HUDSON, N.C. – Saturday’s SoundGear 225 for the zMAX CARS Tour produced the usual thrills and spills that have become synonymous with the series’ visits to Tri-County Motor Speedway over the past several years.
Both the Late Model Stock and Pro Late Model divisions saw potential winners eliminated from contention in the closing stages. This created opportunities for both young prospects and seasoned veterans to pounce on the opportunity at the front of the field, which produced two equally intense finishes.
When the dust settled on the CARS LMSC Tour race, Jared Fryar emerged victorious after fending off a valiant challenge from Landon S. Huffman for his third victory of 2025. In the CARS PLM Tour, young T.J. DeCaire showcased the speed of Bryson Lopez Racing’s No. 47 by driving it to his first career win.
Jared Fryar continues stellar part-time LMSC Tour season
Experience persevered over youth during the final moments of the SoundGear 225 Late Model Stock feature at Tri-County Motor Speedway.
Veteran Jared Fryar traded plenty of blows with upcoming prospect Landon S. Huffman for the lead until a mistake by the latter enabled Fryar to pull ahead with five laps remaining. Fryar praised Huffman’s composure and was thrilled to overtake him and earn another Late Model Stock checkered flag this year.
“I raced with [Huffman] earlier and he was giving me plenty of room doing his thing on the top,” Fryar said. “I was able to run my line at the bottom and I didn’t feel like I had to do anything dumb. Obviously had to do a little bit of something to get by him and clear him, but I knew he was going to race me clean and we put on a good show there.”
Although he is now part-time in the LMSC Tour, the 2025 season has statistically been Fryar’s best on the platform, having collected multiple victories in a single year for the first time in his career.
Fryar was initially unsure if he would be able to contend on Saturday, as he started the 125-lap Late Model Stock event from the 18th position. After methodically climbing to third, Fryar avoided a late crash involving leaders Chad McCumbee and Landon Huffman, leaving him to fend off the other Huffman for the win.
Long known for his consistency, that key aspect of Fryar’s driving style has continued to manifest itself across his seven LMSC Tour appearances this year. Fryar does not envision adding another CARS Tour title to his resume, but he plans to keep periodically entering events that he feels provides realistic opportunities for him to win.
“I really love Late Model [Stock] racing, especially with all these guys behind me,” Fryar said. “It’s fun, but it’s also a grind to run the full tour. I did it for a couple of years and had a lot of fun with it, but I feel like we’re having a lot of fun picking and choosing these racetracks that fit my style.”
Landon S. Huffman nearly earns win in debut race with Houser family
The first appearance for Landon S. Huffman in the No. 11 Mountain Dew/Pepsi Chevrolet for Houser Brothers Racing and Sons nearly resulted in the biggest win of his young career to date.
Huffman made significant strides by utilizing Tri-County Motor Speedway’s top lane, propelling him from 21st all the way to the lead. The poor starting position is something Huffman attributed to his second place showing, as he did not believe he had enough car left to fend off Jared Fryar.
“It was fun,” Huffman said. “Unfortunately, I think I pissed my right front off a little too much coming up through the field. Lost a lot of turn there at the end and I couldn’t get the drive off I needed because I couldn’t get turned to the center down in [turn] three and four.”
Huffman entered the SoundGear 225 with plenty of confidence on his side, as he was only a week removed from finishing seventh in the prestigious ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway with Pinnacle Racing Group.
Already being familiar with Doug and Dillon Houser provided Huffman some comfort going into the weekend. He knew the Housers would prepare him a stellar car, but responsibility fell upon the young competitor to charge up from the back half of the field and position himself for a victory against the CARS LMSC Tour regulars.
The solid outing from Huffman was an improvement upon his previous best LMSC Tour finish of fourth, which he obtained at Tri-County one year earlier. Every Late Model Stock event for Huffman has made him more comfortable behind the wheel, which is why he hopes more similar runs with the Houser family are in the near future.
“I’m trying so hard to be upset with this, but for these guys to bring this car out here to this big of a race, it’s a big deal,” Huffman said. “I’m just the lucky one that gets to drive it. I wish we could have been that one spot better and we were so close, but to start 21st and be at the lead jut after lap 100, I don’t think it’s that bad.”
T.J. DeCaire finds redemption with first PLM Tour victory
During the CARS PLM Tour season-opener at Coastal Plains Raceway Park back in March, T.J. DeCaire saw his breakthrough victory get taken away from him due to an infraction in post-race inspection.
The journey towards getting back to Cook Out Victory Lane for DeCaire ended in cathartic fashion on Saturday at Tri-County Motor Speedway. Driving the No. 47 for Bryson Lopez Racing, DeCaire withstood several valiant charges from Bayley Currey for that elusive first win, which he got to keep this time around.
“I can’t race every week, so I try to help out the team every day I can,” DeCaire said. “I care for so many people in the pits and I can’t thank all these guys enough. They all did a phenomenal job all weekend and now we’re here.”
DeCaire’s inaugural PLM Tour triumph came in his 23rd start. Aside from the Coastal Plains win that was disqualified, DeCaire’s best showing in the series was second, a feat he accomplished twice last year between Walker Motorsports and Highlands Motorsports.
Saturday was DeCaire’s second appearance in Bryson Lopez’ No. 47 after he finished eighth with them at Ace Speedway. All three Bryson Lopez cars spent plenty of time inside the top five at Tri-County, but DeCaire ended up carrying the banner for the organization after his teammates Brandon Lopez and Luke Baldwin were hindered by separate issues.
A couple of late restarts left DeCaire apprehensive over whether he would see another PLM Tour win evade his grasp. He commended Currey for being aggressive but fair during the closing stages and was relieved to park his car in Cook Out Victory Lane after diligently trying to avenge the disappointment from Coastal Plains.
“I wasn’t really liking the yellows,” DeCaire said. “[Currey] raced me clean. He had a big slide job in turns one and two, but I crossed him over. That’s great racing in my eyes. My goal for the race was to keep it clean because I knew there’d be a few wrecks out there. We kept the car clean and had a great finish.”
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The 2025 zMAX CARS Tour season will end for both the Late Model Stock and Pro Late Model divisions on Saturday, Oct. 18 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. FloRacing will provide live coverage of the on-track action as two drivers join the growing list of CARS Tour champions.
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 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:
- 14 Jared Fryar
- 11 Landon S. Huffman
- 88 Connor Hall
- 71 Parker Eatmon
- 2 Brandon Pierce
- 57 Landon Huffman
- 22 Carson Loftin
- 15 Mitch Walker
- 29 Landen Lewis
- 03 Lanie Buice
- 4 Kade Brown
- 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- 07 Michale Bumgarner
- 23 Matt Leicht
- 88B Doug Barnes Jr.
- 71B Jake Bollman
- 7 Aiden King
- 92 Brad Means
- 44 Conner Jones – OUT
- 81 Mini Tyrrell – OUT
- 12 Trevor Ward – OUT
- 99 Austin Somero – OUT
- 16 Chad McCumbee – OUT
- 12B Hudson Bulger – OUT
- 25 Graham Hollar – OUT
- 40 Ryan Millington – OUT
- 4S Donovan Strauss – OUT
- 01 Thomas Beane – OUT
- 04 Ronnie Bassett Jr. – OUT
- 00 Chase Burrow – OUT
PLM Results:
- 47 T.J. DeCaire
- 44 Bayley Currey
- 25 Isaac Kitzmiller
- 6 Ben Maier
- 28 T.J. Duke
- 82 Taylor Hull
- 61 Mason Walters
- 40 Mia Lovell
- 97 Dylan Garner
- 4 Trey Burke
- 51 Carson Ware
- 27 Vito Cancilla – OUT
- 7NY Luke Baldwin – OUT
- 6L Brandon Lopez – OUT
- 62 Rodney Dowless – OUT
- 1X Tyler Church – OUT
- 9 Ashton Higgins – OUT
- 15 Case James – OUT
- 17G Matt Gould – OUT
