Hickory, NC- The zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock race was open for the taking Saturday (April 6) night at Hickory Motor Speedway, with 2023 champion and season-opening winner Carson Kvapil was not racing in the field. Kvapil was busy making his Xfinity Series debut in Martinsville, leaving Mason Diaz to take his place in the No 8 JRM Bass Pro Shops Chevy while the field looked to take advantage of a chance to gain points on the young star.
Before the Late Model Stock field took to the track, the zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Models opened the show. Kyle Campbell won from pole for the second time in a row. Behind him several cars were taken out – including Kaden Honeycutt, who declined to comment post-race – in an event filled with cautions and carnage.
Torn up race cars were a key story of the LMSC division as well. The feature took a turn when the No. 95 of Jacob Heafner and the No. 44 of Connor Jones crashed. Jones seemed rattled after the wreck, but wasn’t shaken up enough to keep him from moving through the infield to yell some colorful words at Heafner through the fence before almost getting into a scrum with team members.
In the end, young phenom Connor Zilisch took the LMSC win after a hard battle with Brenden ‘Butterbean’ Queen on a late restart. It was his first LMSC win, though the teenager also won a CARS Tour Pro Late Model race at Ace Speedway in 2023.
Here are a trio of takeaways from another memorable Hickory night with the CARS Tour.
The Thanos Of Motorsports
Zilischmania continues to run wild in 2024.
Another race, another great result. Another series, another stone collected. Zilisch has been on a tear this season in many disciplines.
He put on a clinic at Hickory. But while Zilisch seemed to cut through the field like butter, the Trackhouse Racing prospect had to fight and earn it the hard way on Saturday night.
Zilisch didn’t qualify as well as he’d like, starting in 11th place. But he methodically marched through the field while managing his tires. By lap 50 he had made his way into the top five, with Queen trailing in his wake.
The 17-year-old sensation’s key to making quick work of the field was something others struggled with – passing on the top lane.
“It’s tough to race your way to the front when you don’t qualify well” Zilisch said post-race, “I saw a lot of guys struggling on the bottom. We were really tight in qualifying which led me believe we…
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