lone CARS championship in 2017. The Tennessean beat Anthony Alfredo by seven points and Riggs by nine to capture the series championship on the back of four race wins that season.
Driving for JR Motorsports, Berry became the all-time wins leader of the CARS Tour with 22 victories. That’s ten more than the next closest: Kvapil and McCarty.
Berry used CARS success to springboard his career. After an early penalty in the 2020 season, Berry pivoted and secured the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division I championship.
He got the call to run select races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2021, picking up his first career win at Martinsville Speedway during that stretch. The success propelled Berry to a full-time spot with JR Motorsports’ Xfinity Series program for 2022 and 2023, which then led to a full-time Cup Series spot with Stewart-Haas Racing in 2024. After SHR’s closing, Berry moved to Wood Brothers Racing in 2025, picking up his first career Cup Series win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway back in March.
Deac McCaskill
2016 Late Model Stock Champion
One of the founding members of the CARS Tour, McCaskill won his first and only CARS Tour championship in 2016. After narrowly missing out on the title in 2015, McCaskill stormed back in 2016 to beat Tommy Lemons Jr. for the championship.
Like McCarty and Fryar, McCaskill has been one of the Late Model Stock lifers. McCaskill ran full-time for the most part with CARS from its conception in 2015 up until the midpoint of 2024, when he left R&S Race Cars and fell off the tour.
McCaskill’s 10 victories place him fourth all-time in series wins and he’ll always carry the banner for the early members of the Tour. He’s scaled back from full-time racing in recent years, competing part-time at home tracks Wake County Speedway and Southern National Motorsports Park.
Brayton Haws
2015 Late Model Stock Champion
The inaugural Late Model Stock car champion is actually a bit of a head scratcher. Haws put together a stellar 2015 campaign, winning the title by five points over McCaskill with three wins on the season.
After that, Haws never raced in the CARS Tour again – and in truth, he hasn’t made much noise on the racing scene since. The Haws Motorsports Facebook page suggests that Haws could still be dirt modified racing in some capacity, although only one post has been made since 2020.
Nonetheless, Haws was, and always will be, the inaugural champion of what has blossomed into the most competitive asphalt late model series in North America.
Maier and Hall are itching to join the list.
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.