UPDATE 4/26/ 7:00: CARS Tour has sent out a revised running order. The story now reflects the accurate results. A scoring error triggered by the caution to allow teams to refuel their cars appears to have created a deviation from the actual results. The results listed in this story is now accurate.
Original post to follow
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The Tuff Shed 150 at Hickory Motor Speedway was a microcosm of the entire 2022 CARS Late Model Stock Tour season but on replay.
Carson Kvapil and the JR Motorsports No. 8 are clearly the championship favorites, but Connor Hall and the Chad Bryant Racing No. 77 are going to continue to be right there to pressure them throughout the summer. On Saturday, despite a lot of chaos behind them, Kvapil and Hall ran 1-2 for most of the night. And just when Kvapil thought he had cleared Hall over the final five laps, there they were nose-to-tail in lapped traffic and a bump-and-run feeling increasingly inevitable.
Hall made his move in Turn 3 on the final lap, taking advantage of Kvapil running wide, the contact setting up a drag race to the finish line. Kvapil won the race by 0.025.
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“Definitely exciting for the fans, for sure,” Kvapil said. “I thought we had ‘em covered there with about 30 to go. I thought we were going to be good, that he would fall off, and he didn’t.
“He had a good car, but we have a good car week in and week out too, and it’s just up to me the last 20 to 25 laps and not mess up. Be consistent. That’s what gets us here. We didn’t beat ourselves and held pretty good speed without burning it up.
“Those last three laps, he was one off me, driving as hard as we could, and I just got loose and drifted up the bottom. We caught lappers and he was able to get to my left rear and give me a shot, to give himself a win. I thought he was going to get me because I had it pointed straight, got on the gas and it backed towards the wall. Good race and cool to go back to back.”
As one would expect from a championship battle, Kvapil and Hall had a couple of run-ins last year that occasionally chilled their relationship, but they did have a brief chat after the race on Saturday night.
“I didn’t give them a hard time or anything,” Kvapil said. “We were both going for wins and I wouldn’t expect anything less and I don’t think he would from me here. We’re both trying to get wins in the CARS Tour and those are really hard to come by.”
As for Hall, he said he sucks at giving second place interviews because he’s too immediately wrapped up in the moment of what he could have done different but tried to articulate it anyway.
“I thought he was better with 20 to go and then 10 to go kicked in, and we were even, and I thought I had the advantage by five laps to go,” Hall said.
Hall had made up most of his ground in traffic by charging the corner so it stood to reason that he would lose a little bit on corner exit, right?
“I was just really loose,” Hall said. “Everywhere. At that point, you’ve got to make chicken soup out of well, some other ingredients. So you just put some brake into it, shut up, and drive it.”
And for the contact, he moved Kvapil enough to get under him, but not wreck him, which some say is an art.
“I don’t know because any time I even touch someone, everyone yells at me,” Hall said. “Maybe one day, I’ll learn that fine art.”
Meanwhile, a race that started 32 out of 41 entries was an absolute slugfest behind them. There were so many cautions that the field needed to be brought down pit road for refueling because several cars started to run out.
There were too many cautions to really list all of them in this single story, but everyone who finished outside of the top-10 was affected in some way throughout the night.
The CARS Late Model Stock Tour season continues on May 5 with the Race at Ace 125 at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, North Carolina.
CARS Tour Tuff Shed 150
Hickory Motor Speedway
April 22 2023
- 8 Carson Kvapil
- Connor Hall
- Kaden Honeycutt
- Chad McCumbee
- Deac McCaskill
- Mason Diaz
- Jacob Heafner
- Connor Zilisch
- William Sawalich
- Brenden Queen
- Ryan Millington
- Conner Jones
- Cody Kelley
- Brandon Pierce
- Charlie Watson
- Andrew Grady
- Chase Burrow
- Dylon Wilson
- Colby Howard
- Landon Huffman
- Isabella Robusto
- Zack Miracle -1
- Cameron Bolin -1
- Carson Brown -4
- Mini Tyrrell — OUT
- Ronnie Bassett Jr. — OUT
- Layne Riggs — OUT
- Riley Gentry — OUT
- Lanie Buice — OUT
- Bobby McCarty — OUT
- Kade Brown — OUT
- Ashton Higgins — OUT
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