Conner Jones survived a late race challenge from Carson Loftin to score the victory while a podium effort for championship contender Treyten Lapcevich was derailed in the closing laps in Sunday’s 125-lap CARS Late Model Stock Tour race at Tri-County Speedway
The win is Jones’ second of 2026, and his third at the 4/10-mile track in Granite Falls, North Carolina. It was also the third race of the week for Jones at Tri-County, coming just minutes removed from a Pro Late Model race where he finished in the runner-up spot and was involved in a postrace kerfuffle with T.J. DeCaire.
“I definitely felt like we had a really good car,” Jones told Short Track Scene after the race. “This Carroll Speedshop Chevy was very, very good tonight. Hats off to them guys. They do all the work on it in their shop so all the credit’s to them so we’ll go to Newport in the Late Model Stock and have fun there too.”
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After starting in third, Jones was mired in a battle with Caden Kvapil during the race’s opening stint, with the two drivers running side-by-side for nearly 20 laps. Jones ultimately cleared Kvapil prior to the race’s first caution. While Jones never surrendered the lead for the remainder of the race, he had to hold off challenges from Kvapil and from Treyten Lapcevich throughout the middle stages and closing stages of the race – challenges that evolved into a three car battle for the lead prior to a competition caution with 35 laps to go.
Jones was able to pull away in the next stint, while Kvapil and Lapcevich raced for second. A flat tire with five laps to go ultimately forced Lapcevich to surrender third place to pit and ultimately relegated him to a 17th place finish.
“We did all we could,” Lapcevich said. “I knew that we had that break 45 laps in there. Really was just trying to ride. I saw the 44 and 88 racing really hard. I tried to save as much as I could and have a car for the end there. I tried to give them everything that I had after we had that break. It’s just so hard to get by Caden. I couldn’t quite get the position on him. It is what it is. Unfortunately, had that flat right front there and pretty much derailed our whole day. It’s disappointing for sure but it’s encouraging to have the speed that we did.”
CARS Tour: The 17th place result doesn’t show it, but Treyton Lapcevich’s flat tire was in the thick of the fight at the front of the field, battling with Caden Kvapil for second for most of the race in Sunday in Tri-County. A flat tire with five laps to go ruined his run. pic.twitter.com/0MaeX4IfXI
Kvapil, meanwhile, surrendered the runner-up position to Carson Loftin in the final dash to the checkered flag.
“We obviously started on the pole from points and that helped us a lot,” Kvapil said. “Track position was important but just was too loose in the beginning and couldn’t hold off Conner. That definitely hurt us in the end, not being able to control restarts and be out front. That hurt because we had to use up tires a lot trying to get back by him. Plus, Treyten was there racing me hard. We were all racing hard for the lead and I think we used it up a little too much for the end of it and just lost one spot at the end.”
CARS Tour: After finishing third on Sunday in Tri-County, Caden Kvapil was hot, and tired, but happy with the solid battles among the top three drivers. pic.twitter.com/vBiPGmbPut
Lapcevich entered the race second in points, trailing Kvapil by 21 points, and leading Jones by 17 points.
Loftin started the race in the 16th position and methodically worked his way up through the field, cracking the top-five on lap 86 and taking advantage of Lapcevich’s flat tire and the late race restart for a runner-up finish.
“From the drop of the green, I knew we were really good off the bat,” Loftin stated. “I wish we got to qualify. Track position could have been a different story, but congratulations to those guys. They earned it. I didn’t want to rough them up at the end, I wasn’t close enough. Super thankful to Mike Darne and all these guys and I look forward to the next one and hopefully we can finish one spot better.”
CARS Tour: Carson Lofitn took advantage of the final restart, and unfortunate luck of Treyton Lapcevich’s flat tire, to pass Caden Kvapil for the runner up sport in Sunday’s SoundGear 125 at Tri-County Speedway. pic.twitter.com/2jVLNKnsVR
Marquis comes from St. Charles, Maryland and has a widespread background in journalism, having covered politics in Washington and Maryland as well as nearly every form of auto racing, including NASCAR, IndyCar, AMA Motocross and IHRA Drag Racing. Now living near Emerald Isle, North Carolina, Marquis covers Late Model Stock Cars and Super Late Models in the Carolinas and Virginia.
