OUT OF THE BLUE – 2024 CARS Tour 225 Presented By GeoCut At Tri-County Speedway

In auto racing, and especially in short track stock car racing, everything can change in a moment. Nothing is to be unexpected. But the truth is, no matter how prepared you are or how you think things are going, in that moments notice, things can happen that seemingly come out of the blue. The CARS Tour 225 Presented By GeoCut is a perfect example of that. Of course plenty of things happened that were fully expected, but I don’t think how both races ended was on anyone’s list of expectations. At least not how it all came about. What was expected however was some extremely tight side by side racing at a track known for just that. And when you put the best in the business behind the wheel at a place like that with tremendously prepared race cars, you very likely won’t get anything less. But at Tri-County Speedway, we’ve come to expect the unexpected. Nothing could have prepared us for how it played out on Saturday night.

The speedway and the tour spent a tremendous amount of effort to give the folks in western North Carolina a show they wouldn’t forget after all they’d been through from Hurricane Helene over the past couple of weeks and man did they succeed in that. It couldn’t have been a better day for it either with Saturday spent under a beautiful North Carolina blue sky and cool autumn night under the moon. Yes, a great day for a celebration of life and a great time for families to take a break and enjoy the show, even an appearance from NASCAR great Greg Biffle, who’s been a fantastic contributor through relief efforts. And a show is what they got. The CARS Tour came to Tri-County Speedway with a white flag waving over their season and tight points races in both divisions. Whatever was going to happen here would have a huge bearing going into the championship finale at North Wilkesboro. With that said, let’s take a close look at one of the most eventful nights of racing in CARS Tour history.

zMAX CARS TOUR PRO LATE MODEL FEATURE

Rookie # 6M Tristan McKee puts it on the MAHLE Pole once again with a time of 15.100 seconds ahead of # 47 Kaden Honeycutt and Jimmy Renfrew Jr in the # 00R. zMAX CARS Tour flagman Brandon Willard has a look over the pack of eager drivers, approves what he sees, and we’re green at Tri-County! McKee clears Honeycutt off of turn two but we’ve already got trouble behind as # 24B Lanie Buice slams the outside wall after getting bounced around in the pack! She’ll unfortunately be done for the night as the field will line back up quickly in a race against the curfew. It’s not as easy for McKee this time with Honeycutt showing extreme muscle alongside. McKee eventually gets around, leaving Honeycutt to fend off Renfrew Jr in the # 00. The SHITI Coolers Caution will fly once more for the # 24 of Dusty Garus spinning around in four, setting up another battle between McKee and Honeycutt. It’ll be the same song and dance with the exception of Ashton Higgins in the # 44 coming up to challenge Honeycutt. All of the battling will allow # 29 Spencer Davis to pounce, taking third away with Higgins filing in behind. Now Davis is all over Honeycutt, the two drivers who are battling for a championship. Davis will succeed, now setting his eyes on McKee in the lead. Much to Davis’ liking, the competition caution will fly, allowing him a chance at the top spot. McKee gets a fantastic restart, with Honeycutt right in his tracks, reclaiming the silver position.

Davis explores the bottom lane for some grip, trying to find any way around the blue Honeycutt machine. In the middle of the pack, # 88 Max Reaves and # 7J Justin Crider have been banging doors for the past couple of laps. And Crider has enough of it! He spins Reaves going into one, also spinning himself! Reaves pulls up alongside to express his displeasure as the caution is out. On the restart, McKee and Honeycutt rub fenders just a bit. Now McKee slams the wall! He somehow gets it righted as the race will stay green. That leaves the lead open to Honeycutt followed by # 35 Caden Kvapil and Davis. Davis dives underneath Kvapil with McKee lurking, but the battle will be interrupted as Jadyn Daniels in the # 7D finds the outside wall after contact with Reaves. After the choose, your top three will be Honeycutt, Davis, and McKee with a battered car. Honeycutt executes a phenomenal launch, building some breathing room between he and Davis. That gap will be erased as Joshua Horniman in the # 43 goes around out of two after contact with # 7C Tyler Church. Davis stumbles a bit on the restart, giving McKee the second spot as Cameron Clifford in the # 18 spins into the outside barrier going into three after contact with Reaves. He shows his displeasure with Reaves with a finger point but none of that matters to the top three as there will be only a handful of laps to go on the restart due to the curfew. McKee fires off like a rocket and gets away with the lead! Honeycutt tries a bonzai move on the last lap, but it’s not enough as McKee will cross the line first! Honeycutt parks his car in victory lane as protest for the final restart, which soon results in Kip Childress and teams having a long talk down on the straightaway. After close examination from us here at Short Track Report, it seems that second place McKee fired just before the restart zone. And after all is said and done, it is determined by the officials that McKee jumped the final restart as well, resulting in Honeycutt being given the win! That’ll move Higgins up to second along with Davis in third after a very controversial finish.

zMAX CARS TOUR LATE MODEL STOCK FEATURE

With a lap of 15.346 seconds, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series star Corey Heim in the # 55 leads the field to green with a Thunder Road Harley-Davidson Pole, accompanied by # 81 Mini Tyrrell and the # 15C of Pro Late Model winner Kaden Honeycutt. Willard anxiously gazes over the pack, likes what he sees, and unfurls the green flag! Heim and Tyrrell are dead locked for the lead as Brenden Queen in the # 03 moves into third. After a fantastic opening battle, Heim will clinch first for the time being. Everyone begins to get into a rhythm early but that can’t be said for the # 31 of Andrew Patterson who has come to a stop on the frontstretch. It will be the end of his night as we’re back underway! Heim clears Tyrrell much more easily this time around as Queen makes slight contact with the outside wall behind while racing side by side with the # 44 of Conner Jones. The middle of the pack is a bloodbath while Queen and Jones are still duking it out! Jones barely squeaks by, but behind, # 23 Kade Brown spins into the inside backstretch wall hard! He’s thankfully okay as the red flies to allow a rollback to take Brown’s car back to the pit area. Heim fires ahead on the restart while Tyrrell and Queen battle for second. This battle showcases why Tri-County is a favorite among fans and drivers with both staying door to door for what seems like a lifetime. No victor will come out of the battle as the # 7H of Blayne Harrison loops it around in turn one.

Tyrrell and Queen continue their battle behind Heim on the restart with Tyrrell disposing of Queen’s Lee Pulliam Performance hot rod. I can’t even type out the action that’s happening in the meat of the field because there are cars literally everywhere, sometimes even three to four wide! Back up front Tyrrell is filling up Heim’s rear view mirror. Behind, Jones is back in third as the field begins to log laps. Right when I say that, there’s a huge crash in turn three! # 7W Dylan Ward spins heading into three, leaving # 45 Parker Eatmon, # 2W Ryan Wilson, and points leader # 22 Connor Hall with nowhere to go! They pile in hard, ending Ward and Eatmon’s nights while hindering Wilson and Hall’s. Extensive cleanup takes place as Wilson and Hall continue to make laps, albeit with some decoration tape. When the green comes out again, Queen tries to make it three wide on Heim and Tyrrell but thinks better as Heim clears. Now here comes Jones on the outside of Tyrrell, kicking Tyrrell to third. Put Heim, Jones, and Tyrrell under a blanket for the lead! Heim tries to pull away again, but meanwhile there’s trouble out of two! # 08 Deac McCaskill and # 18 Max Reaves touch, starting a three car pile up that also involves # 29 Brent Crews! McCaskill and Crews are through as they double up again.

Tyrrell slides up into Heim on the restart, trying everything he can to get the lead but Reaves spins, bringing out another SHITI Coolers Caution! After the caution, # 71 Aaron Donnelly and # 24 Cody Dempster make contact, sending Donnelly around while Dempster sustains heavy damage! Once that’s cleaned up, Tyrrell gets the best restart he has all night and takes the lead! But Heim gives him a shove! Tyrrell hangs on as the fans are on their feet! Jones fights by Heim, but Heim pulls the crossover! And he’s too hot! He’ll drop a handful of positions into a four wide battle! They squeeze with smoke flying! They somehow make it out as this is some of the best racing we’ve ever seen! Tyrrell seems to be sitting pretty, but around go Charlie Watson’s # 9 and Wilson out of two. That sets up a green, white, checkered finish with any of the top five in the catbird’s seat. But Tyrrell is out of gas! His chances of winning have come to a close! And so is Ryan Millington in the # 15! None of that matters to the new top three of Jones, Queen, and # 14 Jared Fryar. Jones gets a great start however # 8 Carson Kvapil dives into turn one and sets off another pile up! Heim, # 04 Ronnie Bassett Jr, # 17 Brody Monahan, # 62 William Sawalich, and the # 2 of Brandon Pierce are all involved! The red flag makes one more appearance on the night as we’re soon set for one more restart in the Late Model Stocks. Queen gets a fantastic jolt at the line, looking to add another Tri-County win to his resume. But nobody is able to get around a very determined Conner Jones, who takes home his second career zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock win! Fryar survives all of the chaos in second while Queen will drop back to third at the end.

MY TAKE

Wow! Let’s break it all down. And let’s start with the elephant in the room and I’m just going to say it. No matter what side of the coin you’re on, whether you think Kaden Honeycutt didn’t go on the last Pro Late Model restart or you think that Tristan McKee jumped the start, my question is why let the restart go to begin with if there’s a question? I’ve been around awhile and for the majority of my life, barring my infant years which I remember nothing, I’ve been an avid short track racing fan. Growing up learning and loving the sport from my home track Bowman Gray Stadium, I’ve seen a lot over the years. But one thing that’s always rang true is that if a series or track questioned a restart, they always yellow it and redo it. In most cases if the restart is jumped by a competitor, the transgressor is warned that if it happens again they will be sent to the rear and the field is realigned for another restart. That was not done here. The restart was allowed to stand and a decision on a winner wasn’t decided until well after the checkered flag fell. I’ve never seen it done that way. But since it was, the outcome, though final, will forever be questioned in a controversial moment that didn’t need to happen. We understand the curfew argument, but there was time to do just one green, white, checkered attempt. It had an effect not only on the outcome, but on a points chase that was already extremely tight to begin with. That’s all water under the bridge now however as on the bright side, the fans are now left with an even more intense showdown for the Pro Late Model championship at North Wilkesboro Speedway. High level decision making in a sport literally built on speed is no easy job however and that also needs to be said. No one can understate the difficulty. At the end of the day, their decisions are final and the tour and it’s competitors will have to deal with that.

On the Late Model Stock side of it, Conner Jones’ win was a bigger one than most probably realize. You can talk about the cars running out of gas at the end of a 125 lap race and who’s to blame for that, but the focus should truly be on the win in this case. But let’s touch on that one thing first to also get that elephant out of the way so we can talk about bigger things. Yes, the question is not insignificant, but the drivers and their teams along with race control all have a hand in this pie. On the one hand, the teams complain that the caution laps run were too many. Okay. Point taken. On the other hand, ultimately, drivers and the machines they pilot are in control of when most of the cautions arise. Besides competition cautions, driver error and untimely mechanical failures light up the caution lights. And when the lights are off and the field is green, there are no caution laps run taking precious gas away. What’s true in any case however is that it probably shouldn’t have been an issue in a 125 lap Late Model Stock event at a short track. But let’s be honest, it’s not like there’s the same top tier tech implemented in most short track racing where there’s a guy on the box calculating every last drop of gasoline. We’ll let the experts figure that one out. For us, there was a much bigger story.

Conner Jones had the biggest win of his career to date. It comes after tremendous struggles, especially this year when nothing seemed to go right for the driver and his team. And it comes at a place Jones knows very well and a track where Conner felt he needed to win. This win was that confirmation. I caught up with him in the CARS Tour trailer after the race and he told me that this was maybe the best race car he’d had anywhere and that because of that he needed to win for his team after they gave him “…such a great piece.” He felt he couldn’t give them anything less. But he also told me that this win was much bigger for him and his team because of what it represented and who they dedicated it to. He said, “The blue on the car is for lung cancer awareness and the pink was for breast cancer awareness.” He fought through his emotions as he told me that he lost his Grandmother to lung cancer recently and that he wanted to win for her more than anything in the world. It was hard for him to talk about as he had to fight through the emotions to tell me what this win truly meant to him. He took nothing for granted and started saving fuel down the stretch but as an example of how close it was, he managed a short celebratory burnout before the car died, not even making it into victory lane. Everything seemed to line up perfectly in the midst of the chaos for Jones who wanted…scratch that, needed to win this race. A shot out of the blue if you will. And although the overall outcomes in the CARS Tour 225 Presented By GeoCut shouldn’t be a total surprise to anyone, how it all played out, for many, was totally unexpected. After all was said and done, Kaden Honeycutt gets the win that leaves the Pro Late Model championship coming down to a shootout, and with Brenden Queen finishing third in the Late Model Stocks as Connor Hall struggled, it all comes down to North Wilkesboro to decide it. For both series, either way, new champions will be crowned making the season finale an even more historic one. Until next time, as always, See You At The Track!