SINGLE MINDED – 2024 zMAX CARS Tour AutosByNelson.com 280 At South Boston Speedway

“Can’t See The Forest For The Trees”

John Heywood

One of the most popular and notable quotes comes from a sixteenth century playwright John Heywood who used the term in a collection of proverbs published in the year 1546. In short it’s a term used to describe a situation when someone gets too focused on the parts to see the whole. In other words, it’s easy to get distracted by a single thing causing you to get distracted from the big picture. In today’s ever growing online social society, that fact can easily become a destructive tool of propagandists who would like you to focus on what they would like you to see instead of the whole truth. In our field of social media, it can simply be used as clickbait without you even knowing. A distractive post here, a negative article there, used like a carrot held out in front of a horse. It is also a tool used by the keyboard warrior looking for relevance on an irrelevant topic. You know what I’m talking about. In the world of stock car racing, this tool is usually implemented by the so called “fan” who seems to always find the simplest thing wrong with any track, series, or racer, even though in truth they might not have been to a track in years. And on the media side, organizations that seem to want to focus on the many things that can and will go wrong in the world of auto racing instead of pointing out the exciting things that go right. Hey, news is news, but it’s you that has the power to decide what you want to focus on, the forest (big picture) or the trees (single pieces of the forest). It’s always important to remember that while the trees are important, and we would never dispute that, it’s always important to remember the overall forest.

The zMAX CARS Tour AutosByNelson.com 280 at South Boston Speedway was in many ways a summation of the entire 2024 CARS Tour season up until this point. And though it may not be realized by many quite yet, this event was also in many ways a definitive look at the relevancy of the tour itself. How you say? Before I lay it out, we of course have to take a closer look at the action on the track from this past Saturday night in South Boston, Virginia.

JABS CONSTRUCTION VIRGINIA MINI CUP TYLER ROACH MEMORIAL

Virginia Mini Cup veteran and defending champion Tyler Warriner in the # 12 rolls off first for one of the biggest races in the sanction’s history. # 86 Zach Sprouse will start alongside followed by # 11 Noah Matthews, # 34 Johnny Shonk, and the # 33 of Harley Hatten. zMAX CARS Tour flagman Brandon Willard looks over the great field, likes what he sees, and we’re green in the inaugural Tyler Roach Memorial! Warriner has the strength on the inside and will lead lap one as the battle behind is furious. # 15 JoJo Fadke takes over fifth position but not without a fight from # 18 Wesley Warriner. They duke it out side by side with Fadke prevailing after a bit of a push from # 7 Nate Thomas. Matthews assumes second ahead of Sprouse and starts to search around the track in an effort to create a run on Tyler Warriner. He goes inside, outside, even the middle at points. Tyler Warriner uses his experience to fend him off however as Warriner gets the victory! Matthews collects a very close runner up accompanied by Sprouse, Shonk, and Fadke.

INEX LEGENDS FEATURE

Joe Ryan Racecars driver Jacob Staten in the # 39 lines up on the pole beside of # 4 Tyler Lupton. Third will be former zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock winner Daniel Silvestri piloting the # 7 machine followed by # 62 Keelan Harvick and # 97 Isaac Kitzmiller. Lupton gets the jump, however it’s not fast enough for Staten who heads the front of the pack for now. Lupton falls all the way back to fifth as Kitzmiller powers by to take fourth. Silvestri is all over Staten for the lead and uses lap traffic to his advantage, diving down to the inside. He won’t make it work that time, but it doesn’t take long for Silvestri to try again, this time succeeding. But Staten crosses over, putting on a great show for the lead! Silvestri holds the high ground, yet that doesn’t stop Staten from using lap traffic just like Silvestri did. He’ll trap Silvestri behind the # 69 vehicle of David Braxton, motoring by heading into turn three. That gives Staten enough breathing room to eventually pull away, grabbing the big win in the return of Legends to South Boston! Silvestri comes up just short in second, Kitzmiller gets by Harvick late for third, and Lupton hangs in fifth.

zMAX CARS TOUR PRO LATE MODEL FEATURE

With a time of 14.781 seconds, points leader # 29D Spencer Davis helps his championship cause with a pole. Starting in second wheeling a different car than usual is T.J. DeCaire, now in the # 15 Walker Motorsports machine. Rounding out the top five will be # 6M Tristan McKee, # 24 Jake Bollman, and the # 47 of Kaden Honeycutt. Willard gazes the field over, unfurls the green flag, and we’re off and away! But DeCaire stumbles! That causes a pile up behind! DeCaire, Bollman, # 35 Caden Kvapil, # 97 Dylan Garner, and # 67 Cameron Bolin are involved with the # 43 of Nick Loden and # 77 of Logan Jones sustaining race ending damage. The red flag will come out as debris is scattered everywhere heading into turn one. After all is cleaned, your top five now reads as Davis, McKee, Honeycutt, # 00 Jimmy Renfrew Jr, and the # 51B of Travis Braden. This start is much cleaner as McKee will get the run on the outside for the top spot. Renfrew Jr gets around Honeycutt with a returning Kyle Campbell in the # 03C filing into fifth. Despite his damage, Kvapil is already charging through the field, somehow making it up to all the way to fifth around Campbell before the SHITI Coolers Caution for competition purposes. The top five will line up just as they did before with the exception of Kvapil towing the line.

McKee gets another exceptional restart but Davis is sticking in his side like a thorn. He holds on for now as Honeycutt gets passed by both Kvapil and Renfrew Jr, moving them into third and fourth respectively. He punches back though, sliding under Renfrew Jr and bringing along a reemerging DeCaire into fifth. Back up front, Davis’ car is starting to come alive, now clinging to McKee’s right rear quarter panel. McKee sticks to the inside, but Davis has the momentum and takes the lead back. Honeycutt peeks to the inside of Kvapil, but no cigar as DeCaire takes advantage and battles under Honeycutt. Those two put on a great battle as you can almost put a blanket over the entire top five. Honeycutt keeps that fourth spot as lap traffic begins to play a role. The caution will come out though as Campbell runs into mechanical issues, laying fluid on the track surface. Davis and McKee are stuck in a dead heat on the restart with just a little contact traded back and forth. And now they make big contact! Smoke flies and McKee nearly spins, but they both somehow save it! That allows Kvapil to take second and peek to the outside of Davis, but it won’t last for long with McKee pacing himself around Kvapil in an absolutely fantastic fight! Bolin spins on the backstretch during the final lap, however it doesn’t matter to Davis as he’ll come across the line first without a caution! McKee finishes a hard fought second, Kvapil has an incredible rebound for third, Honeycutt hangs on to fourth, and DeCaire completes the top five.

zMAX CARS TOUR LATE MODEL STOCK FEATURE

Riding off of the momentum from his big win at Florence, # 15 Ryan Millington scores the pole with a flying time of 15.241 seconds. Holding serve in second is Treyten Lapcevich in the # 77 ahead of # 00R Layne Riggs, # 28 Landon S. Huffman, and the # 1 of Andrew Grady. Willard gives them a look, approves the formation, and we’re green! Riggs already looks to make it three wide for the lead, but thinks better of it as Millington will clear. Riggs fights his way around Lapcevich with just a little contact, but Lapcevich strikes back with a crossover. Riggs hangs on as Grady is under fire from the # 03 of Brenden Queen. Queen will dispose of the # 1, now leaving him in the throes of # 81 Mini Tyrrell. That battle will be broken up due to Chase Burrow in the # 00B spinning on the frontstretch and hitting the inside wall hard. He’s thankfully okay, but the same can’t be said for the car as the red flag flies and cleanup begins. On the restart, Riggs takes advantage of the choose and gives Millington a fit on the inside, wrapping his car below the yellow line in search of grip. After multiple side by side laps, Millington finally retains with Lapcevich reclaiming second over Riggs. Queen will move up into fourth ahead of Tyrrell but all eyes shift to the front where Lapcevich is under Millington. The lead will stay in Millington’s hands, but it’s clear that he’ll have to work for it tonight.

Landon Rapp in the # 28R will come to a rest in the middle of one and two with an issue, bringing out the second SHITI Coolers Caution of the race. Under said yellow, # 24 Cody Dempster will unfortunately call it a night with a power steering failure affecting that machine. Tyrrell moves up a spot due to the choose as Millington takes advantage of a loose Lapcevich to hold onto the point. That also allows Riggs to take second as Queen is back around Tyrrell. Starting to show his muscle now is two time champion Carson Kvapil in the # 8, skating by Tyrrell and Queen. Ahead of him, Lapcevich has been working on Riggs for laps on end to no avail, allowing Kvapil to sneak into the mix. It turns into an absolutely amazing battle as Kvapil pokes his nose in the middle of both of them! Lapcevich finally gets around but here comes the crossover! The fans are on their feet with Lapcevich holding serve. The field will get a chance to breathe as Aaron Donnelly in the # 71 spins in turns one and two, causing another caution. Riggs goes to the inside of the front row for the restart but Millington gets the run off of two and clears down the backstretch. They’re nearly three wide for second with Lapcevich getting the nod. Now he’s to the inside of Millington! Riggs is also right there as it’s anybody’s race! It’s two by two in the top four as Kvapil takes third. Smoke fills the air though as # 04 Ronnie Bassett Jr goes around, forcing another caution. Millington on the outside. Kvapil on the inside. Green is back out!

Kvapil gets one of the best restarts of his career and just barely edges out Millington for the lead off of two! Millington now feels the breath of Lapcevich, who throws it in on Millington and makes it work. Once the checkered flies, it’s Carson Kvapil who picks up the win at South Boston! Lapcevich comes home second, Millington falls to third, Riggs takes fourth, and Queen makes gains in the points in fifth.

MY TAKE

Okay yeah…the way I started this article was a bit out of the ordinary for a sporting event. It needed to be. You see, we know that not everybody will take the time in today’s fast paced world to invest in a multi paragraphed article about a short track racing event. But you see, this article was not made for just anybody. It was made for you, the true short track racing fan. We just wanted you to remember the importance of not only the sport we love, but how important each and every event can be. Of course not all events are going to be barnburners for sure, but they all hold some often overlooked significance. Somebody’s first race, first win, best ever finish…there’s always something important from every race. Fortunately for us, this event was more significant than others. For Virginia Mini Cup winner Tyler Warriner, it was a chance to honor and remember a friend in the Tyler Roach Memorial race. In tears as he handed over the trophy to Tyler Roach’s family, it was also a great step toward healing from a tremendous loss for the Virginia Mini Cup family. For Jacob Staten it was the competition and challenge from Daniel Silvestri that reminded him of what the sport is all about on the track. And for the CARS Tour, this event was a look at the relevance of the tour itself.

Through the den of social media, even for those that have never been to a CARS Tour race for whatever reason, the premium status of the tour is undeniable. But unless you’ve been to the track in person during one of their races, you may never fully understand the truth of the intensity of it. Until you see in person what the live stream doesn’t show, you are unfortunately never going to fully realize the big picture of the tour in it’s entirety. First of all it’s no exaggeration of how hard it is to win in either division. The talent level from the drivers and teams sometimes get lost in the woods. But it’s no surprise when CARS Tour drivers move up into the top three NASCAR premium series, they more often than not have success. As a matter of fact, as the present racing era moves forward, I promise you that many of the up and coming successful talent will be CARS Tour winners. That fact is already becoming evident to many. As the tour has wanted all along, they have become the proving ground for the future stars of the sport. No matter what you think of that, it’s the truth. And on Saturday night at South Boston Speedway, that fact was self evident. Blue collar racer Ryan Millington went toe to toe with 2023 Pinty’s Series Champion Treyten Lapcevich. They battled side by side for a tremendous number of laps. Equal. They battled in the front side by side while pacing the field. And when they blinked for just a moment in the midst of it, Carson Kvapil took advantage. He then made it look easy. It wasn’t.

Behind the two time and consecutive CARS Tour champion besides Millington and Lapcevich was a field of racers just thousandths of a second off of the leaders best times. In the midst of them were the points leaders, 2023 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Racing National Champion Connor Hall and Brenden “Butterbean’ Queen, who just happened to finish fourth in his first ever Craftsman Truck Series start at North Wilkesboro Speedway. While Queen battled up front and managed a great points day finishing fifth, Hall looked like he was dead in the water until the pay window started to open. When it did he took a seventh place pay day and held his points lead over Queen, but just by one point with two races to go. One point between two drivers that have battled each other as hard as you can imagine and the one point shows how close they’ve been. Between them, finishing sixth, was popular driver Mini Tyrrell who sits third in points and is waiting in the wings in case the door opens by having one of his best ever years on the tour. But that’s the truth of the tour to date…someone is always looking over your shoulder even on your best night waiting and in position to strike should you falter just a little. That’s all they need. You train champions by pitting them against champions. It should never be easy, and on this tour, it never is. Oh and by the way, in the Pro Late Model division, former Craftsman Truck Series driver for Kyle Busch Motorsports has a slight points lead margin over Kaden Honeycutt who runs part time in the Craftsman Truck Series and with a best finish of fourth at Kansas Speedway just this year. No talent lost there either. So you’re looking at a tour that runs side by side and bumper to bumper for the majority of the races in every race, teaching it’s competitors how to race competitively at the highest levels of stock car racing. That makes it more than just relevant to the sport. It makes it tremendously relevant. So when it comes to the CARS Tour, if you hear someone sawing on some branches, remember that a healthy forest even uses fallen trees to feed itself. Until next time, as always, See You At The Track!

(Race write ups by Joshua Weatherman. Intro and My Take written by Billy Weatherman. Copyright 2024 SHORT TRACK REPORT)