The 2025 season for the CARS Tour kicked off with a history-making doubleheader at New River All-American Speedway. Connor Hall scored his first victory with his new JR Motorsports team in the renumbered No. 88 machine, while Jade Avedisian became the first woman to win a CARS Tour race across any of the three CARS Tour divisions in its 11-year history.
But beyond those two stories, there were plenty of other stories that might not have received as much attention as fans were walking out of New River All-American Speedway on Saturday night.
Carson Loftin Impresses In CARS Tour Debut
16-year-old Carson Loftin made his CARS Tour debut on Saturday at New River. It was just his third start in a Late Model Stock Car after the teenager spent the last few years racing (and winning) in Modifieds. But you wouldn’t know it by the way he raced.
After qualifying poorly, Loftin paced himself from his 27th starting spot, saved his tires, and avoided some of the chaos to end up finishing fourth.
Carson Loftin drives into the sunset at New River All-American Speedway.
This isn’t the first time Loftin has done this either. Loftin failed to make the main event at last November’s South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway on qualifying. He had to race into the feature through the Last Chance Race, and then he finished in the top five when the night was through.
It’s still early, but a run like last Saturday’s has to give Loftin and his entire Nelson Motorsports team a lot of confidence that they will find victory lane at some point this season.
Ryan Millington’s Championship-esque Rebound
It was the 1999 movie “Galaxy Quest” that famously uttered the line “Never give up. Never surrender.” And that’s exactly what Ryan Millington did on Saturday night. Millington was caught up in the Lap 5 restart crash after Jake Bollman missed a shift. Millington had Jared Fryar launch over his left-rear tire causing a ton of damage.
Ryan Millington works on his No. 15 during an early red flag in Saturday’s CARS Tour race at New River.
But Millington and his small Saville Millington wasted no time getting to work repairing their No. 15 machine. At one point during the red flag, Millington himself was out of the car working on it along with his crew members, helmet and HANS device still on.
All told, our sources indicate that Millington’s car suffered a few thousand dollars in damages, but even with no rear window behind the B-pillar, a duct-taped crush panel in place of bodywork and more, Millington was able to rally to a fifth-place finish.
It may have only been the first race, but that’s the kind of night you look at as a potential “championship-saving night” at the end of the year.
Solid Night For New-Look Lee Pulliam Performance
Just about everything about Lee Pulliam Performance is new this season except for the company name, logo, trailers, the team owner, and a handful of the crew members. Oh, and their radio frequencies. But outside of that, it’s a new look for LPP with two full-time cars featuring two full-time drivers, both of whom are new to the team as well in Doug Barnes Jr. and Lanie Buice.
The question on everyone’s mind entering Saturday was how would things go with so much so new. Barnes is a well-established Late Model Stock Car racer, finishing runner-up in a NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship chase a couple seasons ago, but he’s never run CARS Tour full-time. Buice is a younger racer still looking to establish herself amongst her peers and she too is embarking on her rookie CARS Tour campaign.
Lanie Buice finished 10th in her Lee Pulliam Performance CARS Tour debut at New River.
But Saturday was a good first-step in answering those questions as both drivers left Jacksonville, North Carolina with top 10 finishes, even though both had up-and-down nights. Barnes finished seventh after starting 26th, and Buice finished 10th after qualifying 12th.
Buice’s night in particular was a roller coaster ride that saw her get turned around twice and have to follow an alternate strategy once the track position was lost.
Last year it took five races before LPP put both their cars in the top 10 on the same night. This year they did it right out of the gate. And while the path to get there wasn’t the easiest, it’s the end result that matters the most.
TJ DeCaire’s Disappointing DQ
Florida’s TJ DeCaire has come painstakingly close to his first CARS Tour victory on a couple of occasions now, but none closer than actually celebrating in victory lane on Saturday just to have it taken away.
DeCaire’s No. 54 for Walker Motorsports failed post-race tech inspection at the scales after his car was found to be overweight on the left side. DeCaire said his car was 0.2% over on the left side weight percentage.
And while this was so disappointing for anybody that has come to know and like DeCaire, it once again showed the maturity of the 18-year-old driver, both on and off the track.
On the track, DeCaire ran Tristan McKee and Jade Avedisian cleanly, just as he did Kaden Honeycutt in the season-finale last October at North Wilkesboro. It would surprise nobody if DeCaire, desperate for his first win, laid the bumper down and moved someone out of the way, but he didn’t. Instead, he waited for McKee and Avedisian to make a mistake and then capitalized on it.
Off the track, DeCaire handled Saturday’s DQ with grace and maturity, still sporting his trademark smile as he walked out of the race track on Saturday without the trophy in hand.
It may not have come in October at North Wilkesboro, and it may not have come last Saturday at New River, but DeCaire’s first official CARS Tour win is coming. And it’s going to be a feel-good moment for everyone when it does.
