Brenden Queen (left) and Caden Kvapil (right) scored CARS Racing Tour victories on Saturday night at Tri-County Motor Speedway. Photos: CARS Racing Tour/Twitter
Brenden Queen and Caden Kvapil both made trips to victory lane in CARS Racing Tour action at Tri-County Motor Speedway in Granite Falls, North Carolina on Saturday night.
Queen scored his third series Late Model Stock Car victory, while Kvapil took home the Pro Late Model feature win.
In the LMSC feature, Queen dominated form the pole to record the victory, and thought he still needs plenty of circumstances to fall his way in the championship, he enters the season finale at Caraway Speedway on November 4 with an optimistic mindset.
“Winning takes care of points,” Queen said. “If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. One thing is for sure, (points leader Carson Kvapil) didn’t lock it up. We made them go to Caraway and have to sweat. There have been so many good nights and close nights this year, but we’re going to keep digging until it’s over.”
Mason Diaz finished in second, with Landon Huffman in third, Deac McCaskill in fourth, and Stephen Nasse in fifth.
Bobby McCarty, Ryan Millington, Chad McCumbee, Jacob Heafner, and Carson Kvapil rounded out the top 10.
In the PLM feature, a tumultuous night for Caden Kvapil ended with a trip to victory lane.
But it didn’t come easy.
Kvapil had to come from the back of the field twice, with the latter occasion stemming from contact between him and Katie Hettinger while battling for the lead. The fact that he managed to earn his third win of 2023 despite the adversity came as a major surprise for Kvapil.
“There’s a lot of emotions,” Kvapil said. “I thought we had no chance starting dead last, but coming out of all of it in victory lane feels amazing. I know everyone was hating on me in the stands because me and Katie got together and caused a big wreck, but there was really nothing either of us could have done.”
Hettinger, who had led the most laps in the PLM Tour feature prior to the crash, was attempting to re-take the lead from Kvapil on the outside line after losing it on a restart. Kvapil got slightly loose underneath Hettinger and the two made contact, which caused Hettinger to lose control and collect several other cars in the ensuing pileup.
Kvapil was penalized for causing the accident before suffering more damage after Hettinger chose to retaliate on the following restart. With only a handful of laps at his disposal to charge to the front, Kvapil did everything he could to minimize the damage from a difficult evening that started with an ill-handling car in qualifying.
The last lap crash between Ashton Higgins and Gavan Boschele for the win provided Kvapil the miracle he needed to salvage the night and score the win. With such an arduous outing now complete, Kvapil is ready to decompress and close out the PLM Tour title at Caraway Speedway.
“We’re just going to go into (Caraway) like every other race and try to win,” Kvapil said. “Now that we have a big gap, we just have to play it smart. Katie is likely still going to be very upset, so we’ll have to be smart around her and just be there at the end.”
Chase Burda finished in second, with Brandon Setzer in third, Logan Jones in fourth, and Brent Crews in fifth.
Charlie Keeven, Ryan Moore, Aiden King, Joshua Horniman, and Tyler Church rounded out the top 10.
The CARS Racing Tour will wrap up the 2023 season with the North-South Shootout at Caraway Speedway in Sophia, North Carolina on Saturday, November 4. Visit CARSRacingTour.com for more information.
CARS Racing Tour
Tri-County Motor Speedway – Granite Falls, NC
Blue Ridge 250* – October 21, 2023
Late Model Stock Cars
1. 03 Brenden Queen
2. 24 Mason Diaz
3. 22 Landon Huffman
4. 08 Deac McCaskill
5. 51N Stephen Nasse
6. 6 Bobby McCarty
7. 15 Ryan Millington
8. 16 Chad McCumbee
9. 95 Jacob Heafner
10. 8 Carson Kvapil
11. 20 Joshua Dickens
12. 23 Kade Brown
13. 7W Dylan Ward
14. 21 Lanie Buice
15. 57 Connor Zilisch
16. 81 Mini Tyrrell
17. 43 William Sawalich
18. 77 Connor Hall
19. 8B Chase Burrow
20. 5C Gio Ruggiero
21. 4 Dylon Wilson
22. 67 Cameron Bolin – DNF
23. 04 Ronnie Bassett, Jr. – DNF
24. 1 Andrew Grady – DNF
25. 45A Bryce Applegate – DNF
26. 15C Logan Clark – DNF
27. 2 Brandon Pierce – DNF
28. 51 Timothy Peters – DNF
29. 09 Riley Gentry – DNF
Pro Late Models
1. 96 Caden Kvapil
2. 18 Chase Burda
3. 6 Brandon Setzer
4. 77 Logan Jones
5. 28 Brent Crews
6. 55 Charlie Keeven
7. 74 Ryan Moore
8. 15B Aiden King
9. 43H Joshua Horniman
10. 7T Tyler Church
11. 27W Kris Wright
12. 9 Ashton Higgins – DNF
13. 25 Gavan Boschele – DNF
14. 81 Katie Hettinger – DNF
15. 43 Nick Loden – DNF
16. 26 Dawson Sutton – DNF
17. 7C Justin Crider – DNF
18. 8 Rusty Skewes – DNF
*Unofficial Results
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