The CARS Tour has returned to the foothills of the North Carolina high country on Saturday night for a Super Late Model – Late Model Stock doubleheader.
The Cloer Construction 250 is essentially the replacement race for the popular Throwback 276, which was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
24 Late Model Stocks and 13 Super Late Models will take the green flag for their respective 125 lap features. It is the fourth race of the season for both divisions and the championship battles remain competitive.
CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATES
SUPER LATE MODELS
On the Super Late Model front, Matthew Craig has a chance to bury the competition on Saturday night at rival Bubba Pollard is not in attendance after winning the Southern Super Series race in Pensacola on Friday night.
Pollard is also racing at Wisconsin International Raceway on Friday night at Saturday at Hickory got cut as a result.
With a win, Craig could leave in good shape to win consecutive CARS Tour Super Late Model championships.
“I think we have a really good shot at winning,” Craig said. “We’re only g here for a win. There will be some good guys out there, so we don’t want to say we expect to win, but we have a car and the experience to win there for sure.”
“[Winning at Nashville] gave us a ton of confidence. Nashville is a really hard track to get around and our car handled great there. It’s rough and bumpy and doesn’t have a lot of grip like Hickory. Hickory is a smaller track, but we can take a lot of what worked at Nashville and make it work here.”
- Matt Craig
- Bubba Pollard -5
- Carson Kvapil -15
- Sammy Smith -15
- Kodie Conner -19
- Trevor Noles -25
- Hudson Halder -27
- Jeff Batten -34
LATE MODEL STOCKS
The Late Model Stock championship battle has become much more competitive with the one race suspension of Josh Berry after he intentionally crashed two time and defending champion Bobby McCarty at Ace Speedway in June.
Finishes of fifth, second and fifth has given Layne Riggs a healthy nine point advantage over Coret Heim and 10 points over Jared Fryer.
McCarty finids himself sixth and 22 points out of the lead. If there is anyone capable of winning out the rest of the year, it’s McCarty, especially with Josh Berry now racing elsewhere in pursuit of a NASCAR national championship.
Meanwhile, Nolan Pope is currently riding a wave of momentum and is fourth in points with finishes of 17th, fourth and third.
He believes his first CARS Tour Late Model Stock win is right around the corner, especially after outdueling Berry in a Hickory weekly race on July 11.
“The last time we were at Hickory with the CARS Tour, we finished third, and I think we have an even better car now” Pope said. “We’ve been to Hickory a few times since then and learned even more since the last CARS Tour race so I think we’ll definitely have a shot at it.”
- Layne Riggs
- Corey Heim -9
- Jared Fryar -10
- Connor Mosack -14
- Nolan Pope -14
- Bobby McCarty -22
- Brandon Pierce -23
- Gage Painter -26
- Deac McCaskill -29
- Jonathan Shafer -33
- Justin Johnson -36
- Ronald Hill -36
STARTING LINEUPS
LATE MODEL STOCKS
- 81 Mini Tyrrell- 15.277
- 22 Bobby McCarty- 15.286
- 2 Brandon Pierce- 15.317
- 2s Jonathan Shafer- 15.322
- 99 Layne Riggs- 15.332
- 88 Connor Mosack- 15.336
- 78 Corey Heim- 15.344
- 77 Trevor Ward- 15.347
- 44 Justin Johnson- 15.357
- 1m Craig Moore- 15.376
- 08 Deac McCaskill- 15.377
- 19 Blake Stallings- 15.379
- 14 Jared Fryar- 15.396
- 16 Chad McCumbee- 15.400
- 81b Sam Butler- 15.402
- 51 Matt Cox- 15.402
- 57 Justin Carroll- 15.415
- 4 Jonathan Findley- 15.422
- 3 William Cox III- 15.447
- 12p Gage Painter- 15.469
- 63 Tyler Matthews- 15.474
- 1 Nolan Pope- 15.482
- 74 Ronald Hill- 15.576
- 19c Jessica Cann- 15.755
SUPER LATE MODELS
- 22 Trevor Noles- 14.932
- 54 Matt Craig- 14.958
- 7 Justin Crider- 14.998
- 49 Jeff Batten- 15.082
- 15f Jeff Fultz- 15.083
- 28 T.J. Duke- 15.089
- 51s Sammy Smith- 15.102
- 7c Tyler Church- 15.106
- 21 Kris Wright- 15.126
- 45 Kodie Conner- 15.222
- 11 Michael Ritch- 15.314
- 21 Dylan Smith- 15.337
- 35 Carson Kvapil- no time
Every CARS Tour race can be watched live and on demand via the CARSTour.TV subscription service. The service includes a backlog of every CARS Tour race since 2015 for $20 in SD and $25 in HD. The package also includes several other events across the Pit Row TV banner.
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