Treyten Lapcevich breaks through with CARS Tour Wilkesboro win

Update: CARS Tour disqualifies Lapcevich and Chad Bryant Racing; strips them of victory

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It took just 11 races but Treyten Lapcevich finally broke through in the CARS Tour and for the first time in a Chad Bryant Racing Late Model Stock Car on Saturday night.

And of all places, it came at historic North Wilkesboro Speedway.

It was quite the eventful journey there too as the driver of the No. 77 missed a shift and caused a multi-car crash on Lal 10 but then took the lead from a dominant Brenden Queen on Lap 59 and narrowly survived a spin directly in front of him all before taking the lift up to Victory Lane.

First, his race could have ended right here, and the 2023 NASCAR Canada Series champion conceded it was skill and luck that he was not involved.

“It was almost a flashback to a Pinty’s race, I think Delaware in 2021, leading by quite a bit and some guy blows up right in front of me and back then, I didn’t know enough and locked it down and spun it into the fence,” Lapcevich said. “This time, I just feathered the throttle, didn’t lock it down, and tried to drive it to the wall as close as I could and luckily there was enough of a hole there.”

He mentioned the skill and also used the word luck.

“I just wasn’t going to lose that race,” Lapcevich said. “The car was so good and we made it so much better at the break that I was just not going to lose this race.”

Lapcevich was also involved, again, in the Lap 10 crash when he struggled to get through the gears from the outside of the second row. He didn’t get going into Turn 1 and the stack-up then destroyed the cars driven by Buddy Isles Jr., Kaden Honeycutt, Jacob Heafner, Cameron Bolin, Dylon Wilson, Kade Brown, Connor Hall and Brent Crews.

“I was all up inside Buddy Isles fuel cell there,” Honeycutt said. “The one time I chose the top lane, I chose the top to not lose a row … I guess they said the 77 missed a shift. To go the whole year and still be missing a shift, its dumb, its stupid.”Really, it’s on me for qualifying back there anyway though.”

Hall and Crews, of course, are in the championship hunt as they are first and third in the championship battle … all the while Queen dominated.

Hall came back to finish 18th with a car that was hastily repaired during the red flag.

“Obviously, someone missed a shift, and I wish I was as guarded as I usually am and left a little bit of a gap,” Hall said. “I just figured most of the guys at this level can get through the gears pretty well. I needed to make up spots. I wanted to fire off as well as I could knowing that we were going to come down at the break and I needed to make up track position but ultimately it’s on me to qualify better and not put us in this position.”

The crash very well could have ended the season for Bolin.

“We were passing cars and making moves on the bottom but nowhere to go on the stack up,” Bolin said. “The car is killed. I’m broke. I had just enough to get here. We’re done for the year. We’re probably done for a couple of years.”

Lapcevich feels genuinely bad for everyone involved in his error too.

“I want to apologize to everyone involved in that stack up,” Lapcevich said. “I made a mistake. We had a little issue with the clutch on this car back when we tested a couple of weeks ago and it slipped my mind to remind the guys at the shop. It was really touchy and I had to hit it perfectly to make my shifts. I just missed that one and I really apologize. My words can’t fix race cars and I know that but I really mean it and I’m really sorry about that tonight.”

Queen got roughed up on the final restart by Mini Tyrrell and he dropped from second to fifth by the finish.

There was a somewhat heated conversation between the two after the race.

“He was just upset that I moved him when the white flag was coming out,” Tyrrell said. “I told him, I got into him in 1 early and that was my fault. I got loose. But the white flag was out, and he ran me up into the marbles getting into 1, like 30 laps to go. We were treading paint all night, nothing crazy. We took the white flag, he was parking it in the corner and I’m going to move you but I didn’t wreck him at all.”

Queen conceded he was just a little hot in the moment and it wasn’t that big a deal.

“It’s fine,” he said. “I’ve known Mini a long time and it wasn’t anything to fight about. I just wanted to have a conversation about it. It’s so hard to pass so we’re all leaning on each other.

“I just got shipped in the marbles and it took everything to keep it off the fence so in the heat of the moment, you’re mad. We raced a certain way all night and felt like we never crossed a line until then but maybe I’ll see a replay and feel different about it tomorrow.”

Queen also said he and team owner Lee Pulliam found something mechanical that did more damage to their chances of winning than Tyrrell did.

“I’ll leave that for Lee to say or not to say,” Queen said.

It was still a solid points day for Queen, who is now 13 points behind Hall after what happened earlier in the race.

“I feel really good about coming back here, Tri-County, we’ve won the 300 at Florence and Lee is one of the best ever at South Boston. We have some really good tracks coming up and we’ve almost erased a 30 point gap last year so I know this team can do it.”

Corey Heim took second in the intensity of the final four lap dash. Kevin Harvick finished 11th in a one-off appearance in his No. 62.

CARS Tour resumes on Friday night at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, North Carolina.

CARS Tour Window World 125
North Wilkesboro Speedway
August 3 2024

1. Treyten Lapcevich
2. Corey Heim
3. Mini Tyrell
4. Carson Kvapil
5. Brenden Queen
6. Giovanni Ruggiero
7. Mason Diaz
8. Ronnie Bassett Jr.
9. Ryan Millington
10. Brent Crews
11. Kevin Harvick
12. Landon Pembelton
13. Landon Huffman
14. Conner Jones
15. Connor Zilisch
16. Chase Burrow
17. Daniel Wilk
18. Connor Hall
19. Brandon Pierce
20. Tristan McKee
21. Tate Fogleman
22. Layne Riggs
23. Brandon Jones
24. Buddy Isles Jr.
25. Kaden Honeycutt
26. Sammy Smith
27. Connor Mosack
28. Jacob Heafner
29. Kade Brown
30. Cameron Bolin
31. Dylon Wilson
32. Justin Hicks
33. Tyler Gregory