Spencer Davis beat Luke Baldwin in a photo finish to win the CARS Pro Late Model Tour Throwback Classic at Hickory Motor Speedway and pocket $30,000, the biggest win in his career.
The race started on Saturday, but only 44 laps were completed when rain forced it to be postponed to Sunday night. Davis started the race on pole, but Kaden Honeycutt led the first 44 laps before the rain on Saturday.
Honeycutt was sent to the tail of the field for working on the car under a red flag when the race resumed on Sunday, giving Davis the lead back. Davis had a comfortable lead until a hard charging Luke Baldwin caught him with just seven laps to go.
Coming off of Turn 4 with seven laps to go, Baldwin went to the inside of Davis, but just clipped him in the left-rear, sending Baldwin airborne and nearly crashing both drivers. Both were able to save it, and the battle raged on.
With two laps remaining, Baldwin made the move to the inside in Turns 3 and 4 to take the lead coming to the white flag. Davis tucked back in behind Baldwin, and on the last lap, got into the rear of him in Turn 2. Davis went to the inside and the pair battled side-by-side down the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4.
In a photo finish, Davis bested Baldwin by just 0.039 seconds, earning $30,000 and the biggest win in his career.
“Like I said on the front straightaway, dude, by far [this is the biggest win of my career],” Davis said. “I mean, 30,000 big reasons for this to be number one. [I] came back to straight rail racing for a reason. That’s to come here and win. These boys right here put a lot of faith in me, and we produced. We produced very well.
“It’s a huge, huge win for us, for our company. It’s a huge win in my racing career. [I] kind of flattened out [NASCAR] truck racing after I lost my KBM deal. I want to win. I want to win no matter what level I’m on. And to win at this magnitude, I mean, there were so many good racers, [like] Casey Roderick. You’ve got up-and-comers like Tristan McKee here. Modified aces like Luke Baldwin. It came down to the hard guys. We led the last couple laps. Luke about edged us out.
“It was two very hard, well-respected racers racing against each other. I’m not going to say I didn’t pull my belts tight with two to go when I saw [Baldwin] back there. But, I’m just glad we made it through. I’m so, so happy that we got this win for these guys.”
While Davis saved it after the contact on the frontstretch with six laps to go, it was enough to damage his car, but he knew he still had to do what it takes to win.
“We retained the lead when he drove over our left rear,” Davis said. “I think he was just being too aggressive. He got all over us [and it] bent something in the left rear. We were wicked loose after. [The] car wasn’t traveling, [but] we held on. He got back up under me clean, and I just pulled a crossover. It’s Hickory. This track’s so rough. And it’s hard-nosed racing.
“I’ll be the first to admit I’m a hard-nosed racer. I gave it all I got. This is $30,000. This is a lot for anybody. We were both going to do what we had to do. We both slowed to a slow roll through the center of [Turns 3 and 4] and drag raced to the end. I sure am glad I got that Phil Harper Nova Motorsports Chevy in there, man. We just had that little bit more horsepower. Got to the finish line first.”
Baldwin understood the contact on the last lap, but was upset nonetheless given how he raced Davis and the stakes at hand.
“It probably wasn’t very smart of me to try to take a run with a lap car on our inside and rushing it knowing we had that much better of a car,” Baldwin said in regards to the contact with seven laps to go. “That’s on me for not making the smarter moves sooner. But I backed out, let us both gather it up, went back to racing and drove by them and just got no respect back.
“It’s tough. And people are going to say I’m whining and I’m a whiny little kid and all this stuff, but, I mean, people can come out and do this for $30,000 and tell me how they feel when they get roughed up like that.”
Tristan McKee finished third, right behind Davis and Baldwin. Even though he mixed it up with Davis for the lead early on, he just needed a little bit more late in the race to be able to battle for the win.
“We had a really good night,” McKee said. “We just got a little bit too free The car was really good other than that, though. I think if we just had a little bit more stability I could have been able to hustle the car a little bit more and get to the top two.
“Yesterday, we kind of started off a little rough in the first few laps, and it would come to me as the run went on. Today was the opposite. It would fire off really good and it just kind of went away a little bit as the run went on. So [it was] definitely a really good night for these LowCountry [Motorsports] guys. It’s only my second race with them. I’m super thankful to all of them for giving me this opportunity to run this car. We’re going to keep tuning on it, and we’ll be back for the next one.”
Davis started the race on pole on Saturday, but Honeycutt took the lead on the outside to lead lap one. Davis stayed right behind Honeycutt but was not able to take the lead back. Honeycutt led until lap 40 when the competition caution came out.
Honeycutt chose the bottom for the restart and kept the lead. Just two laps after the restart, a big crash in Turn 2 brought the field to a halt. Brody Gunter and Austin MacDonald spun in the middle of Turn 2, collecting Isaac Kitzmiller, Dylan Copello, Brandon Lopez, Dylan Garner, and Rodney Dowless.
After a short cleanup, the field restarted with 58 laps remaining. Honeycutt and Davis battled side-by-side for the first three laps after the restart until the caution flew for Mason Diaz, who spun off the bumper of Casey Roderick in Turn 4.
While under caution, the skies opened up and the field came down pit road. After an hour and a half of waiting, the remainder of the race was postponed to Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
As the drivers got ready to get in their cars at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, more rain came once again. Finally, at 9:05 p.m., the race resumed with 56 laps to go.
Honeycutt was sent to the tail of the field before the restart due to working on the car under the red flag. Davis restarted first and pulled away while Baldwin and McKee battled for second. McKee took the spot with 51 laps to go when the caution flew for Nick Loden blowing a tire in Turn 2.
Davis held off a hard charging McKee on the restart, and with 46 laps to go, Baldwin got back by McKee to reclaim the second spot. However, McKee moved him up the track on the next lap to move back into the runner-up position. With 30 laps to go, Baldwin caught up to McKee and made the pass again, this time cementing it. He then set his sights on the leader.
Coming to six laps to go, Baldwin was on the back bumper of Davis, coming off of Turn 4, Baldwin attempted to dive to the inside, but made contact with Davis’ left rear tire, sending him airborne and almost crashing the both of them. Both drivers were able to save it and not lose a lot of time, allowing them to go right back to battling.
With two laps to go, Baldwin made the pass in Turn 4, but on the last lap in Turn 2, Davis got to his rear bumper and nudged him up the track. The pair raced back to the finish line side-by-side, with Davis winning by only 0.039 seconds over Baldwin.
McKee rounded out the podium just 0.909 seconds behind, with Caden Kvapil finishing fourth and Casey Roderick finishing fifth.
Full finishing results can be viewed below.
zMAX CARS Pro Late Model Tour
Hickory Motor Speedway
August 3, 2025
1. #96 Spencer Davis
2. #51 Luke Baldwin
3. #7 Tristan McKee
4. #32 Caden Kvapil
5. #62 Casey Roderick
6. #7C Seth Christensen
7. #47 Kaden Honeycutt
8. #71 Katie Hettinger
9. #17 Dawson Sutton
10. #54 T.J. DeCaire
11. #6 Ben Maier
12. #43 Nick Loden
13. #10 Mason Diaz
14. #44 Conner Jones
15. #7J Justin Cider
16. #92 Jace Hale
17. #32 Keelan Harvick
18. #49 Jeff Batten
19. #8 Toro Rodriquez
20. #97 Dylan Garner
21. #1X Brandon Lopez
22. #35 Cameron Clifford
23. #24 Brody Gunter
24. #61 Austin MacDonald
25. #76 Isaac Kitzmiller
26. #18 Rodney Dowless
27. #11 Dylan Cappello
