Landon Huffman Takes Over Nelson 22 in CARS Tour

The challenge is huge but so too is the opportunity for Landon Huffman in joining Nelson Motorsports for the remainder of the CARS Late Model Stock Tour season.

The three-time championship winning team parted ways with veteran Cale Gale following three disappointing starts at Southern National, Florence and Hickory. The latter appearance resulted in a dead last finish in a Last Chance Race, meaning the No. 22 didn’t even start the main event.

The occurs after Bobby McCarty left the team during the off-season, the driver and crew chief that won those championships no longer feeling the performance matched the expectations, which itself followed the departure of longtime team general manager Timothy Peters.

Huffman, the defending champion at Hickory and a weekly racer at the Birthplace of the NASCAR Stars offered help after Gale missed the race and it resulted in a phone call from team owner Barry Nelson, offering a test session.

That test went well, and the next phone call was from Nelson offering the ride for the rest of the season once the team parted ways with Gale. Huffman is betting on himself and a conviction that Nelson Motorsports is too good to keep down.

“Barry is known for having a championship caliber team, they have the equipment,” Huffman told Short Track Scene on Tuesday. “They’ve also had a 100 percent turnover on that No. 22 team, and their No. 12 car too.

“Their current crew chief doesn’t have a lot of Late Model Stock experience, but he is more than capable. They’ve been behind and having to play catch-up but I’m confident that we can do this together. I’m also very grateful.”

The season has only two date conflicts with the Hickory Motor Speedway weekly schedule, and all of those races come before the start of the playoffs, a format that will allow Huffman to chase both schedules without any consequence.

Keeping the No. 22 car on the track also maintains the Touring 12 status for Nelson Motorsports.

“This is a huge step up for me,” Huffman added. “Really, I want to come in and help them right the ship and get the team pointed in the right direction. I think a top 10 to 15 is possible and it would be a good step out of the gate.

“I don’t go to the track to run 15th, but I want to compete, and I know that there is going to be a bit of a process. I want to compete and improve and leave with a chance to get into the top-10.”

WINNING WITH OLD CHASSIS AT HICKORY

The Nelson Motorsports CARS Tour announcement comes in the days after Huffman returned to Victory Lane for the first time since his championship winning season at Hickory last year.

Of note, it was also a victory that came in a car he entirely owns, and one that his family goes way back with. Way way back.

Huffman sent the following message to the author on Sunday morning:

“The racecar I won in last night was built in 1991. It’s a 1991 KLB, and it was the first racecar I ever won in, and our first car I raced out of our own stable. It had sat since 2016 in ran down shape, even outside for a while. We stripped it, put a 2017 front clip on it, powder coated and rebuilt, and now it’s back in VL. I’ll promise you that’s the oldest chassis to win a LMSC race in the last 4 years.”

1991!

Huffman says the car was primarily raced by Jeff Gilbert in its formative years, might have been raced by his dad, Robert, and spent the past several years sitting outside in the elements before it was refurbished for competition this season.

“When we were given the car, I was driving a rear steer car, I was 14,” Huffman said. “Dad said we’ll tear it up, make it our own deal. We put a Frank Deiny front clip from like 2001 on it. Dad built the rear clip from scratch.

He raced that car up until 2016, at which point they built a new car and sent that chassis to Jason Smith, who they’ve raced with in recent seasons.

“We got the car back last year, stripped it down, put on a PRW front, same rear. Powdered coated it,” Huffman said. “Really, just about 13 grand in the chassis itself. 25 grand overall.”

And they won with it on Saturday night against a field that’s been really impressive all spring at Hickory. And given a season that began with both competitive misfortune and a little bit of political controversy, it was a rewarding victory too.

“I needed that one,” Huffman said. “Really, needed it for my guys more than me. We haven’t run bad, but we’ve had to keep putting it back together each week. Things keep happening. String of bad luck. We couldn’t make any progress with it.

“Now we’re starting to make that kind of progress and everyone was really excited. That was our first win with High Rock. It was rewarding for everyone and now we’re feeling good about what’s coming up next.”

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