NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — The zMAX CARS Tour wrapped up its 2025 season on Saturday, Oct. 18 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, and in the end, it was two drivers not in the championship fight who battled all night for their first victory in a Late Model Stock Car.
For nearly half of the race’s 125 laps, Landon S. Huffman and Caden Kvapil ran first and second, with Huffman leading Kvapil for the majority of the night. Piloting the Pinnacle Racing Group No. 29. Huffman led the field to green after securing the first pole of his career. Kvapil’s night had been come with an added challenge. Driving JR Motorsports’ No. 8 previously filled by his elder brother Carson last season, Caden had to come from 13th to start the evening.
Kvapil never let Huffman out of his sight once the two got nose-to-tail, but could never quite find his way around the 18-year-old. Even after a late caution bunched the field back up, Kvapil could only settle for riding in the tailpipes of Huffman’s machine.
It stayed that way all the way to the final lap, when it became clear – at least to Kvapil – that the only way around Huffman was to go through him.
“I figured, coming to the white, I think I was a car-length [or so] back — I kinda thought my race was over there,” Kvapil told Frontstretch after the race. “I thought he had it for sure, but we just had such a good car through one and two, I was able to just drive right back to his inside.
”At that point, halfway down the back, I kinda made up my mind that to win this race, I have to go in there and rough him up a little bit.”
That’s exactly what Kvapil did, driving it hard into turn 3 and sliding up into Huffman, running the No. 28 wide off of turn 4 to scoot away with his first career LMSC victory instead of Huffman.
”It sucks,” Kvapil admitted afterward. “I don’t like racing like that. I don’t go in there and door people for no reason. But for this big of a win — a CARS Tour race at Wilkesboro — I kinda had to do it. And I know anyone would have done it to me.”
The 2023 CARS Tour Pro Late Model champion now joins his brother in riding the lift to North Wilkesboro victory lane in a Late Model Stock Car race.
”[It’s] really special to me to be able to ride the elevator like my brother did when they first brought this track back,” he said.
Huffman, on the other hand, was none-too-pleased about the finish and watching his potential first career LMSC win slip out of his grasp at the 11th hour and 59th minute.
“I don’t know,” Huffman said of Kvapil’s move. “I don’t really wanna talk about it much. I don’t wanna sound like a little whiny brat. He did that, but there were other things I could have done to prevent it. It just comes down to me not doing my job 100%.
“I just wish if I could have it over again, I would have probably killed my arc into [turn] 3 there just to try and keep my right rear on a little bit better. … It is what it is. Hopefully I get another chance one day to do it again.
Huffman was running a special paint scheme designed by a seven-year-old named Kaiden, who is battling brain cancer and was signed to the team as an honorary member of Pinnacle Racing Group thanks to the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation.
“My guys have worked really hard all year just to get us to the racetrack, but Kaiden works for his life every day,” Huffman said. “And that’s just the truth. To have somebody like that come out here with a smile on his face and just enjoy like he has, it’s really, really humbling. Makes you super thankful for what you’ve been blessed with.
”Just letting him design it and have fun with it — it would have been one thing to just have him out at the race, but for him to design the car and get to be such a big part of it, I feel like, is better for him. … I’ve always watched people do it and been like, ‘Oh, that would be really cool. I want to do that one day.’ So just to get to do it, it’s really cool.”
Despite the possible difference of opinion about the finish, both drivers said they learned a lot about themselves this season.
“I haven’t really run late model stocks much,” Kvapil said. “I only did two or three races last year, and this was kinda my first full-time year, even though I’ve only ran less than 10. These cars are a lot different than the Pros and Supers I’m used to. It’s tough — this late model stock competition is no joke. It’s definitely one of the hardest competitions in the country, I’d say.
”To be able to come out here and park this thing in victory lane at one of the biggest races of the year, it shows that i”ve grown as a lot. My dad [Travis Kvapil] as a crew chief has grown a lot working on these cars because he’s not used to them either. It shows that we put a lot of effort in and came prepared for this race.”
For Huffman, this season proved to him that he can compete in the series, inspiring confidence that was only amplified with back-to-back runner-up finishes to close out the year.
”It definitely helps to go and run like I have the last few weeks,” Huffman said. “Nobody wants a driver that goes and runs 15th every week and tears stuff up. To actually prove that I can do something other than that is really nice. Hopefully just speaks to others like it kinda speaks to myself.”
Neither Kvapil or Huffman revealed what their plans were for next season. Kvapil’s name has been floated around for a full-time LMSC seat with JRM, especially with Connor Hall’s departure from the team. While Kvapil didn’t confirm anything, he did say he wanted to run for a LMSC championship and that he was working on figuring out his 2026 plans.
On the other side of things, Huffman implied to Frontstretch he wasn’t even sure if PRG would continue it’s late model program next season. Huffman is the son of former driver Shane Huffman, who owns PRG. PRG runs a CARS Tour program and an ARCA Menards Series team, which just won the championship with 2024 CARS Tour LMSC champion Brenden Queen, affectionately known by fans as “Butterbean.”
With Queen moving up to a Kaulig Racing seat in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2026, perhaps Huffman could slot into the PRG’s open ARCA seat. However, nothing is certain for Huffman (or PRG’s late model program) at this time.
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Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter. He has also assisted with short track content and social media, among other duties he takes/has taken on for the site. In 2025, he became an official member of the National Motorsports Press Association. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight coordinator in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.