KENLY, N.C – The zMAX CARS Tour opened its Late Model Stock Car season Sunday (March 10) at Southern National Motorsports Park, after a dreary forecast forced series officials to postpone the race from its originally scheduled Saturday time slot.
Following the Saturday washout, the Late Model Stock stars showed up Sunday to a packed house at Southern National. On a windy afternoon, they put on a show for the fans at the tour’s season opener.
In the end it was defending champ Carson Kvapil who picked up the win.
The storylines following Kvapil’s season-opening triumph are plentiful, as the champ sent a strong message to the field while some had extremely disappointing starts to their championship efforts in 2024.
Much like the Pro Late Model race a week ago, we saw a relatively clean race with a large field of cars, with many walking away in a great spot to fight for the title. Here are three of the biggest takeaways following the CARS season opener.
To Be the Champ, You Have to Beat the Champ
The more things change, the more they stay the same. All the talk during the offseason was about how strong this field of Late Model Stock drivers is, how the competition has never been tougher and how the battle for the championship is wide open.
But at the end of the day, the two-time defending champ opened the season with another win.
Kvapil started the day strong, qualifying seventh for the first race of the season. That left him starting inside row four.
His day almost ended before it really got going. Moments after the drop of the green, Kvapil’s No. 8 caught air during an incident with Deac McCaskill on lap three. Kvapil had half a car to the inside of McCaskill’s No. 08 and the two made heavy contact entering turn 1, but both drivers kept it in the right direction and the race stayed green.
Kvapil methodically worked his way through the field, cracking the top five for the first time on lap 30 after getting around the No. 77 of Treyten Lapcevich. The North Carolinian maintained his spot in the top five until the first competition caution at lap 45 and broke into the top three for the first time on lap 78.
The moment of truth for Kvapil was a restart with 35 laps to go, where he elected to restart first in the outside lane rather than third in the inside lane. The initial restart was waived after race leader Brent Crews jumped the start. On the ensuing second attempt Crews missed a…
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