The zMax CARS Tour was back in action Saturday, heading to Rougemont, N. C., to race at the historic Orange County Speedway, where many legends of stock car racing have laid down rubber.
A quick night of racing ended with a familiar face celebrating at night’s end.
Late Model Stock Cars
Jared Fryar cruised to the win at Orange County Speedway on Saturday night. The 2020 CARS Tour champion wrangled the lead from Layne Riggs on lap 65 and never looked back, surviving multiple challenges on restarts.
The result was Fryar’s fifth win in the series, but marked his first LMSC victory since 2023 at Caraway Speedway.
“It feel so special, man,” Fryar said of the win. “Very emotional to win, at least for me. (I’m) not running full-time, so to win these races is so tough. Everything’s gotta go right for you. Tonight was a testament of that. We had good tires, a good car. Good restarts. Things just fell right in order for us to win.
“I’m just so happy for my team, man. They put a lot into it. The guys at the shop really do. I’m not there like I’d like to be, with them and helping them as much. This is really for them. They deserve it just as much as I do.”
Kade Brown finished second, followed by Kaden Honeycutt in third. Riggs and Ronnie Bassett Jr. concluded the top five, with Tyler Reif, Landon Huffman, Chase Burrow, Landen Lewis and Donovan Strauss capping off the top ten.
Burrow was running in the top three for most of the night before fading back in the closing laps, but still managed to bring home a top ten with an impressive defensive drive.
It was a tough evening for the presumed title contenders entering the weekend. There were multiple incidents throughout the night that prompted restarts, the first of which was early on in the race when points leader Connor Hall spun on the frontstretch and nearly slid back up into the field passing by. Hall was undamaged and kept running, but finished a distant 18th.
The driver sitting second in points, Mini Tyrrell, didn’t escape the night unharmed either, taking a hard hit later in the race as he and Tate Fogelman made contact into the entry of turn 1. Tyrrell slammed the wall as his car spun around, relegating him to 26th.
The last notable incident of the night was near the end of the race as Lanie Buice, Camden Gullie, Carson Loftin and Doug Barnes Jr. were involved in a pileup at the exit of turn 2.
Former NASCAR driver and 2008 Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman made his CARS Tour debut at Orange County Speedway. The Hoosier had a relatively quiet night, but came home 14th at night’s end.
Folsom Fence Supply 250 Results
- 14 Jared Fryar
- 4 Kade Brown
- 71 Kaden Honeycutt
- 17 Layne Riggs
- 04 Ronnie Bassett Jr
- 27 Tyler Reif
- 57 Landon Huffman
- 00 Chase Burrow
- 29 Landen Lewis
- 4S Donovan Strauss
- 28 Landon S Huffman
- 44 Conner Jones
- 1 Andrew Grady
- 7 Ryan Newman
- 71B Jake Bollman
- 15 Ryan Millington
- 2 Brandon Pierce
- 88 Connor Hall
- 11 Buddy Isles Jr.
- 16 Chad McCumbee
- 06 Terry Dease
- 1J Clay Jones
- 22 Carson Loftin
- 01 Camden Guille
- 88B Doug Barnes Jr
- 81 Mini Tyrrell Jr
- 8 Tate Fogelman
- 03 Lanie Buice
- 4E Parker Eatmon
- 6 Bobby McCarty
Pro Late Model
Luke Baldwin took home the Pro Late Model win at Orange County Speedway.
Baldwin took the lead from Reif shortly after a competition caution and never looked back, navigating lapped traffic with ease to keep distance between himself and second-place finisher Jade Avedisian.
“(This was) the first race in the car, (with) Rick giving me the opportunity. Rick, Robbie, my dad, everybody at Rick Ware Racing.” Baldwin told FloSports in Victory Lane after the win. “Giving me this car to drive and letting me do what I need to do with it. It’s special to happen here.”
Isaac Kitzmiller finished third, with Evan McKnight and Jarrett Butcher completing the top five at Orange County. Keelan Harvick, Ben Maier, Brody Monahan, Rodney Dowless and Dylan Garner rounded out the top ten.
Harvick recovered from a crash with Reif on lap 59. Reif’s car went up into the turn 3 wall and collected Harvick, who had no where to go. The son of retired Cup star Kevin Harvick rallied to finish a respectable sixth, while Reif wound up 15th at race’s end.
Pro Late Model Folsom Fence Supply 250 Results
- 51 Luke Baldwin
- 24 Jade Avedisian
- 25 Isaac Kitzmiller
- Evan McKnight
- 54B Jarrett Butcher
- 62 Keelan Harvick
- 6M Ben Maier
- 54 Brody Monahan
- 15D Rodney Dowless
- 97 Dylan Garner
- 6L Brandon Lopez
- 82 Taylor Hull
- 31 Kaden Honeycutt
- 28D T.J. Duke
- 47 Tyler Reif
Logan Kendall joined the Frontstretch team in 2025 as the Tuesday News Writer and fills in other roles as needed. He resides in the Finger Lakes region of New York and spends his free time writing as a hobby creatively and is a self published author.
Logan can be found on X @LoganKendall48
