THE VIEW IS ALWAYS BETTER FROM THE FRONT- 2025 zMAX CARS Tour Folsom Fence Supply 250 At Orange County Speedway

By now everyone should understand that Orange County Speedway is a track that makes for outstanding Late Model Stock racing. It was indeed made for racecars such as these and the proof is in the results. It’s also a no brainer to understand that the better the talent, the better the competition, but especially here. This track is the quintessential drivers track. Every dip, every bump, and every groove adds the extra challenge. On top of that, the speeds that this track provides is not for the faint of heart. Orange County Speedway is a special place for sure. And you can feel the excitement in the air every time the CARS Tour comes to town. It was no surprise as the tour arrived for the 4th event of the season, the Folsom Fence Supply 250, that JR Motorsports’ new driver Connor Hall would be leading the Late Model Stock points headed into the event. Hall was already making a name for himself on the tour before he joined the powerhouse team and so it wasn’t a hard prediction to know he was the favorite for this year’s championship. Question was, who was going to step up and challenge him. But we’re not sure everyone had his biggest challenger to be Mini Tyrrell at this point in the season. Not that Tyrrell hasn’t shown that he has the ability as a top contender on the tour, but Tyrrell this year is showing that he is now a true veteran eager to make a higher mark. Determined not to be counted out, he sits 2nd in points and hunting victory lane at every turn.

Ah, but the season is still very young. Kade Brown after his disappointing rookie season has rebounded this year in his sophomore round, driving for R&S and building momentum, nipping at Hall and Tyrrell, with Landen Lewis and Doug Barnes Jr well within striking distance. On the Pro Late Model side of the coin, Tristan McKee is proving to the Late Model world that he’s for real and is definitely going to be a factor for some time to come. But he’s giving the Pros some room this week as he headed to Sonoma to beef up his road course skills, leaving Isaac Kitzmiller in position for advancement. But he better keep his eyes over his shoulder as Dylan Garner is looking for his best year on the tour to date with Ben Maier and Brandon Lopez also looking to follow suit. Again however, this is Orange County Speedway. Anything can happen and it happens quick. It’s not a cliche. You have to have the ability to put the pedal to the metal and understand that the view always looks better from the front. How’d it all play out? Let’s take a closer look at the zMAX CARS Tour Folsom Fence Supply 250 from Orange County Speedway.

VIRGINIA MINI CUP RACING ASSOCIATION FEATURE

Outlasting a wild battle for second, the #34 of Johnny Shonk emerges from the pack and takes home the win in front of the huge crowd in Rougemont. #11 Noah Matthews crosses the line in second, #12 Tyler Warriner finishes third, #7 Nate Thomas grabs fourth, and the #91 of John Alford rounds out the top five.

zMAX CARS TOUR PRO LATE MODEL FEATURE

Getting around Orange County Speedway in a lightning fast time of 13.640 seconds earns Luke Baldwin in the #51 Rick Ware Racing machine the pole for tonight’s opening feature. Keelan Harvick in the #62 will roll off second, #47 Tyler Reif third, #15 Rodney Dowless Jr fourth, and Brandon Lopez in #6L starts fifth. zMAX CARS Tour flagman Brandon Willard gazes over the eager field, likes what he sees, and we’re green at Orange County! Harvick doesn’t waste any time as he’s all over Baldwin, soon grabbing the lead in a power move. But right there with Harvick is Reif, who’s very strong early, diving under and now becoming the new leader. Baldwin will follow Reif through as Brody Monahan in the #54 will break into the top five early. Trouble strikes out of turn four with Taylor Hull in the #82 looping his machine around. It’s a relatively quick caution and once the field gets back underway, it’s all Reif up front. He tries to get away but he’ll be interrupted again, this time by a spinning Dowless Jr in turn two. That’ll shuffle up the top five with Reif leading, Baldwin second, Harvick third, Monahan up to fourth, and the #6M of Ben Maier moving to fifth. It’s the same song and dance for Reif, achieving a fantastic restart and setting sail up front. But it isn’t as smooth this time around with Baldwin breathing down his neck and even giving him the bumper at points! Behind them is another hot battle between Monahan and Maier. The fans don’t know what to focus on as the racing is fantastic early!

After what seems like an eternity to Maier, he’ll finally motor by Monahan with the #24 of Jade Avedisian in tow. Back up front, Baldwin won’t relent, as he continues to dive under Reif nearly every single lap. Despite his efforts, Reif seems to be faster up top, but it doesn’t stop Baldwin from putting his machine in precarious situations. The battle will be broken up though as the competition caution waves from the hands of Willard. When we get back underway, Baldwin’s car fires off better this time around, disposing of Reif for the time being. That puts Reif in a dangerous position as both Harvick and an emerging Avedisian both want a piece of the front. But there’s just not enough room as Reif and Harvick get together on the backstretch! Reif sustains the most damage with Harvick also having to come down for repairs! The complexion has changed dramatically with Baldwin continuing to lead, Avedisian now second, Jarrett Butcher in the #54B third, #61 Evan McKnight fourth, and Dowless Jr in fifth. Baldwin gets an incredible restart and clears while McKnight slides around Butcher for third as does a late race blooming Isaac Kitzmiller in the #25, who got a monstrous restart. Kitzmiller won’t stop there, peeking below McKnight and eventually working him over for the position. But up front, it’s all Baldwin. Avedisian tries all she can, but it won’t be enough as Baldwin breaks through for his first career zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model win! Avedisian cruises under the checkered in second, Kitzmiller turns a late race relay into third, McKnight hangs on for fourth, and Butcher salvages a fifth in the end.

zMAX CARS TOUR LATE MODEL STOCK FEATURE

Tyler Reif in his first ever zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock start will start on the pole in his #27 Chevrolet with a lap of 13.991 seconds. Firing off alongside will be NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Layne Riggs in the #17 followed by #16 Chad McCumbee, #44 Conner Jones, and the #14 of Jared Fryar. Willard anxiously looks over the 30 car field, approves the formation, and we’re underway! Reif doesn’t get the best of starts, allowing Riggs to take advantage as well as McCumbee. Reif’s fall won’t stop there, now losing spots to Fryar and the #00 of Chase Burrow as Jones falls outside of the top five. Reif will catch a break as our points leader, Connor Hall in the #88, spins on the frontstretch! Hall drives away with no damage but will have a tall task restarting in the rear of the field. Riggs will still lead on the restart followed by McCumbee, Burrow who moves up a spot via the choose, Fryar, and Reif. Riggs launches like a rocket and drives away as McCumbee is under pressure from Burrow. Burrow will take second place away while Jones is back in the top five around Reif and now challenges Fryar for fourth. Fryar keeps it steady and now tries to sneak by McCumbee, which he will do successfully. Meanwhile, the #4 of Kade Brown is fast, showing his muscle underneath Jones. Jones hangs tough but it’s not enough with Brown moving up a spot. Just as that happens, Fryar is on the charge, now kicking Burrow back to third. Riggs loves all of the battling behind but his gap disappears as the competition caution will fly.

Riggs makes the restart look easy, setting sail once more with Brown capturing the upper hand on McCumbee. McCumbee is fighting a very loose race car, costing him another spot, this time fifth to Ronnie Bassett Jr in the #04. Brown continues his upward trajectory, fighting his way by Burrow. Making his presence known is another NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series racer in the field, this one being the #71 of Kaden Honeycutt. He’ll break into the top five by Bassett Jr as the middle of the field is an absolute warzone at the moment. Up front, the battle for the lead is heating up quickly! Fryar dances in Riggs’ mirror, looking for a way around. And he finds that way on the bottom of the racetrack, eventually clearing himself after a great battle with Riggs. Behind them, Burrow starts to lose ahold of his machine, giving up spots to Honeycutt and Bassett Jr in the #04. All of the chaotic racing in the middle of the pack finally starts to unravel as #01 Camden Gullie and #03 Lanie Buice come together, crashing going into turn one! The #88B of Doug Barnes Jr, #22 Carson Loftin, and the #4E of Parker Eatmon have nowhere to go and all pile in! That’ll unfortunately be the end of the night for Buice, Eatmon, and Barnes Jr with Loftin and Gullie having major repair work ahead of them. The track crew is up to task and gets everything cleared in no time, setting up for Fryar to have a brilliant restart. We’re back under caution quickly though as the #8F of Tate Fogleman and #81 Mini Tyrrell crash hard coming into one. They’re both done for the night as we’re starting to see attrition play a role. Fryar will lead Riggs, Brown, Honeycutt, and Bassett Jr on the restart, again launching out to a big lead. The battle for fourth is a heated one with Honeycutt, Bassett Jr, and Burrow all fighting tooth and nail. Honeycutt hangs on as Burrow will claim fifth. Debris finds its way on the racing surface, setting up another caution and restart, but no sweat for Fryar as he again drives away.

Riggs finds himself under fire from Brown now, who will grab that position late in the going. Bassett Jr and Burrow are still giving it everything they have, executing crossovers that eventually see Bassett Jr taking the spot for good. Gridlocked for third behind Brown are Riggs and Honeycutt, putting the fans on their feet in an amazing battle for third. None of that matters to Fryar though as he’ll come home with the victory! Brown is fast in the end but comes up short in second, Honeycutt guts out a third ahead of Riggs, and Bassett Jr fights hard for a top five.

MY TAKE

First off, if you haven’t seen a big Late Model race at Orange County Speedway and you are a true short track racing fan, you have to put this track on your bucket list. It was made for big events and it hasn’t lost it’s air for excitement. And most of all, it’s a track that produces truly great short track racing. We’ve heard it from many drivers in the past, but as further confirmation, the 2 drivers we interviewed at this event both said it was their favorite short track. And although both had different outcomes in the event, they also both showed why they feel the way they do about the track. Next generation driver Keelan Harvick put his car on the front row qualifying second in the Pro Late Model feature. But even as he was collected in an unfortunate incident early in the race, he used his car’s speed and the track’s numerous lanes to fight his way back to a very respectable 6th place finish. And for Jared Fryar, he couldn’t hide his excitement of being able to breakthrough to win on what he said, “has always been his favorite track”. And why shouldn’t he be excited after this amazing win? He simply dominated this race, able to hold off now full time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor and winner Layne Riggs after a number of restarts toward the end of the race. And speaking of dominating, Luke Baldwin’s Pro Late Model win with car owner Rick Ware in attendance was another confirmation of Baldwin’s ability to find victory lane. Challenged by Tyler Reif and Keelan Harvick early on and Jade Avedisian late, Baldwin never looked back once he got a clear look up front.

On the opposite end of the spectrum however, Late Model Stock points leaders Connor Hall and Mini Tyrrell both had on track issues in their race that they couldn’t fully recover from. That allowed Kade Brown to make up some serious points ground as he continued to build momentum on the season with an impressive hard fought 2nd place finish ahead of also now full time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor Kaden Honeycutt who had yet another great run at Orange County Speedway, a track where it seems he’s able to continuously excel when given the opportunity to race it. The CARS Tour is a series where the best Late Model racers come to make a name for themselves and to showcase their talents. But it’s also a place where you’ll continue and increasingly see NASCAR veterans, like Ryan Newman did this week. It’s part of the vision Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, and Justin Marks have for the tour going forward. They understand that short track racing is the foundation and the heart of stock car racing. It’s where new talent is formed and where veterans remember where they learned to truly love the sport when they started out themselves. It also helps that they know this vision is great for grassroots racing and that if you want to be true leaders in the sport, the view is always better from the front. The 2025 CARS Tour season is still in many ways just getting started and as avid short track racing fans, we are excited to be along for the ride. And so as always, until next time, See You At The Track!

(Race write ups by Joshua Weatherman. Intro and My Take written by Billy Weatherman. Copyright 2025 SHORT TRACK REPORT)