RALEIGH, N.C.- The zMAX CARS Tour was back in action this past Saturday (Aug. 24) night, this time at the shortest track on the schedule: Wake County Speedway, known as ‘Americas Favorite Bullring.’
As the only quarter-mile track on the schedule, Wake County presents a unique set of challenges for drivers compared to the rest of the season. Landen Lewis made the most of the opportunity to pick up his first career CARS Tour victory, but not without controversy.
All eyes were on the Late Model Stock cars at Wake County, where teammates found themselves at odds and the championship battle took another compelling turn.
Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s showdown in North Carolina.
Landen Lewis Breaks Through
The 2024 season hasn’t been kind to the CARS Tour rookie. With a part-time schedule, Lewis had made seven starts leading into Wake County, earning a pedestrian average finish of 15.4 along the way.
Despite two front row starts, including a pole at Hickory Motor Speedway, Lewis had only been able to manage a season-best result of eighth, coming at both New River All-American Speedway and Dominion Raceway.
That all changed Saturday night.
Lewis capitalized on a great car and landed the No. 62 in victory lane for the first time since Kevin Harvick Inc. made its return to the CARS Tour.
After starting eighth, Lewis slowly picked his way through the field, breaking into the top three at lap 46. That was where he ran for the majority of the race from there, until a spin by Landon Huffman brought out the yellow with just 15 laps to go.
On the ensuing restart, Lewis was able to move KHI teammate Brent Crews out of the groove and wrestle the top spot away. He survived one final restart and cruised to his first ever CARS Tour victory from there.
“Like I’ve been telling everybody else, it means a lot to me,” Lewis said afterward. “This is truly a special win for me, my guys, it goes to show you how competitive this series is when you go look at qualifying and you see how close everyone truly is. I qualified eighth and if I’d have been a half-a-tenth faster I’d be sitting second or third, so that’s pretty intense. If you’re three tenths off you’re dead last, so it’s pretty intense of how tight this series is and how good this series is.
“To be able to beat these guys like ‘Butterbean’ (Brenden Queen) and Connor…
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