The box score will show that Carson Loftin started first and finished first, but it was far from that simple. Carson Loftin captures his maiden CARS Tour Late Model Stock victory in a wild finish to a wild race at Anderson.
Loftin took the white flag in third behind Chase Burgeson and Conner Jones. In the closing laps, Burgeson had fallen into the clutches of the two behind him as he had a right front tire going down. Heading into Turns 1 and 2 on the final lap, with Burgeson fading, Loftin found himself on the inside of three wide and when the trio reached Turn 3, Loftin took Burgeson and Jones up the hill and cleared the two, taking the win.
“The No. 22 has us beat,” said Loftin “I don’t know what happened. I was the luckiest guy on the property tonight. He had a flat right front I guess and what are the odds that I catch him on the final corner of the last lap. I was third coming to the white flag and we caught him, the No. 44 went high and I saw an opportunity to shoot it down in there and drive up the hill and it worked out.”
Carson Loftin will be the first to tell you, he’s a modified guy. That’s what he grew up on. Moving over to Late Model’s in 2025, Loftin had flashes, winning Rookie of the Year but couldn’t ever put all the pieces together with Nelson Motorsports. After a lackluster start to 2026, Loftin and Nelson parted ways after Langley. Loftin joined Mike Darne racing and immediately showed speed. Confidence was restored and tonight it was solidified.
“Mike (Darne) just kept telling me to prepare myself to be a CARS Tour winner,” said Loftin “It was to get it in my mind and build the confidence and having Mike as a mentor, it means so much. The best decision I’ve ever made is racing with Mike. He’s polished me as a racecar driver and prepared me for moments like this.
“To be honest with you, yeah, I did lose confidence,” said Loftin “From the start of Late Model racing, it’s been a rude awakening. I had pretty good runs there the beginning of my Late Model Stock debuts but it just took a downward spiral. Couldn’t qualify, couldn’t race, constant mistakes. I actually missed a shift and wrecked Dale Jr. I don’t know if he’s watching this but I’m sorry. I never got to apologize about that, but mistake after mistake and I just never had any good runs. It was actually my old Nelson crew chief, Matthew, he spent a lot of time with me last year mentally preparing me to get my confidence back. Super thankful for him and everybody believing in me.
Loftin dominated the first half of the event with Ronnie Bassett Jr. in tow. The two dueled on several restarts and on each one the urgency built, leading up to lap 70. Bassett and Loftin took the green and it was immediately called back. Race control deemed that Bassett had fired before Loftin but also acknowledged that Loftin didn’t maintain pace and after some arguing for position, both Loftin and Bassett were sent back a row handing the front row to Chase Burgeson and Riley Gentry. Burgeson got the jump and drove away, looking as though he was going to take his home first CARS Tour victory but alas, his right front tire went down in the closing laps and was just one corner short of nursing it all the way to victory.
“We did everything we needed to do to get the win and the cards didn’t go our way,” said Burgeson “That’s part of racing but it just sucks that a right front tire takes a CARS Tour win away from us. I can’t say how thankful I am for this opportunity. To be on a CARS Tour podium in a Late Model Stock field this stacked is amazing in my world.
“I’m having mixed emotions. I’m so gutted for my guys. We were putting it to them there at the end when we got the track position. I don’t know if I used up the right front or I ran over something. I know I saw a whole brake duct on the backstretch but it’s just unfortunate but you can’t see every piece of debris, it’s just part of it.”
The strong run tonight paired with a win at Tri-County last week, Burgeson finds solace in the recent success he’s had in Late Model Stock racing.
“They do say confidence makes a difference,” said Burgeson “I will say, confidence being under my belt from last weekend really made some good gains for myself and my career and just as a driver.”
Conner Jones was the final piece of the puzzle in the wild finish at Anderson.
“I saw the light and then I didn’t,” said Jones “I don’t blame the No. 20 for what he did. At the end of the day I made the wrong decision. I didn’t know what was going on with this No. 22 so I went to his outside because that’s where I was best. I didn’t wanna run him up, that’s just not how I wanna do it.”
Landon Huffman was running inside the top five tonight, a much needed run considering the season he’s had but it all came apart when Tyler Reif got into Huffman’s left rear and jumped over the wheel off the No. 57. The incident took both Huffman and Reif out of the race. When Huffman got out of his car he took a walk down to the Matt Piercy Racing pit and leaned in the window of Tyler Reif’s car and exchanged more than just words. Huffman was eventually pulled away after several blows. Moments later Reif came down to Huffman’s pit to apologize but the gist of the conversation was “Sorry doesn’t fix my racecar.”
Huffman’s frustration stems from the snakebit season and what he feels is a lack of respect.
“He just ran us over,” Huffman said “I was doing all my pissed off before I watched the replay and it was worse than I thought. Gave him plenty of room; he just drove all over us. I don’t know. He comes into the series, doesn’t race with us every week, pays for his ride and it’s just a part of it.
And the extracurriculars on pit road?
“They screwed my racecar up. Normally I’m not one to inflict damage to a racecar in the pits like that but pissed off, tired of it. Tired of watching the series kind of develop into that. We need more Deac McCaskill’s and Lee Pulliam’s out here and less Tyler Reif’s.
