Doug Barnes, Jr. will compete full-time in the zMAX CARS Tour for Lee Pulliam Performance, while also running a handful of other Late Model Stock Car races.
Barnes, who goes by the nickname Air Doug, and Lee Pulliam Performance made the announcement on Monday evening.
“We are very excited to have teamed up with Doug to chase the 2025 CARS Tour championship,” Pulliam told Short Track Scene. “He’s proven that he can adapt to multiple styles of racetracks and has a never give up attitude behind the wheel. I feel like we have the recipe to have a lot of success together.”
Pulliam won the 2024 CARS Tour championship with Brenden “Butterbean” Queen and also fielded an entry for Toyota Racing Development driver Isabella Robusto. Both Queen and Robusto are moving on to compete full-time in the ARCA Menards Series in 2025.
Now, Pulliam, who is one of the most decorated drivers in the history of the Late Model Stock Car racing discipline, is looking forward to working with Barnes.
“The tour is such a tough environment to race with so many great teams and driver combinations,” Pulliam continued. “We are looking forward to the challenge that each race presents.”
Barnes also has an impressive resume, which includes two track championships at Dominion Raceway in Virginia and a victory at the Icebreaker at Florence Motor Speedway in 2023. Now, he will be racing for a driver he has always looked up to.
“I’ve always looked up to Lee when it came to late model racing,” Barnes told Short Track Scene. “He’s accomplished literally every possible thing you could ever hope to accomplish at this level. When my team folded up and closed up shop back in March, he was the first person I turned to. His teams were filled at that time and I probably could’ve went elsewhere, but I had my hopes up that some day, I would have an opportunity to get into one of his race cars.”
The zMAX CARS Tour season will kick off its 2025 campaign at one of the tour’s most unique and challenging tracks on March 1 at New River All American Speedway in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Pulliam has two wins at the 4/10-mile track, which places more emphasis on tire conservation than any other track on the tour, with Queen.
Barnes’ first race with Pulliam will be the Icebreaker at Florence on February 8.
