Brandon Lopez earned his first career CARS Pro Late Model Tour win after late race drama broke out.
Lopez was running in third place with just a few laps left while Tyler Reif and Mason Walters battled for the lead. With two laps to go, Walters made contact with Reif, sending Reif spinning. Walters was put to the tail of the field due to being involved in the incident, allowing Lopez to inherit the lead.
On the restart, Cody Ware and Seth Christensen made contact racing for second place in Turn 1, sending them spinning and drawing another caution. On the next restart, Isaac Kitzmiller jumped the restart from second place, bringing out the final yellow. Kitzmiller was sent to the tail of the field. Lopez held on and pulled away on the final restart to claim his first win in the CARS Tour.
“It’s been a lot of hard work,” Lopez said after his win. “I didn’t think my first win would come here of all places. This series is hard. We were on the better side of luck tonight. We were there at the end when I counted and just kept the nose of the car clean. The guys didn’t give up on me all week.
“We had a not too good test day on Tuesday. We found an issue and we were working through it today. We got the car where we thought it was pretty good. I’m just glad we were able to stay out of trouble and be there at the end.”
Lopez was not surprised at the chaos the unfolded in the race, noting that it has became a pattern in Pro Late Model racing lately.
“Every pro race in the southeast is the same thing,” Lopez said. “Everyone gets settled in for the first 30 [laps] and then you wreck from [laps] 30 to 80 and then the top three or four cars get strung out. Sometimes it ends clean and sometimes it ends like we did tonight. Tyler and [Walters] were racing hard. It’s one of those things.”
Lopez is hopeful that the win tonight, and the speed shown from the team this year will lead to more wins for him.
“I think [we can win again],” Lopez said. “We’ve obviously got the cars capable. We saw what Kaden [Honeycutt] did last year and this year. Tyler [Reif]’s been running great every time he’s ran our cars. So I just got to keep learning and developing as a driver and learn what I can from these young guys. All I can do is keep learning and keep putting myself in the situations that we did tonight.”
Before Walters and Reif made contact with two laps to go, Reif got past Walters for the lead in Turns 3 and 4 on the previous lap. Into turns 1 and 2, Walters got into the rear of Reif, spinning him from the lead.
Both were sent to the tail of the field, it seemed like they would be stuck near the back of the pack for the rest of the race. Fortunately for them, the two cautions on the final two restarts allowed them to reclaim most of their lost positions. Reif was even able to finish third.
“I caught [Walters] in about four to five laps,” Reif said. “He kept getting loose in, overdriving, looking at his mirrors. I don’t even know if I touched him. I think he just got on the brakes and got loose. And we came out, drag raced off turn 2, I beat him off Turn 4, and then he just drove through me.
“I wish [Lopez and Brody Gunter] took the inside, third and fifth [place], so I could have took the top. There’s nowhere for me to go from fourth with two laps to go. So, it’s nice to finally finish up front, but it’s not nice to finish up front due to the fact that we were running further up front.”
Walters was unable to give comments after the race because he had to leave quickly.
Maier started on pole with Ware on the outside pole. The race was calm until just before halfway. Maier spun from the lead on a restart while battling Ware and Conner Jones, taking them out as well as Keelan Harvick who was collected.
Reif and Walters spent the rest of the race battling for the lead until their incident with two laps to go that gave Lopez the lead. Ware inherited second place and made contact with Christensen on the restart, sending them both spinning.
Kitzmiller took over second, then jumped the restart, drawing the final cautions. Lopez got the jump on the field on the restart and held on to win.
Gunter finished second, with Reif rounding out the podium. Walters rallied back to fourth and Ware finished out the top five.
The full finishing results of the race can be viewed below
Caraway Speedway
zMAX CARS Pro Late Model Tour
July 2, 2025
1. #6L- Brandon Lopez
2. #24- Brody Gunter
3. #47- Tyler Reif
4. #61- Mason Walters
5. #51- Cody Ware
6. #54C- Seth Christensen
7. #25- Isaac Kitzmiller
8. #4- Trey Burke
9. #15- Rodney Dowless
10. #44- Conner Jones
11. #62- Keelan Harvick
12. #6- Ben Maier
13. #77- Darren Krantz Jr.
14. #97- Dylan Garner
15. #97K- Jason Kitzmiller
16. #7- Tristan McKee
