NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — The 2024 zMAX CARS Tour season came to a close on Saturday night (Oct. 19) with championship night at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
The CARS Tour late models were a key component of North Wilkesboro’s revival in 2022, and the historic track has been a part of the CARS schedule ever since, even hosting two races this season. The first date of 2024 was supposed to be in May, the week of the NASCAR Cup Series’ All-Star Race, but heavy rain delayed the race to August. This year marks the first time CARS has visited North Wilkesboro twice in the same season, with the second race crowning the champions of the Pro Late Model and Late Model Stock Car series.
Winning at the nearly 80-year-old track can put a driver on the radar of race fans everywhere, but taking home the championship hardware was the bigger objective for a handful of drivers Saturday night.
From a championship drama to nonstop, chaotic wrecks, here are three takeaways from the ECMD 125 at North Wilkesboro.
Butterbean Wins the Title Fight Against Langley Foe
Entering Saturday night, Brenden ‘Butterbean’ Queen led Connor Hall by nine points in the Late Model Stock standings. Queen was also awarded a bonus points for winning the most poles on the season, so Hall essentially had to finish 10 spots ahead of Queen to win the title.
The Late Model Stock championship coming down to Queen and Hall was poetic, as the duo both cut their teeth racing together at Langley Speedway. Through the years, they became fierce rivals, with that feud extending into the CARS Tour many times this season.
Hall did win the battle between the two at North Wilkesboro, finishing ahead of Queen in fourth. But Queen took the checkered flag one spot behind Hall in fifth to hang onto the points lead.
“Ah man, I don’t think there’s anything sweeter than that [winning the CARS Tour title] right now in late model racing,” Queen told Frontstretch. “I won those [track] championships at Langley, and they were special, but I think this one right here has got to be a little bit bigger, just because of being on a touring series and how hard it is to win in this series.”
Hall had his work cut out for him from the drop of the green flag, as he qualified 10th to Queen’s second. On one of the early restarts, the No. 22 machine suffered nose damage when a stack-up occurred from Andrew Grady not…
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