ASHEBORO, N.C. – Inclement weather on Saturday evening resulted in a rare Sunday afternoon race for the zMAX CARS Tour at Caraway Speedway.
The change in track conditions still led to two familiar faces earning checkered flags in the TCPS Plumbing & Septic 250. Reigning CARS Late Model Stock Car Tour champion Landen Lewis prevailed in the corresponding 125-lap feature, while Kaden Honeycutt secured a win in the CARS Pro Late Model Tour race.
While Honeycutt enjoyed a mostly stress-free afternoon in the CARS PLM Tour, Lewis’ outing was the exact opposite. Lewis was sent to the rear of the field early after running over the choose V prior to a restart, which required him to methodically but aggressively climb his way towards the front before making the race-winning pass with 25 laps remaining.
Lewis’ victory was his sixth on the CARS LMSC Tour overall, with four of those coming during his championship campaign in 2025. For Honeycutt, who won the PLM Tour title back in 2024, he now possesses 10 total victories across the CARS Tour platform, four in Late Model Stocks, six in a Pro Late Model.
Landen Lewis overcomes adversity for Caraway win
Although he was overjoyed to deliver another CARS LMSC Tour victory for Kevin Harvick Inc., Landen Lewis knew the outcome was much more arduous than it needed to be.
It took Lewis nearly the entirety of the TCPS Plumbing & Septic 250 to rebound from running over the choose V while coming to an early restart, a miscue he never imagined making during his career. By staying composed and relying on his strengths, Lewis made his way forward and ended the day in Cook Out Victory Lane.
“I want to apologize for making a mistake that I’m far above making,” Lewis said. “I shouldn’t make those mistakes [with] where we’re at in racing. I guess I’ll never hit the orange cone, but I’m so thankful for my guys. Discipline is what it really took to get back to the front, pick them off one at a time and make up for the mistake.”
Lewis entered expecting a much better performance at Caraway after he finished a disappointing 13th there last year despite tallying 18 laps led. Despite this, a partial repave over the offseason for Caraway meant Lewis would need to adjust his approach to account for two diverse sets of corners.
Any uncertainty Lewis had for the revamped Caraway was not apparent as he carved through the field, determined to make up for his earlier error. Lewis finally got to the front ahead of the final restart, where he successfully dispatched three-time Caraway winner Jared Fryar before fending off Conner Jones after an aggressive, spirited battle.
While Lewis believed he could get to the top 10 after the penalty, he said the cautions timed out perfectly for him to recapture all the track position he lost. Lewis also made sure to credit everyone at Kevin Harvick Inc. for providing him a strong car and the confidence needed to persevere through the self-inflicted adversity.
“I give this one to my team at the end of the day,” Lewis said. “They’re the ones who work their butts off. Without them, I wouldn’t be here, so I think this is a group effort. This is probably one of my favorite wins I’ve ever raced, being able to come from the back, back to the front. It taught us all discipline and not to give up.”
Conner Jones disappointed with second after strong afternoon
Nearly one month removed from his victory at Wake County Speedway, Conner Jones believed another trip to Cook Out Victory Lane was in store for him during Sunday’s TCPS Plumbing & Septic 250.
Despite being the most dominant driver on the afternoon, Jones was unable to withstand Landen Lewis’ charge from the rear of the field and ended up settling for a runner-up finish. Although Jones now has three consecutive top fives, he could not help but feel disappointment knowing how close he was to prevailing at Caraway.
“We led the most laps, so it’s tough to go out like that,” Jones said. “It was hard racing the whole time. I feel like I used and abused my rear tires there towards the end. That just gave [Lewis] the advantage on the restart.”
During his time with the CARS Tour, Caraway has not statistically been one of Jones’ preferred tracks. The only other occasion Jones finished inside the top five at Caraway in either division was during the Pro Late Model feature in July 2024, where he also placed second.
Jones had never finished better than 12th at Caraway in a CARS LMSC Tour race, but he felt confident about changing that status quo due to the chemistry he had built with Carroll Speedshop. That optimism for Jones proved to be grounded in reality, as he faced minimal opposition for the top spot until being overtaken by Lewis late.
Although Jones did everything possible to reclaim the top spot, which included using the front bumper on Lewis, he also wanted to salvage a strong points day if the win fell out of reach. By keeping his car clean and finishing ahead of points leader Caden Kvapil, Jones felt pivotal progress was made towards enjoying more success with Carroll’s operation in 2026.
“I never want to tear up cars,” Jones said. “This is the fourth race on this nose now and I think we can probably make number five. When you don’t tear up the race cars, you can go back and work on them. [Justin Carroll’s guys] come here, bust their ass all weekend and give me a really good race car. I wouldn’t be able to do it if it wasn’t for them.”
Kaden Honeycutt capitalizes on Truck Series off weekend.
As one of two drivers entered in both features for the TCPS Plumbing & Septic 250, Kaden Honeycutt managed to snag one checkered flag during his off weekend from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
The precision that has followed Honeycutt throughout his diverse career was on full display Sunday as he claimed another victory in the CARS PLM Tour. Sunday’s 100-lap feature ultimately came down to perfect execution on restarts, but Honeycutt never wavered regardless of who challenged him on the front row.
“I just needed to take control on the restart,” Honeycutt said. “It’s really difficult here to choose the bottom or the top. As the leader, you can go either way, but I wanted to make the right decision there and thankfully we did. It’s amazing to run in front of a short track crowd and I’m looking forward to seeing if we can get another one later.”
Honeycutt is no stranger to success at Caraway regardless of if he is driving a Late Model Stock or a Pro Late Model. Along with earning a Caraway PLM Tour win back in 2023, Honeycutt only finished outside the top 10 once in his eight prior starts across both divisions.
Finding Cook Out Victory Lane again at Caraway was not an easy process for Honeycutt, who at one point had to move back a row after committing a restart violation. Honeycutt also had to deal with the competitive depth of the PLM Tour field, battling talented drivers throughout the day like Treyten Lapcevich, Conner Jones and Rodney Dowless Jr.
The challenges associated with the PLM Tour is one reason why Honeycutt enjoys coming back to the series whenever time in his busy schedule allows. Honeycutt commended the CARS Tour for creating such a competitive environment and eagerly awaits his next chance to chase another checkered flag with the series, whether it’s one or two on the same weekend.
“I love the Pro Late Model stuff and the CARS Tour is as hard as it gets right now,” Honeycutt said. “When the CARS Tour guys went to the [Snowball] Derby last year as part of the [Snowflake 100], we put on a really good race and we were all up front. This series is no joke across the Pro Late Model scale and the Late Model Stock scale.
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Both divisions of the zMAX CARS Tour will return to action on May 9 when they travel to Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, North Carolina. Racing begins at 7 p.m. ET that evening, with FloRacing providing live coverage of the on-track action.
For more information on the zMAX CARS Late Model Stock Tour and the zMAX 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 X (formerly known as Twitter) and scrolling through photos on Instagram at 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:
- 29 Landen Lewis
- 44 Conner Jones
- 88 Caden Kvapil
- 17 Kaden Honeycutt
- 89 Dylan Fetcho
- 14 Jared Fryar
- 77L Treyten Lapcevich
- 5B Carson Brown
- 95 London McKenzie
- 16M Chad McCumbee
- 5 Chase Burrow
- 77 Landon S. Huffman
- 81 Mini Tyrrell
- 4 Parker Eatmon
- 51 Michael Bumgarner
- 57 Landon Huffman
- 7 Aiden King
- 16 Sam Butler
- 6 Brandon Lopez
- 2 Brandon Pierce
- 05 Mason Bailey
- 41 Mason Diaz -1
- 22 Carson Loftin -1
- 15 Jace Hale -1
- 04 Ronnie Bassett Jr. -1
- 98 Donovan Strauss -4
- 88B Doug Barnes Jr. – OUT
- 4G Matt Gould – OUT
- 71 Brian Blevins – OUT
- 99 Austin Somero – OUT
PLM Results:
- 54 Kaden Honeycutt
- 25 Rodney Dowless Jr.
- 44 Conner Jones
- 31 Brody Monahan
- 6 Mason Walters
- 97 Dylan Garner
- 15 Case James
- 51 Carson Ware
- 67 Ben Maier
- 22 Chase Burgeson
- 54H Daniel Hemric
- 17 Joel Smith
- 50 Tristan Peña
- 20 Evan McKnight
- 5 James Seeright
- 95 London McKenzie -1
- 13 Ben Mack -3
- 6L Brandon Lopez – OUT
- 11C Dylan Cappello – OUT
- 30 Treyten Lapcevich – OUT
- 49 Jeff Batten – OUT
- 11 Jack Baldwin – OUT
- 03 Tony Cosentino – OUT
