After months of tense short track battles and an evolving championship storyline on the Late Model Stock side, the CARS Tour rolled into North Wilkesboro Speedway alongside the SMART Modified Tour to wrap up its 2025 season.
In the end, the expected champions prevailed while others emerged with a final victory to close out the year.
Late Model Stock Cars
JR Motorsports (JRM) had reason to celebrate at the end of the Crossroads Harley-Davidson 125, but it wasn’t because the company had accomplished its end goal.
On a day when JRM’s Connor Hall was hoping to close up a gap to secure his first CARS Tour title, teammate Caden Kvapil muscled his way past Landon S. Huffman on the final lap to secure a season-ending victory.
“This is really cool,” Kvapil said afterward. “I messed it up a little there in qualifying and that put us behind the 8 ball, but I knew we had a really good car all race. I got to (Huffman) and tried making moves, but he was holding me really tight like he should. On the last lap, I got to his inside and I had to do it.”
While Kvapil secured a signature victory, all eyes were on the championship battle behind him. After leading the way in the early stretch of the season, Hall entered North Wilkesboro with a 12-point deficit to the track’s spring race winner, Landen Lewis.
Hall came home a solid fourth to put pressure on Lewis, but with that gap the Ocean Isle Beach. N.C. native needed only a respectable finish to hold onto his lead. He took the checkered flag in seventh to secure the championship on a year with four wins and seven top fives.
“It’s been a year for sure,” Lewis said afterward. “We won four races and a championship. There’s definitely races that I missed out on. We can go back to Caraway, go back to Hickory, go back to Langley, that’s six, seven wins. I’m so thankful to be here in this spot. We weren’t as good as we needed to be (on Saturday), but we were good enough to win (the title).”
Parker Eatmon came home third, with Hall and Brandon Lopez wrapping up the top five. Trevor Ward, Lewis, Kade Brown, Lanie Buice and Carson Loftin completed the top 10. There were 20 lead-lap finishers and 23 cars that saw the checkered flag out of the 28-car field.
Late Model Stock Car Results
- Caden Kvapil
- Landon S. Huffman
- Parker Eatmon
- Connor Hall
- Brandon Lopez
- Trevor Ward
- Landen Lewis
- Kade Brown
- Lanie Buice
- Carson Loftin
- Conner Jones
- Doug Barnes Jr.
- Jamey Caudill
- Tyler Reif
- Mini Tyrrell
- Alex Meggs
- Andrew Grady
- Chase Burrow
- Brandon Pierce
- Landon Huffman
- Darrick Coomer
- Donovan Strauss
- Thomas Beane
- Blayne Harrison
- Chad McCumbee
- Dylon Wilson
- Tate Fogleman
- Ronnie Bassett Jr.
Pro Late Models
As he’s made a habit of in his rookie CARS Tour Pro Late Model campaign, Keelan Harvick emerged victorious in the season finale at North Wilkesboro.
The 13-year-old son of 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick notched his fourth CARS Tour PLM win in 10 starts on Saturday, chasing down Luke Baldwin over the final green flag run to secure the victory. It was his sixth triumph overall in Pro Late Model competition this year, with two additional wins in Spears CARS Tour West action.
Baldwin gave Harvick a proper battle for the win, but he had a bigger end result to race for. The 19-year-old came home second to secure the owner’s championship for Rick Ware Racing in a year where multiple drivers filled the No. 51. The company secured three victories along the way, with two from Baldwin and another from Carson Ware.
“We’re chasing championships every year, but they’re hard to come by,” team owner Rick Ware said afterward. “We ran the (NASCAR Canada Series) back in 2020 and missed it by seven points. Any time you can win a championship that has some credibility, it’s pretty amazing. This is a great organization and I’m excited to be part of where (the CARS Tour) is going.”
With many drivers splitting the No. 51 and Harvick not running full-time, that left a different fight altogether for the PLM driver’s championship. Though he never found victory lane on the year, a consistent campaign from Ben Maier was enough to comfortably secure the title for the former Trans Am TA2 Championship competitor.
“There’s only been a few (CARS Tour) champions and I’m one of them,” Maier said of the run, which included seven top fives and 10 top 10s.
The title run for Maier came with a fourth-place finish in the feature, behind the lead duo and Conner Jones. Brandon Lopez completed the top five, with Evan McKnight, Aidan Potter, T.J. DeCaire, Jake Johnson and Treyten Lapcevich wrapping up the top 10.
Only 15 of the 23 cars entered finished what proved to be an attrition-filled event. Included in those making an early exit was Kevin Harvick, who wound up last on the day with an early mechanical failure.
His night wasn’t all bad, though. Kevin was able to watch his son, Keelan, win another race and his team’s LMSC driver, Lewis, secure a championship.
Aaron Bearden is a Frontstretch alumnus who’s come back home as the site’s Short Track Editor. When he isn’t working with our grassroots writers, he can be found talking about racing on his Morning Warmup newsletter, pestering his wife/dog or convincing himself the Indiana Pacers can win an NBA title.