THORNBURG, VA. – For over a year, victory had eluded Bobby McCarty in the Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour.
After enduring the worst season of his career to date, the three-time CARS LMSC Tour champion opted for a fresh start by partnering up with R&S Race Cars for the 2023 season with the goal of showing the entire field he was still more than capable of being a contender every week.
In Saturday’s CARS Tour 125 presented by NAPA Auto Parts and Chaney Enterprises at Dominion Raceway, the old Bobby McCarty returned in thrilling fashion, as he ended up edging Brenden ‘Butterbean’ Queen in a photo finish by merely 0.009 seconds for his 11th LMSC Tour win.
Victory for Bobby McCarty equal parts emotional and cathartic
McCarty initially believed Saturday’s 125-lap feature would just be another step in the right direction for him and R&S Race Cars.
A late restart served as the catalyst for an intense battle between Brenden Queen and Carson Kvapil for the win while McCarty sat in third. As the two leaned on each other heavily in the closing laps, McCarty knew he would have just one opportunity to finally end his prolonged winless streak in the CARS LMSC Tour.
“To be honest, I don’t know what the hell to say,” McCarty said. “I felt like I ran way too hard with [Queen] earlier and I started to lose drive. [He and Kvapil] got to racing, so I went off into Turn 1 high, wide, and handsome. That was either going to get us the lead or put us in the fence, but at that point, I didn’t care.”
Saturday’s triumph at Dominion Raceway for McCarty not only served as unfinished business in the LMSC Tour, but also redemption at the facility.
McCarty was the first one to take home a checkered flag in Dominion’s ‘Big One’ last Saturday, which paid $5,000 to the race-winner. The celebration proved to be short-lived, as McCarty ultimately left Dominion empty-handed and frustrated due to an infraction in post-race inspection.
Rather than let the outcome from last weekend hinder them, McCarty and R&S Race Cars showed up to Dominion on Saturday with more motivation to earn their first win together. McCarty considers himself grateful to be aligned with R&S Race Cars and was ecstatic to see months of hard work alongside Marcus Richmond and Steve Stallings pay off with an overdue LMSC Tour victory.
“I can’t thank all these guys enough,” McCarty said. “Marcus was my first paid crew chief back when I was running my own stuff. He had a seat available, and we worked this deal out. I’m so much happier to be at the race track this year. These guys are my family.”
Brenden Queen inches away from second win of 2023
While Bobby McCarty celebrated in victory lane, Brenden Queen was left disappointed knowing he was so close to earning another CARS LMSC Tour win this year.
After coming up one spot short of defending his victory from his home track of Langley Speedway, Queen and Lee Pulliam Performance showed up to Dominion Raceway as one of the primary cars to beat by putting down a pole-winning lap of 15.072.
Queen easily fended off Carson Kvapil on the initial start and maintained control during the 125-lap feature until two late cautions caused by Mike Looney and Jonathan Findley respectively provided Kvapil an opportunity to take the win for himself.
The final 12-lap sprint to the finish saw Queen and Kvapil trade paint and the lead on numerous occasions until Bobby McCarty managed to overtake both. Queen rebounded on the high line to make one last charge at McCarty but came up short of a win by just a few inches.
Although Queen was forced to settle for second, he still managed to further chip away at Kvapil’s lead in the LMSC Tour standings, further positioning himself to make a run at the series championship over the rest of the summer.
Carson Kvapil gets short end of thrilling battle for win
Of the three drivers who battled at the end of Saturday’s 125-lap race at Dominion Raceway, Carson Kvapil fared the worst with a fourth-place finish.
The defending CARS LMSC Tour champion did everything possible to claim his fourth win of 2023. During the penultimate caution of the evening, Kvapil utilized the choose rule to line up alongside the race leader in Brenden Queen, which resulted in him grabbing the lead a few laps later.
Despite this, Kvapil struggled to keep his car on the bottom for the final 10 laps, opening the door for Queen to make another run at the lead. An intense fight between Kvapil and Queen concluded with Kvapil receiving damage from a tire rub and contact with the wall, which allowed Mini Tyrrell to pass him for third.
After winning three straight races at Florence Motor Speedway, Hickory Motor Speedway and Ace Speedway, Kvapil has been denied a podium finish during the last three races, with his fourth place run at Dominion matching his previous best finish during this stretch at Langley Speedway.
Kvapil still holds a small but comfortable advantage in the point standings over the LMSC Tour field following Saturday’s thrilling finish at Dominion, but he and JR Motorsports will look to re-establish their winning habits so they can claim another championship at the end of the year.
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The next race for both the CARS LMSC Tour and PLM Tour will be on a Wednesday evening at Caraway Speedway. The event is set to take place on June 28 specifically as a one-day show, with FloRacing providing coverage of all the on-track action.
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:
- 6 Bobby McCarty
- 03 Brenden Queen
- 81 Mini Tyrrell
- 8 Carson Kvapil
- 77 Connor Hall
- 0 Landon Pembelton
- 24 Mason Diaz
- 16 Chad McCumbee
- 57 Connor Zilisch
- 44 Conner Jones
- 2 Brandon Pierce
- 95 Jacob Heafner
- 22 Landon Huffman
- 15 Ryan Millington
- 15C Logan Clark
- 42 Carson Brown
- 67 Cameron Bolin
- 1 Andrew Grady -1
- 5B Bryant Barnhill -1
- 8B Chase Burrow -2
- 4 Dylon Wilson -2
- 45 Jonathan Findley – OUT
- 12 Mike Looney – OUT
- 87 Tate Fogleman – OUT
- 04 Ronnie Bassett Jr. – OUT
- 10 Kaden Honeycutt – OUT
