CARS Tour boasts stacked entry lists for Ace

The next venue on the 2026 zMAX CARS Tour schedule is another historic track nestled within North Carolina’s Piedmont region; Ace Speedway in Altamahaw.

Opened in 1956 as a dirt oval before being paved at the start of the 1990s, Ace has long been a proving ground for some of the best short track drivers in the southeast. The list of track champions at Ace includes names like Barry Beggarly, Dean Ward, Frank Deiny Jr, Dustin Rumley and current co-owner Robert Turner.

The CARS Tour’s history at Ace dates to 2000 when its predecessor, the USAR Pro Cup Series, contested its first race at the facility, which was won by the late Bobby Gill. Ace was added to the CARS Tour schedule back in 2018 and has continued to host at least one event for the sanctioning body every year since then.

For 2026, Ace’s CARS Tour date falls on Mother’s Day weekend, but that does not mean competitors in either division will show more respect than normal. With Ace’s bottom groove being the preferred line, drivers are going to be battling aggressively for track position so they can position themselves for a victory.

Track Facts:

Track: Ace Speedway
Location: Altamahaw, North Carolina
Length: .400 mile
Laps: 125 (LMSC) / 100 (PLM)
CARS LMSC Tour races: 11
CARS PLM Tour races: 6
Ace LMSC winners: Carson Kvapil (3), Bobby McCarty (1), Josh Berry (1), Ryan Millington (1), Layne Riggs (1), Jonathan Shafer (1), Kaden Honeycutt (1), Brent Crews (1), Landen Lewis (1)
Ace PLM winners: Caden Kvapil (3), William Sawalich (1), Connor Zilisch (1), Carson Ware (1)

LMSC Entry List (28 cars): #04 Ronnie Bassett Jr., #05 Mason Bailey, #1 Lee Pulliam, #2 Brandon Pierce, #4 Parker Eatmon, #5 Chase Burrow, #5B Carson Brown, #6 Brandon Lopez, #7 Aiden King, #10 Blake Stallings, #12 Corey Heim, #15 Jace Hale, #16 Chad McCumbee, #16B Sam Butler, #17 Kaden Honeycutt, #22 Carson Loftin, #29 Landen Lewis, #40 Ryan Millington, #41 Mason Diaz, #44 Conner Jones, #57 Landon Huffman, #71 Jake Bollman, #77 Treyten Lapcevich, #77S Landon S. Huffman, #88 Caden Kvapil, #88B Doug Barnes Jr., #89 Dylan Fetcho, #95 London McKenzie

PLM Entry List (26 cars): #5 James Seeright, #6 Mason Walters, #7 Tyler Church, #11 Tony Cosentino, #12 Colton Hale, #13 Ben Mack, #15 Case James, #15J Jake Johnson, #17 Joel Smith, #20 Evan McKnight, #22 Chase Burgeson, #22G Dusty Garus, #25 Rodney Dowless Jr., #30 Treyten Lapcevich, #31 Brody Monahan, #44 Conner Jones, #47 Luke Baldwin, #49 Jeff Batten, #50 Tristan Pena, #51 Carson Ware, #54 Kaden Honeycutt, #62 Keelan Harvick, #67 Ben Maier, #82 Taylor Hull, #95 London McKenzie, #97 Dylan Garner

*Note: Fields are limited to 30 starters, 28 from qualifying plus 2 provisionals based on 2026 owner points

LMSC Standings

Caden Kvapil
Conner Jones -15
Treyten Lapcevich -24
Carson Brown -34
Chase Burrow -36
Sam Butler -41
Chad McCumbee -42
Landen Lewis -43
Parker Eatmon -46
Landon Huffman -50

PLM Standings

Mason Walters
Brody Monahan -17
Evan McKnight -18
Case James -22
Rodney Dowless -24
Treyten Lapcevich -26
Carson Ware -27
Conner Jones -28
Chase Burgeson -29
Kaden Honeycutt -31

Heim’s Nelson debut

Fresh off leading 69 laps in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, Corey Heim is set to return to his Late Model Stock roots at Ace Speedway on Saturday night.

Heim will drive a second Nelson Motorsports car in the CARS LMSC Tour as he looks to continue a busy but successful start to his 2026. Saturday marks Heim’s first start on the CARS Tour since 2024 at Tri-County Motor Speedway, where he led 107 laps but ended his night behind the wall in 18th.

The CARS Tour served as a crucial steppingstone for Heim on his journey towards becoming a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion. Heim’s first CARS Tour victory was in a Super Late Model at South Boston Speedway in 2018. Two years later, Heim picked up his lone LMSC Tour checkered flag to date at Hickory Motor Speedway.

Since then, Heim has established himself as one of the most successful CARS Tour alums despite not yet having a full-time Cup Series ride. During his time in the Truck Series, Heim has accumulated 25 total victories, 12 of which occurred during his championship campaign last year, eclipsing the previous record held by the late Greg Biffle.

With momentum and a promising future ahead of him, Heim heads to Ace Speedway determined to add another CARS Tour checkered flag to his growing list of accomplishments.

Ryan Millington returns

After missing the last two CARS LMSC Tour events, Ryan Millington is back for Saturday’s event at Ace Speedway behind the wheel of the No. 40 for Taylor Satterfield.

Millington’s absence technically extends further, as he failed to qualify for the second LMSC Tour event of 2026 at Wake County Speedway. The lack of speed forced Millington to take a temporary sabbatical from the CARS Tour, but he is confident all the issues with his car are resolved and that he can make a run for the victory.

“We were just not running good,” Millington said. “We were going to go back to the shop, do some work and try to get our stuff better. We went to Tri-County and raced, actually got a little bit better, but because of running that race, we ended up finding another problem. Now we’re going to go back to Ace [for the CARS Tour] and see what we got.”

Ace has long been a special track to Millington for numerous reasons. Not only did he earn a Late Model Stock championship at Ace back in 2018, but the facility was also the site of his maiden LMSC Tour victory during the 2020 season, which he achieved by besting Layne Riggs in a photo finish.

In the following years, Millington finished top five in the LMSC Tour standings twice and scored another checkered flag at Florence Motor Speedway. While a championship may no longer be a feasible goal for Millington this year, he does intend to run as many LMSC Tour events as possible now that he and Satterfield have ironed out the problems on their car.

Millington’s goal for his CARS Tour return is not to just simply be competitive; he wants to be right with the leaders during the closing stages. With a strong car and plenty of prior Ace experience at his disposal, Millington is determined to shake off the poor start and park Satterfield’s car in Cook Out Victory Lane on Saturday.

“[A win] would be a huge, huge deal,” Millington said. “The Satterfields have given me an amazing opportunity here and it’d be great to deliver something like that to them. I just really want to get this relationship rolling this year. We’ve had a rough start, and it’d be great to have something like that to build the rest of the season off of.”

Busy, competitive year for Treyten Lapecvich continues this weekend

Treyten Lapecivch currently sits third in the CARS LMSC Tour standings and sixth in the CARS PLM Tour standings heading into the fifth race weekend of the 2026 season.

Balancing two full-time CARS Tour campaigns is not always easy for Lapcevich, but pulling such a task off is something he has always wanted to do. With so many laps being logged on a given weekend, Lapcevich is trying and succeeding with translating that knowledge into consistent results across the LMSC and PLM Tour.

“It definitely gets busy for sure,” Lapcevich said. “Both the cars drive fairly similar. Aside from the physical challenge of doing both, it’s been advantageous for the most part just getting that extra track time in both divisions. It’s been a pretty big help. You kind of find things where you go back and forth between Late Model Stocks and Pro Lates with certain adjustments.”

Lapcevich has been driving for Chad Bryant Racing on the LMSC Tour, the same team he earned his breakthrough victory with on the series back in 2024. For the PLM Tour, Lapcevich partnered with Rette Jones Racing this year, which has fielded cars for drivers like Casey Roderick and current NASCAR Cup Series competitor Noah Gragson.

Only running two races across the entire CARS Tour platform last season was frustrating for Lapcevich, so he feels that contesting two full schedules in 2026 makes up for lost time. Lapcevich is thankful everything came together to make such a unique opportunity happen and is confident he can find Cook Out Victory Lane in both divisions before the year ends.

Ace Speedway is the next track up for Lapcevich to chase two victories at, a track where he has two top 10 finishes in the LMSC Tour. Lapcevich would love to write his name in the CARS Tour record books as a driver who swept an entire weekend, but doing so will require him to maintain the discipline he has displayed through three doubleheader weekends so far.

“Everyone is working their hardest to make sure that we’re bringing cars that are capable of winning to the racetrack,” Lapcevich said. “It’s up to me to do my job behind the wheel. [Sweeping the weekend] would be cool if we could pull it off. It’s definitely something we’ll be gunning to do all year long if we can’t do it at Ace.”

McKnight’s impending breakout

With his Setzer & Racing Development teammate Mason Walters currently sitting atop the CARS PLM Tour standings with a win, Evan McKnight is eager to visit Cook Out Victory Lane himself.

McKnight finds himself third in points after three races, well within striking distance to make a run at the PLM Tour title later this year. Every race, McKnight feels he gets closer to that elusive first victory, which is why he is determined to keep building on his strengths while simultaneously absorbing new information.

“It’s been a real good start to the season for us,” McKnight said. “We’ve had a lot of strong showings, two top 10 runs and the pole at Nashville. I was really happy with our speed there and thought we had a really good race. I’ve only been in two years of late models beforehand and it’s so great to learn from all these people I’m racing with.”

Despite how brief his time in full-bodied cars has been so far, McKnight has already enjoyed a decent amount of success. He has tallied three Pro Late Model victories over the past two years and scored a top five in his PLM Tour debut at Orange County Speedway last year, which remains his career best finish.

With how competitive the PLM Tour field is every week, McKnight considers himself grateful to have Dennis and Brandon Setzer to rely on for advice. Spending copious time with the Setzers, who are fresh off a PLM Tour title with Ben Maier, has only bolstered McKnight’s confidence, which he believes will translate into long-term success.

McKnight understands he still has much to learn as a driver, especially as he prepares to make his first start of any kind at Ace Speedway on Saturday. Even with all the forthcoming challenges this weekend, McKnight believes he has the necessary resources to put together another strong outing against the best the Pro Late Model discipline has to offer.

“[A win] would definitely mean so much to me,” McKnight said. “Not just to win in a late model at a track I’ve never been to, but [because of] all the competition and with all the eyes on the series. It means a lot to me to race at this level, and I definitely don’t take that for granted.”

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Ace’s Crown Vic division will share the track with the zMAX CARS Tour on Saturday, with their feature being the third and final of the night. The CARS Tour kicks off their racing at 7 p.m. ET with the 100-lap Pro Late Model race, followed immediately by the 125-lap Late Model Stock event.

FloRacing will provide live coverage of all the on-track action.

Schedule