ALTAMAHAW, N.C. – The last time Carson Kvapil visited victory lane in the Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour came at Ace Speedway back on May 5.
That victory for Kvapil marked his third consecutive in the Late Model Stock Car Tour and heavily contributed to the sizable points lead he held entering Friday’s AcceleratedGFX.com 240 at Ace. Despite maintaining his efficiency through the summer, Kvapil was unable to notch another win during that time frame.
Kvapil’s dry streak finally ended with a dominant performance that his fellow LMSC Tour competitors have grown accustomed to since he debuted with JR Motorsports late in 2021. He now has eight total LMSC Tour victories and is inching closer to his second consecutive series championship.
Carson Kvapil completes season sweep of Ace Speedway
Although Kvapil was surprised by his winless drought, he knew the AcceleratedGFX.com 240 presented a great opportunity to get back into the win column.
Kvapil led every lap when he won at Ace back in May. Perfecting the clean sweep at Ace proved to be more challenging than Kvapil anticipated, but he fought off every challenge to re-establish the momentum he possessed at the start of 2023.
“It’s just awesome,” Kvapil said. “We came here earlier in the spring where I thought we had our most dominant performance of the year and maybe even with JR Motorsports. Coming back here, I knew we would have a really good car. We unloaded stupid fast in the first practice, but we just had to keep everything within reason.”
Kvapil’s biggest obstacle on Friday night was Brenden Queen, who had gradually erased his deficit in the point standings with a solid summer that included a victory at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
It took a restart for Kvapil to overtake Queen and pull away with the victory. Queen would then lose more positions during the final run of the night before fading to fifth, allowing Kvapil to further tighten his grip on the LMSC Tour championship.
With other contenders in three-time champion Bobby McCarty and Connor Hall each enduring premature exits on Friday night, Kvapil departs Ace with a sense of comfort knowing that he and JR Motorsports are finding their groove again with minimal opposition to worry about in the LMSC Tour points.
“During the last few races, we held our points lead, but lost one or two points each race,” Kvapil said. “Things haven’t been too bad, but we’ve been waiting for the races to start piling back up on us so we could start stretching that points lead out like we should be.”
Mason Diaz earns third consecutive Top 2 finish
A career year for Mason Diaz in the CARS LMSC Tour continued in Friday’s AcceleratedGFX.com 240.
After breaking through for his first LMSC Tour win in the USAR Pro Cup Throwback 225 at Hickory Motor Speedway, Diaz had another car capable of winning at Ace Speedway, where he ended up finishing second to Carson Kvapil for his third straight Top 2 finish.
“We just got a little too tight there,” Diaz said about the finish. “I’ve got to thank this Chad Bryant Racing crew. It’s been a good past three races. We’re getting some momentum on our side by running up front and keeping the car in one piece. [Tonight] was just another solid run for this No. 24 car.”
The impressive streak for Diaz started at Caraway Speedway when he ended up finishing in third position. Diaz’ final showing was then changed to second after race winner Layne Riggs was disqualified for failing post-race inspection.
Prior to 2023, Diaz had only finished second twice before in LMSC Tour competition, once at Hickory and the other time at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 2022. Diaz has been working hard to build chemistry with Chad Bryant Racing in his first year with the team and is thrilled to see that cohesion produce solid on-track results.
Despite the recent improvement, Diaz said Friday night only reinforced that Kvapil and JR Motorsports are still setting the benchmark in the LMSC Tour. For Diaz, finishing second at Ace to Kvapil is only going to give him and Chad Bryant Racing more motivation to get that extra edge and earn more victories together.
“It feels good to come to the race track and run up front,” Diaz said. “We felt like it should have been like this the whole entire year. We’re finally finishing races and executing, but we just need to be a little bit better.”
Ryan Millington claims much-needed third place finish
The first full-time venture for Ryan Millington into the CARS LMSC Tour went quiet after a runner-up showing at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Having been unable to finish above 14th over the last four races, the AcceleratedGFX.com 240 proved to be a welcomed change of pace for Millington, who ran inside the Top 5 all evening and came home with a solid third-place finish.
“With the issues we’ve had the last few races, to come back, qualify fourth and run third is something I can’t complain about one bit,” Millington said. “This is the best turning car I’ve ever had around here, and we’ve got something to build on with Tri-County coming up next week.”
Millington had plenty of optimism when he took his first practice laps at Ace on Thursday afternoon. His lone LMSC Tour win came at Ace in 2020, with his most recent run there being a second to Carson Kvapil in May.
The strong qualifying effort put Millington in a great position to earn his second LMSC Tour victory on Friday. After challenging Brenden Queen for the lead early, Millington sustained minor left front damage and got shuffled out of line, but still managed to fight his way back to a podium finish.
Although he wants to get back to victory lane, Millington approached 2023 as a year of learning and development. The AcceleratedGFX.com 240 served as a positive step in the right direction for Millington and his team, who are looking to keep the momentum going over the remaining six races.
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The next race up on the CARS Tour calendar is the prestigious Old North State Nationals at Tri-County Motor Speedway, which was moved to Aug. 19 from Memorial Day weekend due to inclement weather.
Along with the $30,000-to-win Late Model Stock feature, the PLM Tour is also returning to Tri-County for the weekend’s festivities, as they will battle to claim a $5,000 race-winning paycheck. Both races will be streamed live on FloRacing.
For more information on the CARS Late Model Stock Tour and the CARS Pro Late Model Tour, visit www.carsracingtour.com. Be sure to stay active and social with the tour by liking “CARS Tour” on Facebook, following @CARSTour on Twitter and scrolling through photos on Instagram cars_tour.
Additional series information can be obtained by calling the CARS Tour series office, located in
Mooresville, NC, at 704.662.9212.
LMSC Results:
- 8 Carson Kvapil
- 24 Mason Diaz
- 15 Ryan Millington
- 10 Kaden Honeycutt
- 03 Brenden Queen
- 04 Ronnie Bassett Jr.
- 95 Jacob Heafner
- 22 Landon Huffman
- 77W Trevor Ward
- 1 Andrew Grady
- 57 Connor Zilisch
- 16 Chad McCumbee
- 91 Jonathan Shafer
- 77S Blake Stallings
- 81 Mini Tyrrell
- 15C Logan Clark
- 5C Brent Crews
- 67 Cameron Bolin -1
- 8B Chase Burrow -1
- 87 Tate Fogleman -1
- 4 Dylon Wilson -1
- 7 Dylan Ward -5
- 2 Brandon Pierce -13
- 6 Bobby McCarty – OUT
- 77 Connor Hall – OUT
