Lewis and Hall tangle; Fryar wins in Tri-County chaos

Jared Fryar won, Landen Lewis and Connor Hall collided, Landon Huffman and Chad McCumbee crashed battling for the lead, all in one chaotic CARS Tour race at Tri-County.

While Fryar and Landon Shane Huffman were battling for the lead late in the race, Lewis and Hall were waging war for the final podium spot. The championship rivals battled side by side for a majority of the last third of the race.

With nine laps to go, Lewis was running third with Hall hounding him. Going into Turn 3, Hall made contact with Lewis, sending him up the track and into the marbles. Lewis fell to ninth while Hall held on to third.

Lewis was displeased after the contact.

“Before that, I thought we were struggling,” Lewis said. “Really about lap 30 or 40, I started feeling really good about it, and the car started coming to me. I was too free at the start of the race, and it started coming back to me, and then it just never stopped going to the tight side. We just got way too tight, and I was trying to hold the top as best as I could. I don’t really understand how much higher I needed to go until he stopped running into my left side door.

“I was at the wall, and it’s either jump the wall or just hold a straight line, and that’s what I was doing. It just sucks, and he just kept running in my left side door, and it’s caved in everything, and then at some point he just, I don’t know, just got frustrated and drove down into three and just never used the brakes and used me as his brake and shoved me in the fifth groove, and that was all it wrote.

“It sucks that we’re at this point in the year that wants to race like that, but it is what it is. We’ll go to Wilkesboro and put the setup we had in it earlier this year when we were really good, and we’ll be fine. I feel like we’ll be right back to where we need to be.”

Lewis says they will probably talk it out over the phone one on one once the tempers can cool down.

“[I’ll] probably reach out over the phone,” Lewis said. “I don’t really think there’s any use of doing anything [tonight]. Everyone watching and videos being taken and social media talking. So we’ll just handle it over the phone.”

Hall felt like it was just a product of hard racing at the end of the race. 

“[It was] just a tight race and a couple laps to go,” Hall said. “[I] was just trying to maximize, we’re both trying to maximize our night and we were just a little better and able to, you know, turn under him and make the pass.”

He is open to talking to Lewis about it over the phone.

“If he feels obligated to call me I’ll always take a call,” Hall said. “I’m not going to be rude. I just think we’re just out there racing. But like I said, I like Landen. I think he’s a good race car driver and I just chalk [this up to] racing. But like I said, I’m game for anything.”

Fryar won the race after a long battle with Landon Shane Huffman in the last 25 laps of the race. The 2020 series champion has been racing part-time in the series since 2022, but this year has been one of his most successful in his eight years with the Tour.

His record is now three wins in just seven starts this year.

“It feels so good,” Fryar said. “Especially coming off of Martinsville, running third. It gets more special every time you win these races. They’re so hard, you know, but there’s no feeling like winning. Running second and third is good, but there’s still no feeling like winning. To pick up another win is huge for all my guys and everybody that works hard on this thing. So it means a lot to me.”

Heading into this year on a part-time basis once again, Fryar was not expecting to be this competitive throughout the year.

“I didn’t expect to be this good,” Fryar said. “If you told me I was going to win three, I [would have] thought you’re crazy. It’s hard enough to win one. Whether you’ve got the best car or not to win these races, it’s tough. We’ve just had a really good package and just things have been clicking this year. I feel like everything’s just working in our favor.

“I couldn’t do it without Kendall Sellers, AK Performance, all the help they’ve done for me. It’s been really good having a solid car. I feel like we’ve got a lot of confidence going into each racetrack now that we’ve been to them multiple times that I feel like we’d make all the right adjustments and we could possibly win. So it feels really good knowing that.”

Despite the success this year, Fryar is unsure if he wants to come back full-time 

“Full-time racing is tough,” Fryar said. “It’s a grind. I really enjoy having a lot of fun racing like this, being able to pick and choose. Some guys come over and run the Tour and they might not have a good couple weeks, and they remind me that I got a good schedule because I’ve been there.

“I’ve been where we haven’t ran this well. It’s a grind. You just feel like you’re kind of getting ready to go to the racetrack and not really working on your equipment and your package. So, obviously, with things clicking like they are this year, it’s really easy to say, ‘yeah, we’re going to do it.’ But at the same time, you’ve got to be realistic about it. It’s not always wins and seconds and thirds. It’s tough. So, I don’t know.”

On the other side of the coin was Landon Shane Huffman, who fell just short of scoring his first career CARS Tour win. He was in a new ride this weekend with Doug and Dillon Houser and even had Pepsi Co. brands on board as sponsorship. He was gutted just missing out on the win, but happy to finally have a great run this year.

“I’m trying to be mad, but when you run second in a CARS [Tour] race, it’s a pretty big deal,” Landon Shane Huffman said. “[I’m] just very thankful for the opportunity to come drive this car for the Houser’s. It feels good to have people that believe in you and want you to come drive their car. So close. It just really sucks that we were that close and didn’t get it, you know. But driving from 21st and getting to the lead just after lap 100, I don’t feel like that’s too bad. 

“It just got too tight there at the end, and it hurt my drive off [Turns] 3 and 4. I couldn’t drive off quite like I needed to, nor could I pin him down quite like I needed to to kill his run. But [Turns] 1 and 2, I was good. I was really good down there. I just think his strong end was [Turns] 3 and 4 while his weaker end was [Turns] 1 and 2, but his weaker end wasn’t as weak as my weak end. 

“I know I might not show it right now, but I’m extremely happy. It’s been a rough year. All my Pinnacle Racing guys have worked really hard over there, and we’ve honestly just struggled. It’s so hard to come out here and run competitively every week. We’ve started to pick it up the last two weeks. But, you know, before that, it makes me question myself on if I can do it or not. So to come out here and have a good run, it helps me a lot. It just helps my mind with clarifying that I can run up here with these guys. It sucks to be that close and not get it.”

McCumbee started the race on pole and was one of the most dominant cars of the night, however Huffman ran him down in the late stages of the race. With 34 laps to go, Huffman entered Turn 1 on the inside of Fryar. He got loose and slid up into Fryar, sending them both around and Huffman ended up stuck on the hood of Fryar’s car.

Huffman was apologetic and said he just made a mistake and is especially upset it involved a driver like McCumbee.

“I just made a mistake,” Huffman said. “I take a lot of pride in how I race people and I feel like I have a pretty good reputation at racing clean. Obviously nothing intentional, [I] just screwed up racing for the win. [I] should have been more patient. [I] had the better car all night.

“[I’m] disappointed for my guys. I hate it for Chad and his guys. Of all the people you don’t want to run over, Chad is definitely one that I have a lot of respect for. [I’m] just disappointed in myself, made a mistake, but it doesn’t overshadow our speed. I mean, we really had a great race car tonight. Thank you, Josh Cellars, for coming on board. Had the original founder of Josh Cellars here. It would have been nice to put him in victory lane, but just sometimes that’s how it is in racing. 

“You make mistakes, and I kind of made a mistake. That one’s going to hurt for a little while, and I’m sure I’ll have to mend a relationship there with Chad. But hopefully he can understand that. Nothing intentional, and I have to move on from it.”

McCumbee was unable to be found to comment after the race.

The full finishing results can be viewed below.

zMAX CARS Late Model Stock Tour
Tri-County Speedway
October 4, 2025

1. #14 Jared Fryar
2. #11 Landon S. Huffman
3. #88 Connor Hall
4. #71 Parker Eatmon
5. #2 Brandon Pierce
6. #57 Landon Huffman
7. #22 Carson Loftin
8. #15 Mitch Walker
9. #29 Landen Lewis
10. #03 Lanie Buice
11. #4 Kade Brown
12. #8 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
13. #07 Michael Bumgarner
14. #23 Matt Leicht
15. #88B Doug Barnes Jr.
16. #71B Jake Bollman
17. #7 Aiden King
18. #92 Brad Means
19. #44 Conner Jones
20. #81 Mini Tyrrell
21. #12 Trevor Ward
22. #99 Austin Somero
23. #16 Chad McCumbee
24. #12B Hudson Bulger
25. #25 Graham Hollar
26. #40 Ryan Millington
27. #4S Donovan Strauss
28. #01 Thomas Beane
29. #04 Ronnie Bassett Jr.
30. #00 Chase Burrow