Just like that, the 2024 CARS Tour season has come to a close.
Way back in March, the series took a trip up to Southern National Motorsports Park to kick off a new era of CARS Tour racing. There were new races, a new title sponsor and new faces in the crowd.
Seven months later, the series has covered 17 races, 13 racetracks and three states, all while crowning a champion.
Since our last power rankings update, the series completed its final five-race stretch at Wake County Speedway, Florence Motor Speedway, South Boston Speedway, Tri County Speedway and North Wilkesboro Speedway. With the year wrapped up, it’s time to roll out our final rankings.
For the final time in 2024, here are the CARS Tour power rankings to put a bow on an incredible season of Late Model Stock racing.
Previous Ranking: Third
Hard to argue with this one. He’s the champion, so he’ll end the season No. 1 in our eyes as well.
What an incredible final stretch of races it was for Queen. For a majority of the season, the No. 03 team was down in the point standings, but they were never quite out.
Heading into Wake County, Connor Hall held a sizeable margin over Queen and his Lee Pulliam Performance team. Queen and Co. never found victory lane in the final stretch of races, but the group top-five the field to death as they stormed back to steal the title.
To witness this level of maturity from Queen behind the wheel was truly a sight to see. The Virginian had been a boom-or-bust driver in the CARS Tour up until mid-summer, but he flipped the switch when it mattered most.
There are multiple examples of races where he could have pushed the issue to gain an extra spot or go after a win, but he didn’t. Queen understood the situation at hand and never bit off more than he could chew.
Finishes of third, second, fifth, third and fifth in the final five races made for an incredible average finish of 3.6 in the season’s stretch run.
Congratulations champ, you earned this one.
Previous Ranking: Fourth
Speaking of guys who peaked at the end of the season, how about Ryan Millington?
Millington is one of the last true pioneers of Late Model Stock racing, running a family-owned team on a smaller budget without all the big name sponsors. They made the most of their situation down the stretch.
After coming so close to multiple wins in the third quarter, Millington finally broke through to victory late at Florence, scoring his…
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